"James burst from the basement, grinning like a toddler who’s learned to speak. 'I’ve done it!' In his hand he clutched a small black box, with a large conical microphone on one end and a wire connected to a small speaker on the other."

"Playback", written by Conor Yunits and narrated by Duncan Stripp, was inspired by the keywords "mug", "converter" and "happiness". It also happens to be the winner of the tenth Mash Stories Competition!

Can you mash three randomly assigned words into a story of 500 words or fewer? Take the Mash Challenge at http://mashstories.com.