Wednesday 28 December 2016

WEDNESDAY WRITERS - THE LOOK

I hope every one had a wonderful few days celebrating and enjoying the Christmas period.  We had a busy time spending precious hours with family for three days and I have managed to find time to join in with 

WEDNESDAY WRITERS

Writing Prompt for Wednesday Stories 12/28/16


for this week's prompt.  we were given several pictures to choose from, we could use all or some of them as the prompt for our story.  I used just two pictures and went slightly over the word count. 


THE LOOK

There I was just minding my own business, happily gnawing away on one of my precious acorns when something caught my eye.  I pretended not to look and become inconspicuous but I wasn’t blending in very well with the white, cold snow. 

Those humans began stomping all over the snow making deep holes in the snow making it difficult for me to get home trying to dodge those snow drifts they made with their heavy booted feet.

I tried not to get involved but the female of the pair squatted down and looked me straight in the eyes.  I managed to stop gnawing for a few seconds as I tried to out stare her but it wasn’t going to work.  She was obviously one of those do-gooder humans who thought that us squirrels and other wildlife needed their help in these wintry conditions.

I tried to tell her that we’d been surviving these wintry conditions for many seasons without the help of human intervention and sometimes they came too close to us for comfort.  We weren’t doing anyone any harm and we’d organised ourselves well in advance and had a lovely cache of nuts stored and secreted away for times like these when the food was hard to find naturally.

I heard the couple talking some gibberish about taking photographs for posterity.  Well they probably thought I wouldn’t even know that word.  Little did they know that squirrels were very well informed about the modern age and technology; we are quite clever little creatures. 

I did really want my five minutes of fame and struck a pose with what I thought was quite a beguiling look, a sideways glance while bringing the nut up to my mouth and having a sneaky taste.  I fluffed out my tail so that it looked tall and proud and waited for them to capture the moment.  



There it was.  I will now be famous worldwide, such a shame they don’t actually know my name and I will just be one of many ‘cute animals in the snow’ pictures that will abound through the airwaves, reaching far and wide in to people’s homes and maybe even make it in to print on to Christmas cards.  Oh, the commercialisation of our species is a great debate for another time perhaps.

I was waiting for them to turn round and go back the way they had come or even carry on past me and forget all about me when, to my astonishment, the male called to his female.  As she turned round to look at him, her face lit up with such a beautiful smile that I was actually dumbstruck for a moment or two.  


The joy and love on her face is something that I, as a mere squirrel, will take back to my dray to my own beloved and try to make her look at me with such love instead of the harried look she often gives me as she struggles to keep our brood of youngsters warm.  I’ll bring her a handful of nuts that she can chomp on as she looks after our young kittens.

Word count:  524

Wednesday 21 December 2016

LIFE GOES ON - WEDNESDAY WRITERS

Prompt for Wednesday Stories 12/21/16
·       December 15, 2016

Today, there were will be two photos to use in your story.  Here are the seven words you will need:

seesaw * flashbulb * caffeine * jug * graffiti * seaweed * hand




LIFE GOES ON

Carrie put the bunch of carrots on the counter top.   Yes, she nodded to herself, there would be enough there, she’d make a jug of coffee before scraping and topping and tailing them.  She certainly felt the need for some caffeine today.

Nobody else remembered, nobody else realised what today meant.  The tenth anniversary of her best friend’s death.  People thought life should go on and so it should. She looked down at the ring on her hand and remembered Elizabeth. 

Elizabeth was so full of life, everything was fun to her, even in the playground when they were six years old she would bounce on the seesaw making it go so high up, bumping violently on the ground, shrieking with laughter as she gripped the handlebars tightly.  

That day at the beach when they were ten years old and their parents had taken them all to the coast.  The boys had gone off splashing in the sea ,Elizabeth and I collected seashells and then she draped a handful of smelly, brown, glutinous strands of seaweed around her neck and then round mine, chortling with laughter as I nearly choked on the foul smelling algae.

Then came the teenage years.  I would follow her anywhere and do anything she wanted.  She had such ideas, such notions that usually got us into trouble and we would end up being grounded for days or weeks and sometimes a month at a time. 

One Saturday afternoon I couldn’t join her and our friends as I was sick with the summer flu.  How I wished at the time I could have gone with the crowd but it wasn’t to be.  Elizabeth and a few others decided they would practice their art under the railway arches.  It would be cool they said to spray graffiti on the brick work and make it stand out.  Elizabeth was the artist amongst them, she was also the daredevil. 

Carrie brushed away a tear as the memory of that fateful afternoon crowded in, perhaps if she had been there she would have dissuaded Elizabeth from climbing on to the abutment then perhaps she wouldn’t have fallen.

The carrots were now chopped ready for the stew, everything else was in the dish so Carried popped the dish in the oven for a few hours while she got on with the rest of her day.

Picking up her camera she proceeded to her living, casting her eye around the surroundings she picked up a soft reindeer toy strategically placing it on the armchair.  She framed the shot and clicked as the automatic flash went off lighting up the area semi-blinding her eyes.   She was so glad things had moved on to automatic rather than the old fashioned flashbulb they used to use.  The noise as it popped and the smell of magnesium would sometimes overpower the user. 

