NEW YEAR, NEW LOVE

It is time for the first RomanticFridayWriters challenge of 2013. 

The theme this month is "out with the old, in with the new".  

We have 1,000 words or less to show intent, not outcome.

Here is my contribution:

As Big Ben struck midnight, fireworks exploded in the night sky

People were pushing and jostling each other good naturedly

The noise levels in the hotel ballroom grew louder and louder

Everybody started linking arms, started singing, smiling with great humour

Auld Lang Syne was belted out with many mixed accents not one Scottish

Ellen looked for her cousin but couldn't see him in the crowded venue

She joined in the fun, crossed her arms and grabbed at a hairy tattoo

A girlish laugh escaped her lips as coloured streamers fell from the ceiling

Landing on heads, tickling noses, carpeting the floor, a myriad of colours merging

The music died, the dancing came to an end as the night was concluding

Bringing them all back to some sort of reality as the minutes started ticking

Away at the beginning of the New Year, Ellen wondered lay in store for her

A deep masculine voice interrupted her musings and ponderings sending a shiver

Along her trembling body, obviously only the after effects of her energetic dancing

Her cousin Andrew appeared out of nowhere and interrupted the moment laughing

‘My dear I’ve been looking all over for you,’ he said looked at her companion adding

A nod as he outstretched his hand, ‘Hello Tommy, how are you my dear fellow?’

‘Andrew!  Long time no see, old chap,’ he replied clasping Andrew’s hand and his elbow.

Ellen realised the two men knew each other and she raised her eyebrow quizzically

‘Sorry cuz,’ said Andrew, ‘we go way back to our training days in the Army.’

The men exchanged numbers as Andrew began to usher them out to a waiting taxi

The cold night air punctuated their words, there was no way they’d feel drowsy

Calls of goodnight and laughter and Happy New Year rang out as the cabs departed

Andrew and Ellen in one and Tommy in another to destinations far less crowded.

As Ellen emerged late the next morning she greeted her aunt with a kiss and a hug

Returned with a loving smile and a gesture to sit, eat toast and drink tea from her mug.

Recounting her evening at the dance she blushed slightly recalling the last few moments

Then she noticed the two empty chairs and her uncle’s and Andrew’s absence.

Realising the time was almost midday she couldn’t believe she’d slept through

‘They went to work early this morning,’ explained Aunt Tilda, ‘just to check the crew

They’ll be back shortly so be prepared for some teasing about Tommy and you.

Dancing the night away is what I’ve heard,’ continued Aunt Tilda, ‘so give me a clue.’

Ellen’s face grew hot and she blushed without knowing the reason why,

‘I think he liked me,’ she replied with a twinkle in her eye.

A month later, Ellen had settled positively in her new post at the university

The telephone on her desk rang and she answered it quickly and brightly

Surprised and a little delighted to hear the voice on the other end announce his name

‘Tommy, how are you,’ she responded gaily hoping she didn't sound lame

‘I’ve been away, overseas,’ he explained ‘but I’m back in town for a little while.’

She scanned the pages in her leather bound diary absently patting her hairstyle.

‘Friday night is good for me,’ she said holding her breath in excited anticipation

She could feel her pulse race and her blood quicken with a satisfying sensation.

Her students and professors kept her mind busy until the end of the week

When she rushed home to try on the new dress bought from her favourite boutique

‘Andrew, you can stop your ribbing, it’s only a dinner date, nothing fancy.’

‘That’s why you are floating around in a dreamlike state, whimsical and dreamy.’

‘Tell me what you know of Tommy,’ Ellen begged and pleaded her cousin, Andrew

‘He’s a great guy or was when I knew him; we lost touch several years ago as you do.’

The doorbell rang and Andrew whispered in her ear, ‘have a great time, love.’

He opened the door to a suave looking Tommy, spic and span, taking off his glove

They grinned at each in the way that men who have secrets do

Ellen thought there are things here I don't want to know about these two

They pulled up to a quintessentially English pub restaurant out in the country

He took her arm and steered her through the door to the bar with its nooks and crannies

The menu was superb, the food delicious, she drank some red wine and he had a shandy

He wanted to know all about her, what she did and why she lived with her cousin Andy.

Now it was his turn and he seemed rather reluctant to share his story as fully

He gazed into her grey/blue eyes and immersed himself in her inner beauty

‘I think I’ve been waiting for you all my life,’ he told her with some deference

‘Then I find you by accident and have to wait a month with patience and silence.

My job makes lots of demands; it takes me away, a lot of times I will be out of contact.’

