Wow, I really like the fairytale quality of this story mixed in with the modern. I must remember to never thank gnomes. Great story Orchard :)

The idea of wrongness and being of the Earth reminded me of a series of books I read called the House of Night. I love the idea of ‘wrongness’ and I love that word to describe it. it hit something in me for sure.
And I love the fantastical elements. He’s like a Wise Old Man that often pops up in fairytales.
So the rite is to commit an act of kindness to the old man, but to say ‘Thank you’ yourself is to reverse it?

I’ve read a lot of folk tales and stories about house spirits that do helpful work, but should never be thanked.

In a lot of the tales, you can thank them by “accidentally” leaving milk & honey out (like cookies for Santa)—but if you ever acknowledge them or come right out and thank them, they abandon your house forever or something nasty happens to the spirit.

I kind of feel that way myself with helping strangers. It feels right to do the act, but I get shy and overwhelmed if I’m ever praised or thanked for it. Often, I’ll not go out of my way to do something kind if I think I’ll get a lot of attention for it. So, I kind of feel for the house gnomes.

Of course, reading the Challenge again, I realize this story’s still managed to be a bit dark and unhappy despite the original goal.

How about we say the gnome turned to stone from an abundance of blissful happiness over a job well done and recognized as such. :)

“… I began a century spent as stone.”

This got me thinking of a past ficlet of mine where a ghost described his state of being as being like a stone.

Good read. I didn’t quite understand why the spirit turned to stone until I read your comments, but even still I didn’t mind. This is a good turning point mystery for next chapter to explain.

I like this combined modern fantasy and fairy-tale. Makes me think of Hob and the Goblins , or maybe a tiny bit of Artemis Fowl.

Neat story, and an effective use of the first person. You created a nice tone there too. Cool entry into the challenge on kindness without going all cheesy.

Really really nice tale. It might not be so dark if you changed it from century to decade or even year. But for some reason, fairy stories like this always feature punishments which last for a hundred years.

Yeah, a hundred years as stone or asleep is kind of like an inverted death sentence—you don’t die, but everything in your world does.

Love it.