Cyclist Dan

The prompt last night at Word Whips was "Cyclist Dan," the theme for the evening was "circles," and this is what came to mind:

Cyclist Dan can ride to the moon. Riding is dream time- a trip through Province, a journey into space. Old friends ride with him, because a friend never really leaves. He refuses to take riding "seriously" - no special pants, no paniers, no silly shoes that are no good for walking. Dreams shouldn't be serious, but little trips of joy. The bike is a ride back to childhood, the chain connecting all his life together, because he is a circle himself, growing but always complete.

I've been trying to come up with more interesting character combinations for writing prompts. I like this one, but it didn't get very far:

The Queen Lets the Plumber In
"Please, do come in."
"Oh. Uh, thank you Ma'am. What's the trouble?"
"I'm afraid the toilets are malfunctioning."
"Aren't there servants to handle these issues?"
"Yes, quite right, but all the staff are down with ghastly food poisoning. We would normally simply wait until someone could take care of it, but, with the illness, you see, it's rather urgent."
"Of course Ma'am. I'll get right to work."

Button Flu teaser

I will eventually write this story, but I can share the intro for now:

The Great Button Flu has struck dolls and teddy bears all over the world! Buttons pop up on fabric and fur, impossible to remove without catastrophic stuffing loss. Soon the poor toy is completely covered with buttons- left hard and un-huggable. Can anyone stop the epidemic? Or will children everywhere be left with nothing to cuddle?