Taking a few more shots Carrie then moved to her computer, uploaded her photographs and proceeded to write her Christmas blog.   

Word count: 497

Thursday 8 December 2016

WEDNESDAY WRITERS

rib, ice-cream, offer, hook, consonant, teddy bear and file

This week the lovely Debb at Inner Sunshine (http://www.innersunshine.net/2016/11/30/writing-prompt-for-wednesday-12716/) has provided the above picture to use as the prompt for the 500 word story incorporating seven random words.

Here is my story:

PREPARATIONS

Daphne heard the key turn in the front door.  She waited, holding her breath, as she listened for the next sound.  Then it came.

‘Hello Beautiful.’

Her grandson, Josh, entered her flat, he bent down and kissed her.  His whiskery lips brushed her paper thin cheek, he smoothed down her grey hair in a loving gesture.  She put down her work making sure the crochet hook was safe folded inside the woollen garment. 

‘Oh Gran, that’s lovely, such soft wool.  Are you making a teddy bear for Nicole?’

Daphne smiled at her grandson, the thought of her young great-granddaughter enjoying the stuffed toy filled her with delight.  Who would have thought she would see the day when she would have great-grandchildren to enjoy, although to be honest, they were rather tiring these days.  Her energy wasn’t what it once was.

Josh started chatting to her as he normally did.  She was so grateful he called in every day after work making sure she was safe and well in her tiny little council flat. 

‘Did you hear me offer to pick you up on Christmas morning, Gran?’

Josh was a bit worried that his gran had seemed to wander off in to a dreamlike trance.

‘Oh, yes my dear.  That would be so lovely.  Thank you.’

Josh continued to talk about the plans for the big day.  His wife, Anna, was planning on roasting a crown of turkey and a joint of rib-eye beef for dinner and then at supper time they would have cold cuts with a slice of Christmas cake.  Anna was also going to make some rum and raisin ice-cream for dessert.

Daphne started to believe that she might enjoy this second Christmas without her beloved Harry by her side.  There had been so many changes in the last couple of years to her life but as the saying goes, life goes in cycles and this was her twilight cycle.  She must enjoy every moment that she was given.

Josh came back from the kitchen with two cups of tea on her pretty floral tray, he’d even remembered to put some biscuits on a plate rather than leave them in the packet.  He was such a thoughtful chap.
Contentedly, sipping tea, dunking biscuits while they watched Daphne’s favourite programme, *Countdown, they started calling out the numbers and the next round was choosing vowels and consonants needed for the game to make up words in the minute allowed.

As Josh was leaving Daphne reached down by her side and picked up the file beside her armchair. 

‘This is my last Will and Testament that I want you to look at, my dear,’ she said quietly, a steely determination in her eyes.  Josh shook his head, she held his hand, ‘you have to help me with this.  You are the only person I trust to look after my estate.’  

Tears came unbidden to two pairs of identical eyes that communicated silently with all the love there was in the world. 

Word count:  500

*This is an English game show shown at teatime and very popular.





Monday 5 December 2016

THE DIFFERENCE - SUNDAY PHOTO FICTION


The idea of Sunday Photo Fiction is to create a story / poem or something using around about 200 words with the photo as a guide. Please try to keep it as close to the 200 words as possible. It doesn’t have to be centre stage in the story, I have seen some where the placement is so subtle, the writer states where it is.
New section. Please read:
Careful editing is the key to keeping the story within the constrains of the limit. 200 words may seem like a lot, but it disappears quickly. The challenge makes you look at replacing two words with one, and a little jiggery pokery. A few words over is sometimes necessary when there is no way of shrinking it without losing an integral part of the story. Using a program like Microsoft Word or Open Office have a word counter so you can see how many you have used.
Once you have written and posted your story, please add the link to the inlinkz froggy icon below and add it to the collection so we can all have a read.
Any links that are not related to Sunday Photo Fiction
will be deleted so please don’t add them.




THE DIFFERENCE

Patsy pushed her cat, Holly, off the end of the bed.  She quickly donned her dressing gown and slipped her feet into her fluffy slippers.  She made her way to the window, drew open the curtains she peeked out at the wintery landscape.

What a difference from this time last year. Two weeks in the warmer climate of the Maldives on their honeymoon.  That was a wonderful time, well for the first few days anyway and then everything changed.

Day three in to their honeymoon she couldn’t do anything right in Tom’s eyes.  The first evening they’d had great fun at the casino, gambling away, winning big that first night, on a high they retired to their room, the euphoria of winning giving them both such a rush that neither had experienced before.

Patsy wanted to stop while they were on a lucky streak but Tom knew better.  By the end of the fortnight they managed to scrape together enough to pay the hotel bill. They’d flown home in silence, the love gone and now here she was on her own in this cold, rented flat.  

Christmas is coming – the goose is getting fat.  

Bah humbug.   

Anger was better than tears.

Word count: 200