She stared back into the depths of his beautiful blue eyes, trying not to surrender

To the emotions that suddenly attacked her as she decided to tackle head on the pressure

‘What company do you work for,’ she asked as she raised her glass watching him carefully.

‘Actually it’s a government body covered by the Official Secrets Act,’ he admitted throatily.

‘No problem then,’ she said promptly, picking up the dessert menu nonchalantly.

The drive home was spent in companionable silence, his hand resting lightly on her knee

At the front door, he held her against his toned body, as he said, ‘don't be angry with me.’

Ellen thought and decided she would trust this lovely man and what will be, will be.

Word Count: 990:  FCA

LUCKY CHANCE

In 400 words or less, your character(could also be more than one), has a chance meeting with someone who will change their life.

 

Here is my entry:

Word Count: 396

 

LUCKY CHANCE

She had to leave; she couldn’t take the drugs and gambling anymore

Living from hand to mouth, she had to protect their young daughter

After a few months a new man said you are the love of my life

I’ll take you into my home and treat you as my wife

It worked well for a couple of years he loved her girl as his own

But there was never enough money to go around.

She tried to help by working full time but it wasn't enough

They just couldn’t make ends meet life was so tough

Her new job was in an engineer’s office, so different to before

She thrived on the energy, the office banter, so much to explore

There were drinks at lunchtime in the wine bar, a glass of red

The afternoons flew by and then she went home and felt dead.

He paid her particular attention and soon her heart began to beat

Faster and faster as he asked her to check his spreadsheet

Time went on; he offered to help her work towards a promotion

She knew she was playing with fire, poking a smoking cauldron

She threw caution to the wind as he asked to see her one night

She had little resistance and didn't put up a fight.

Now she had to make the decision but would he stand by her

She was a package deal, both at once, her and her daughter.

She need not have worried because he came up true

She left her old life and the man before and said adieu

She told him she wanted more and life was too short

She nearly stayed when he cried desperate tears, so distraught.

She’d made her decision and steeled her heart

She’d given it to another and she had to depart

Her new bloke was good and kind and loved her dearly

He moved heaven and earth for her and praised her beauty

Then he came home from the office with wonderful news

He was offered an opportunity far away overseas.

Amid many obstacles of changing their lives

They had so many good reasons and motives

An abundance of tears dropped as they left family and friends

To start a new chapter of their life in fabulous New Zealand

Together they bring up her daughter with a love that has grown and deepened.

 

 

Admission

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups – Week#72

The prompt this week is:

…you said you’d do WHAT?….

You have the usual 100 words to add to these 5 and make sure it is suitable for a PG certificate and has a link back here.

http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/100-word-challenge-for-grown-ups-week72/

Admission

I held my breath after telling my mother

Waiting for an onslaught of verbal abuse and anger

‘You said you’d do what?’

Her words spewed out like a machine gun

I’d had enough of her vitriol and venom

I sat up and returned her malignant stare

‘Don't pretend that you give a damn or care,’

I replied, desperately trying to keep calm

As my fingernails gouged the inside of my palms

‘He’s my father and I will meet him tomorrow.’

It was time to let go of this hate and sorrow.

She surprised me again with a whisper

‘He was my one and only lover.’

WAITING

MAG 150

7th  January 2012

Instructions

1)      Write a poem or short vignette using the picture featured in this post as your inspiration. Feel free to take the image to use for your post.

2)      Link back to Magpie Tales from your post.

 http://magpietales.blogspot.co.uk/

3) Sign up in the Mr. Linky list, linking directly to your post, AFTER you've posted

 

Image by Daniel Murtagh

WAITING

She waits wistfully at the window

Wondering if he will be a no-show

Ready and willing for his caress

In her lacy, gossamer thin dress

A draught plucks at her alluring beauty

Drawing her heart strings tightly

She reads a text message just received

‘Five minutes, darling,’ her breast heaves

As she waits to see the glare of headlights

Through the country lane like two penlights

She waits with bated breath, her pulses throbbing

Every fibre of her being aching

His key turned in the door

He would satisfy her amour

Cherishing their love affair

Tonight they would conceive an heir.

THE BRIDE

http://jfb57.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/100-word-challenge-week71/

100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups – Week#71

The date once again provides the prompt:

…as midnight struck…

That means you have 103 words to produce a creative piece

THE BRIDE

The diamond ring set sparkled on her hand

She had travelled many miles over sea and land

To celebrate Christmas with her friends and family

Her wedding day four days later, elegant and fancy

She felt a twinge of regret but a deep sigh relieved her

There was a question with an unknown answer

One person was missing and she didn’t know what to do

Should she have made advances, was she wrong not to?

