WWBH - COURAGE

H J Musk says:

Hi folks! It's been a while since last we brought you a prompt for your mid-week dose of flash fiction, but after a much needed rest we are back to get you going once again.

So, have you missed us? We'd love to know your thoughts on our little weekly hop, if you enjoy writing/reading the stories each week, is there any way we can improve? It's important to us to get it right, so that we can all still enjoy it.

The Writer Wednesday blog hop is a little something we like to bring to the writing community to help you kick-start those writing urges, to help you through a lull in your bigger projects or just a bit of fun to get you to your weekend.
As usual, there is a picture prompt and five random words, and all you have to do is give us a bit of flash fiction in 500 words or less. It's that simple.

You have until the end of next Tuesday to link up your story with the linky frog below – use this link to get to the frog thing - http://readingwritingeverything-heather.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/look-whos-back-wwbh.html?showComment=1433950543189#c5628414491313172287

and on Wednesday we look forward to sharing your stories as well as bringing you a brand new prompt.

Don't forget to link back to this post when you linkup and reference the WWBH. We want to spread our message as far as we can!

So, to get us going once again, here is this week’s picture:

Photo: property of H J Musk

And this week’s words:          colony, vice, vegetable, barber, trumpet

Here is my story:

Courage

Alice looked at the calendar on the wall, how on earth was she going to fit everything in?  Everybody in the family, apart from her, had a social life.  The boys had after birthday parties, visits to the dentist and to the barber next week just as the summer holidays started. 

Joe, her husband had marked off two weeks annual leave to spend time with her and the boys.  He really needed to rest on this holiday, his job in the Vice Squad at New Scotland Yard was so stressful but of course he couldn't talk about it when he came home, not even pillow talk, ha, ha, Alice gave a little laugh to herself not that she wanted to know.

She was a good listener, not blowing her own trumpet by any means but before she had the kids she was in line for promotion at the Human Resources department she worked for. They had recognised her talent, her ability to know when to listen and when to interrupt, unlike some people she could name but that is a story for another day.

Leo and Lenny bounded into the kitchen professing they were dying of hunger, starving to death in fact.  It had been at least half an hour ago that she had given her boys something to eat.  She pulled out the vegetable drawer and plated up some crudities she’d prepared earlier, batons of brightly coloured carrots, sticks of celery, slices of cucumber, a few cherry tomatoes and a home-made avocado dip.   That should keep them going.

Alice sent them out in to the garden to sit quietly and eat their snacks while she finished clearing up in the kitchen.  She knew the trampoline would be tempting them both, all she had to do was to make them wait a little while after eating but that was easier said than done.

She heard the boys excited calls from the garden, peeking out of the kitchen window they were on their hands and knees examining something on the ground.  Alice went to see what had taken their fancy. 

Marching across the grass was a large colony of ants.  How she was going to deal with that Alice had no idea.  Ants were one of her phobias, along with spiders and other creepy crawlies.  She took a deep breath trying to calm her racing heart so the boys didn't pick up on her agitation.

Leo and Lenny were fascinated by the hundreds of termites who were so determined to cross the garden.  Alice thought of putting her Wellington boots on and stomping them to death but realised that wasn't the right thing to be teaching her young lads.  

She couldn't ring Joe and disturb him at work for something that was so petty and such a trivial matter but she couldn’t leave the boys out here and go back inside.  She would have to find the courage from somewhere to deal with the situation.

Word Count: 496