This week our topic is Triangles, Diamonds or Squares.
Be creative if you feel like it, and fun with this challenge this week. Remember your photos needs to be black and white, desaturated, sepia (brown tones) or selective colour
This week we had a picture and a few random words to incorporate in to our story.
Here is my story:
*bid* *ensure* *promise* *time* *walk*
Flowers for Fiona
Fiona answered the doorbell. Standing on the porch was a florist with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, passing them over to Laura he wished her a lovely day.
Fiona took the card from the
bouquet and placed the medley of white flowers in the sink to give them a good
drink of water.
‘I promise to love you all my
life.’
That was weird. Who on earth would send her flowers with such
a message? She was newly divorced and enjoying her freedom from the
restrictions her marriage had placed upon her.
She knew it wouldn’t be her ex – he was off to pastures new, newer than
the one he left her for. She didn’t
think Ken would ever grow up and face up to the responsibilities of holding
down a job and a relationship. That’s
what comes of being a spoilt brat with money left to him from his family.
She returned to her computer to complete
the particular piece of work just in time to sit down for some lunch. Enjoying her sandwich, her peace was
interrupted by the chimes of the doorbell.
Standing at the door was the same delivery driver, beaming from ear to
ear.
‘Somebody thinks highly of you,’
he grinned at her.
Fiona was slightly taken aback
but she accepted the flowers gratefully.
This time the card read:
‘I will ensure you have a life
of pleasure.’
What was she going to do? This was getting creepy.
She found some vases and arranged
the flowers; the smell was so fragrant and hit her olfactory nerves just
right. She shrugged off the feeling of
somebody watching her, checking through the patio windows she couldn’t see
anybody in the garden, there was nobody loitering on the street, she even
looked through the spare bedroom window into next door’s garden to see if there
was anybody there. Nobody.
Fiona shrugged it off but it
played on her mind all afternoon. She
finished her work for the day, ordered a Chinese take-a-way meal to be
delivered and poured herself a glass of red wine while she waited for her food
to come.
A restless night ensued where she
tossed and turned thinking about those messages on the bouquets and who on
earth would be sending her such things.
Waking up rather bleary eyed, she
jumped in the shower ready to start her day.
No sooner had she sat at the computer than the doorbell rang. Her heart pounding, Fiona opened the door to
find a female delivery driver holding a huge bunch of flowers. They were thrust in to her hands as the woman
then hightailed it back to her van.
Fiona strained to see if the van had a logo of any description on it but
no such luck.
Another bunch of beautiful white
roses, this time the card read:
‘If you were a lot in an auction I would out-bid everybody for your
hand.’
The doorbell chimed again, another
bouquet, a different driver, male this time.
‘I will love you until the end
of time.’
A bit later another bouquet
arrived, this time the message said:
‘I will walk with you for
ever.’
Fiona had had enough. She contacted the police who took her
seriously. After a few weeks the culprit
was detained. It turns out it was a
young lad working in the supermarket where Fiona shopped. He didn’t realise what he had done was
frightening and scary to Fiona. He only
wanted the chance to meet her and go out with her. He didn’t realise he was classed as a
stalker.
Fiona slept well for the first
time in weeks but she now can’t stand the smell of fresh flowers.
This week our topic is Anything that Flight. Your photo can show anything in flight or is capable of flyings through the air.
Be creative if you feel like it, and fun with this challenge this week. Remember your photos needs to be black and white, desaturated, sepia (brown tones) or selective color.
Here are my photos for this challenge:
This week’s CFFC topic is Pail or Pale. For pail, you may include, pails, buckets, or any container with a handle. Pale can include any pastel colouring or desaturated colouring.
Here is my choice for this week's play on words:
mm
Please join in if you feel creative
https://www.facebook.com/groups/581037879387720
The prompt this week was to construct a story using these five random words:
*careful* *obnoxious* *gutteral* *voracious* *dispensable* *vivacious*
She walked in on a conversation
in the office that she probably shouldn’t have been a party to. It wasn't her fault that they were shouting
at each other, the office at the end of the corridor probably heard the slanging
match going on.
Gareth was becoming quite obnoxious
in his utterly guttural voicing of all the wrongs the young apprentice
was not doing. He reduced her to tears
which only led to another barrage of insults.
If she couldn’t take the heat she shouldn’t be in this business, it’s
cut-throat, dynamic and to be a journalist of any sort of repute she would have
to be voracious in seeking out the stories that would sell their online
newspaper. No long the printed matter
for them. According to Gareth it didn’t matter how adept Milly was at IT and
getting the items published, what he needed was prompt copy, fact checking and
editing in a fast turnaround time.
Finally, Gareth ran out of
steam. He stormed out the office wishing
it wasn't open plan so he could have the satisfaction of slamming a door, he
just made do with stomping down the corridor.
Boy, did he need a coffee. He
really didn’t enjoy dressing down a young, new member of staff, let alone one
who was as attractive and vivacious as Milly was.
Susy rushed in and took Milly in
to her arms, cuddling her fast to her matronly ample bosom, the mother hen in
Susy coming in to play. She shushed and
told her it be alright with comforting strokes on Milly’s back. She passed Milly a tissue to wipe her eyes
and nose while they had a whispered heart-to-heart conversation.
‘You have to be very careful
around Gareth. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, even though he is at least 10
years older than you. Just take care and
if he acts in any way out of line we will go to HR and lodge a sexual
complaint.’
‘It won’t come to that,’ Milly
replied. ‘I know I am dispensable
in this team, there are hundreds of graduates like me just waiting to jump into
my shoes. Somehow I have to make my mark
and prove I am worthy of this job and valued as a bona fide journalist.’
