A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 30
This is the eighth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.
This is the eighth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.
Today’s story: Airbnb Investigation.
What happens when renters spend their entire vacation solving the mystery of who their Airbnb host really is? A groundbreaking procedural drama you don’t want to miss.
This is a New Yorker satire, but it spun into this idea. Alexis and Ben are a young couple. Pull together their last dime to buy their first house. Now they could settle in, fix up their new home, and start trying to have a baby.
The really great thing about their new place: There’s a small guest house in the back. Since they live in a resort area, some 25 miles from Aspen, Colorado, they figure they can rent it out via Airbnb and really help with the mortgage payments. Hell, in the winter ski season, the research they’ve done suggests the income they make from their guest house rentals could double their income.
What could go wrong.
Their first few rentals go smoothly. Easy money! Then a reservation request from a couple from back East. Planning a trip to catch the fall colors. Seem like nice folks. Got great reviews from previous Airbnb stays.
So it is one crisp October day, Alexis and Ben watch through their windows as Rob and Dede let themselves into the guest house. Their own entrance, keys, parking spot. Probably won’t even interface with them during their stay.
That night as Alexis and Ben start to have sex — she’s ovulating so it’s peak fertility time — there’s a knock at the door. It’s Rob. Sorry to bother you, but it seems like the water heater isn’t working.
Ben trudges over to the guest house. Inspects the water heater. Hm. Pilot light had gone out. Odd. He relights it. Chats with Rob and Dede. Lovely couple. Good night.
Later Ben is asleep, Alexis beside him in bed using a mini-light to illuminate a book she’s reading which lists children’s names, what they mean, their derivation. She startles. Is that someone at the window? She edges over to the window. No one there. Peers down at the guest house. The porch light flicks off.
The next day, Rob and Dede show up with a bottle of champagne, thanks for relighting the water heater. The two couples have an impromptu night together, drinking and eating appetizers. They hit it off, so many things in common.
But of course, things go south from the ‘are they or aren’t they’ phase to ‘holy shit, they are’ realization that the real Rob and Dede isn’t this couple. Indeed a check on the internet shows that Rob and Dede are missing.
Apparently our bad guy and gal stay as Airbnb guests, do terrible things to their hosts, clean out their hosts’ bank accounts, then summarily dispatch them while taking over their names, finances, identities.
In the 80s and 90s, there was a sub-genre of movies known as The [Blank] From Hell. Time to resurrect it with the Airbnb Renters From Hell.
Or maybe do it as a dark comedy…
There you go: My thirtieth story idea for the month. And it’s yours. Free!
Each day this month, I invite you to click on RESPONSES and join me to do some further brainstorming. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when you play around with it. These are all valuable skills for a writer to develop.
See you in comments. And come back tomorrow for another Story Idea Each Day For A Month.
For other posts in my A Story Idea Each Day for a Month (2017) series, go here.