Stupidly, stubbornly she’d burned her bridges several years ago

She had achieved her dream, she was the blushing bride

As midnight struck she walked proudly by his side.

Holiday Blogfest

OPEN TO ALL!! PASS THE WORD!! COPY BADGE AND LINK TO RFW!!

Memoir, Fiction, Recipes, Traditions...and more

This is a holiday blogfest with a difference! Please join in the fun!

For this Holiday Spirit blogfest, we are looking for excerpts involving fiction or non-fiction stories of family tradition, favorite/unique recipes, inspirational articles, etc.; that represent the essence of the holiday spirit.   RFW, and the blogsphere itself, include a multitude of countries, cultures, and citizenry of the world.  Not every culture celebrates Thanksgiving, Christmas, Yom Kipper, or any variety of holidays of the “giving spirit” during the same season.  Because the RFW hosts are a part of western civilization, we choose the Christmas month (December) to celebrate the giving spirit, and would like you to post whatever passes for the Holiday Spirit in your neck ‘a the world.

For this challenge, your submission does not need to include an element of romance; however, we at RFW acknowledge that ANY writing involving family (their values, traditions, and conflicts) is a Romantic writing.  What is more romantic than Family?

Because of the special nature of this Holiday Spirit blogfest, we are allowing up to two submissions; however, they must be in two separate categories.  Meaning, you could post your favorite recipe AND a fictio/non-fiction family tradition; or a link to an inspirational news/magazine article AND a recipe; but not two of each category (two recipes, two memoir posts, two articles). If you are posting two separate submissions, please add your blog link twice and add  the category to your name/link - eg; Donna Hole, Recipe - so participants know to look for two separate posts.

The linky will open on December 12 and remain open thru December 31 to encourage linking to the direct post.  However, if you decide to link then schedule a post (or two) later, just leave a comment to let everyone know when your excerpt will be available.  The RFW hosts will be checking the comments and links, and if a direct link is available, we will edit your link(s) if you haven't done so.

Please join us in celebrating life, love, presents, good food, and of course Family Traditions of all types of all cultures.

This is not a competition - it is a sharing. We hope we'll all get to know each other better!

My father was a serving officer in the Royal Navy and sometimes he was absent for Christmas but we didn't miss him. I know that sounds strange and perhaps rather harsh but the reason his absence didn’t spoil the Christmas spirit was because my mother  and my grandparents always made sure that myself and my brother had such a wonderful time.

Preparations for Christmas started a few weeks before the actual big day with the Christmas cake and Christmas pudding being made at the end of October / beginning of November. The cake was ‘fed’ with a capful of alcohol each week until a week before Christmas.   The marzipan would be made and placed on the cake and left to dry out for a few days otherwise it would bleed through and discolour the icing.   Then the Royal Icing was made and the cake iced and decorated ready to be displayed on the Christmas table at teatime.

A fresh turkey was usually purchased a few days before Christmas from the market in the nearest town.  My grandmother would travel the three miles on the bus and return carrying a turkey  weighing around about 23 lb – 24 lb to feed somewhere between 10 – 14 people on Christmas Day.

My grandfather (Fred) had the job of plucking the feathers and preparing the bird ready for cooking.  I remember sitting in granddad’s shed, wrapped up warmly, watching him cleverly prepare the bird.  These days it is all prepared for us by the butcher or the supermarkets.

The women in my family are always very busy on Christmas Eve cooking mince pies, sausage rolls and preparing all the food for the meal the next day.

All the family would come to my grandparents’ house for Christmas Day, as we sat at the laden table we would pull the Christmas crackers and share the jokes inside, little trinkets and wear the Christmas paper hats and enjoy our turkey and all the trimmings.

The Christmas pudding would then be brought in, doused with a tablespoon of brandy and set alight.  It was a great sight this flaming pudding with a sprig of holly decorating the top that we would then eat.

Inserted inside the Christmas pudding, wrapped in greaseproof paper, would be a silver sixpenny piece and there would be a coin for each child present.   A rich Christmas pudding was not always to a child’s young palate but we always ate it so that we could keep the coin.

Once the washing up was done by many willing hands, we would then gather in the ‘best room’ where the Christmas tree was with all the presents piled around it.

One person was nominated to give out the presents reading out the labels on the gift.  This could take two to three hours depending on how many guests were staying for Christmas.

Christmas tea would be about six o’clock in the evening when the table was set again, groaning with all sorts of goodies, a baked ham, sausage rolls, mince pies, a cheese board and crackers, a  home-made sherry trifle, a chocolate blancmange rabbit and various other nibbles and chocolates.   There would be alcohol served if wanted or tea and we would go to bed stuffed to the gills with rich food.   If anybody had any energy left then a game of Charades always ended up in hilarity or maybe the grown-ups would play card games.

Our family tradition started at least three generations ago (1930’s) when family Christmases were hosted by Great Aunt Mill (my grandmother’s elder sister) and her husband Great Uncle Fred Stevens.  

Aunt Mill and Uncle Fred owned a newsagents/tobacconist shop that also sold toys, ice-creams, cakes and had a few tables set out where they would serve home-made ice-cream, milk shakes and baked beans on toast, sardines on toast and cream sodas.   They worked very hard, opening their shop at 6.00 a.m. for delivery of the morning newspapers and not shutting up the shop until 10.00 p.m. at night.

Great Aunt Mill Stevens and Great Aunt Flo Goodson outside Aunt Mill’s shop circa 1920 – 1930, well dressed ladies, note the fashion of the time with the fox furs around their necks (unacceptable these days but perfectly acceptable then).

On Christmas Day they would stay open until about 2.00p.m to cater for the young children who had been given sixpence or a shilling for Christmas to spend and also to catch the trade from people visiting family who wanted a last minute present to take with them.   They would then close the shop and have their turkey dinner and the presents from around the tree.

My granddad, Fred, was always a little bit excited about Christmas and he would always have a sneaky look and a sneaky feel of all the presents around the tree before Christmas afternoon.  One year he became a bit grumpy and when Hetty challenged his mood he admitted that he couldn’t find a present from his daughter, June, my mother, around the tree. 

That year after all the presents had been distributed Fred still hadn’t received a gift from my mother.   All those sitting on the sofa were asked to get up and stand away while the sofa was moved out into the room.  Hidden behind the sofa, wrapped in Christmas paper, was his present from his daughter, a brand new spade for his garden.  The whole family had kept the secret and obviously this was a present that couldn’t be wrapped without giving away what it was, amid lots of laughter Fred was really pleased with his gift.

One year Granddad had his own surprise.  He had bought my grandmother an eternity ring and came over to our house where, with my mother’s help, wrapped this small box up and then put it inside a slightly larger box and a slightly larger box and so on and so on until a very large box was wrapped.  It took my Grandmother ages to undo all the boxes.  That was a good laugh as well.

One year my first husband asked me what I would like for Christmas and as money was tight in those early days of marriage and young children I had asked for something ‘pretty and practical.’   I opened my present from him to reveal a linen peg bag.  I must admit to feeling slightly let down until I felt another bulge inside the peg bag.  I retrieved the object and found a beautiful wristwatch inside.  That was a lovely surprise. 

We’ve also had our disasters with presents besides the usual items of clothing that didn't fit.  My father gave my mother a boxed bottle of expensive perfume.  As she opened the box and took out the bottle it was empty of any perfume.  The cap was still sealed and no leakage had occurred so our theory was that he had been sold the dummy bottle that had previously been on display. 

As an engaged couple my fiancée was invited to spend Christmas with my family and his mother was invited as well.  She refused to come as she wanted her son to spend the day with her.  We took her present round to her and she literally threw it back in our faces.

One year my aunt hosted Christmas.  She put the remains of the carved turkey back in the oven to save space until she was ready to wrap it and place it in the fridge.  Unfortunately, the turkey was forgotten about until an awful smell coming from the kitchen reminded her of the turkey sitting inside the oven.

A couple of years ago my mother was defrosting a frozen turkey in the fridge when unknown to her the fridge had broken down and stopped working; again the smell was the giveaway that all was not right. 

My husband decanted the gravy from the saucepan into a gravy boat and spilt it all over his hand and burnt it badly and sat at the Christmas table with one had wrapped in a tea towel encased with a packet of frozen peas.  

As the time has gone on it is now my turn to host Christmas Day and that seems to happen every year.  I am still lucky enough to have both my parents and this year there will be ten of us on Christmas Day ranging in age from just under two years old to just over 82 years old.

We still stick to our family tradition of catering our main meal for 1.00 p.m. – 2.00 p.m. and then clearing up the dishes and then sitting down around the tree for the ‘passing out of the presents’.  As each child grows up and learns how to read they take a turn or share this part of Christmas.  It teaches the young ones how to give gifts and wait until that present is opened and thanked for rather than diving in and opening a mass of presents all at once.

Colds and coughs and flu also abound around Christmas time but we all valiantly carry on and have a wonderful day, everyone is forgiven for slights and arguments throughout the year. When everybody has left or retired to bed I breathe a huge sigh of relief that Christmas is over for another year.

Last year's Christmas cake

Nativity Scene

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