Susy nodded her head, knowing
Milly would pick herself up, she left her alone and went back to her own work
station. As she walked away she noticed
Annette, Gareth’s wife, walking into his office. He was the only one with a ‘proper’ office, a
door and windows out in to the office.
The door was shut, the blinds came down, so privacy was wanted. Susy knew Annette was the power behind the
throne and she would calm Gareth down, probably enough to elicit an apology
from him to Milly at some point during the day.
Milly noticed as well. Right girl, time to sit up, straighten that
backbone of yours and think of an article that would blow his socks off.
Got it! Last week was International Women’s Day. Everybody jumped on the band wagon but now
was the time to keep it going. She would
open up a competition of sorts, asking for essays on the women who influenced
other women’s life, poetry perhaps. She
knew a lot of people were put off by poetry thinking it was dull and staid and
old fashioned. She’d pitch it as; you
listen to poetry everyday and don’t realise it.
What are song lyrics if not a form of poetry? Oh, she was on a roll now. She could have a section called ‘prosetry’ a
mixture of flash fiction and a poem. She
could open a blog, a chat room, a forum, a safe space for women and maybe men
who were influenced by great women in their lives. There was so much stuff she could do, this
could run and run. She punched her fist
in the air as she figuratively put pen to paper while her fingers pounded
across her keyboard hardly able to keep up with her thoughts.
She’d write a poem herself, mark
it anonymous to be able to pitch it as an example to Gareth. Leading with the title of women over the last
70 years – 1950’s – 2020’s.
A few minutes later she was ready
to print her poem:
The housewife of
old was meek and mild
She looked after
the house and her child
She tended to all
her man’s needs
Then found time to
pull up some weeds
She cleaned and
washed and cooked all day long
Listening to the
radio enjoying the pop songs
Matching handbags
and shoes
Twinsets and
pearls
Hair neatly
coiffed and lacquered
All meals were
home cooked and catered
No machines to
save time and energy
Any ambitions to
work were thought to be haughty
She was there to toe
the line
To comfort,
nurture and be his sunshine
Nothing was too
much trouble, never angry
Abused physically
and mentally by all and sundry
As time went on it
wasn’t enough
Soon women found
the strength to rebuff
The social norms
of their lives and times
Sometimes having
to commit crimes
Suffragettes and
pioneers who wouldn’t be beaten
We need to thank
our brave women who were certain
Who led from the
front for their sisters and daughters
To find the right
answers our female warriors
Taking voice and
fighting hard to unite
Making sure it’s
everyone’s birth right
Regarded and
respected as any other human being
Genuinely admired
and loved with feeling
So now we are in
the 21st century
Some women are
still living in penury
Working hard to
change women’s lives
No longer willing
to be captives
Standing against
discrimination and prejudice
Knocking down the
walls of the fortress
Dismissing the
world of unfair bigotry
Trying to get
everyone to agree.
Standing up for
women’s rights and others
As did our
grandmothers and great grandmothers
Not only for sex discrimination
or prejudice
Righting the
wrongs in the world with fairness
Thinking of the
whole world with compassion
Helping out others
with consideration
Lots of empathy
and sympathy along the way
Hoping to make it
a brighter day.
This week's Black and White Challenge from Cee is 'Things Found In The Kitchen.'
Here is my selection:
This week the topic is HOLE or WHOLE:
here is my selection;
The lovely Debb Stanton issues a writing challenge every week with a prompt to be incorporated in to our stories.
This week the prompt was a picture and some random words.
If you want to join in or follow the stories please check her out on Facebook which is where she posts the prompts and stories by looking at Debbie Stanton, Author.
This was the prompt:
*fail* *giraffe* *helicopter* *igloo*
WEEKEND
DAD
You only have to
look at my boy to see that I do not fail as a dad. I might fail as a husband but not a dad.
My boy laughs at
the drop of a hat.
My boy laughs at
a book he can’t read.
I tuck him up in
bed when it’s my weekend with him, making sure he has his toy giraffe to
cuddle up to.
We made a camp
in the living room although it turned out to be more of an igloo shape
than a tepee. Oh well, I tried.
I hate saying
goodbye to him but I plaster on my best smile and wave as he is driven away.
I turn down
overtime on his scheduled weekends. It
probably means I have to tighten my belt for the rest of the month but he
really is worth it.
I try and try
and try.
I wrap his
birthday present up, a Dinky toy helicopter, ready to send to him
because it’s not my weekend to have him.
I only hope the parcel will arrive on time.
Melissa is still
very off with me; I won’t let that stand in the way of loving my boy. I don’t say anything bad about her. How can I when I wish I hadn’t messed up our
marriage big time.
I’m trying to
make amends. I’m trying to show her I
still love her. I’m trying to say,
please let me come home. Please let us
be a family again.
I can only keep
trying but I’ve heard rumours that she may be seeing another chap. I try not to stalk her on Facebook but it’s
difficult not to. He seems a calm
influence, they seem to be in love.
I’ll wait in the
wings until it’s my turn again, if only I could be so lucky.
Only time will tell
There is no magic spell
To mend his broken heart
He doesn't want to be apart
From these people in his life
Whom he loves with all his might
His world has turned upside down
Suddenly he is a broken man
He’s tried to make amends
But he just offends
As things spiral from bad to worse
He realises he is under a curse
No matter how he rehearses
The words he wants to say
They come out wrong on the day.
She turns away
While his guilt weighs
Heavy on his heart
He needs a new start
https://ceenphotography.com/2021/03/04/cbwc-pairs/
This week Cee's challenge is
PAIRS
Here is my selection:
