Writerly Wednesday Picture Prompt - The More We Know, The Less We Know

The More We Know,

The Less We Know.

            My twelve-year-old daughter and I stood staring at the graffiti on the wall.

            “What does that mean, Mom?”

            “Well, I think it’s referring to this novel series called The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. A science fiction parody with this supercomputer that mathematically decides the answer is 42.”

            “What’s the question?”

            “What’s the answer for life and the universe.”

            My daughter snorted. “And the answer’s 42. That makes no sense.”

            I laughed. “Apparently, the computer malfunctions because of events that happen in the story. There’s no definitive answer.”

            She studied the wall and turned towards me. “Mom...that is the answer.”

            “What is?”

            “That there’s no definitive answer...at least for us. Why would we want to have the answer? We wouldn’t need to dream, or think, or learn. We’d lose the magic to life.”

            Sometimes we need to listen to our kids.

*** 

Flash fiction prompt provided by: 
 http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-1272016

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1^ST PERIOD AFTER LUNCH

I stared at the old typewriter in the second hand store reliving memories of high school typing class.

Once we learned the keyboard basics, we spent our forty minute class typing to music. The idea was to achieve a basic rhythm. Our first song was:

How    much    is    that    dog---gy    in    the    win-dow,    the  

     tap       tap     tap   tap     tap    tap  tap   tap    tap   tap     tap

one with the wagg---le---y     tail.

                            tap  tap  tap  tap     tap  tap   tap

By the end of semester, we were speed demons, grooving to the king, ‘Elvis’.  Anyone walking past the typing lab would hear the rhythmic tap tap tap to:

You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog

Cryin’ all the time

and

Let's rock everybody, let's rock
Everybody in the whole cell block
Was dancin' to the jail house rock.

WE were the cool kids. Typing class ROCKED!

***

Flash Fiction Prompt Provided By:

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WRITERLY WEDNESDAY FLASH FICTION PROMPT - ANIMAL CRACKERS

Another Wednesday story - enjoy!

Animal Crackers

Moving day, I drove to Mom’s. She stood surrounded by hobby farm animals. The farmer who was moving the animals didn’t show.

I made some calls; soon realizing we were on our own. The new owners arrived, annoyed we were still there. An hour later, we headed out in my hatchback, the backseat tied to the roof.

Almost at the new farm, a police car pulled me over. The officer leaned through the open window speechless..

Barclay barked. The parrot shouted: “Hello.” The ducks quacked and Dickens, the goat bleated before leaning forward to grab the officers shiny shirt buttons.

“I’m sorry I missed the stop sign, Officer. The kitten ran under the brake pedal and I didn’t want to hurt him. We’re just a ways down this road.”

He pulled back, shaking his head and laughing. “I’m not even going to ask. Carry on and drive safe.”

***

This promp provided by:

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WRITERLY WEDNESDAY FLASH FICTION PICTURE PROMPT - THE BURNING SHOE

THE BURNING SHOE

Have you ever wondered where that lone shoe comes from you see lying in the road? Or the pair of runners tied together and flung over the power line?

I wonder how many upset moms have to buy their kids a new pair when these abandoned shoes mysteriously appear.

I live in a boring little place where nothing much happens and crime is almost non-existent. But still, the Staff-Sergeant in Charge writes a weekly crime report for our only newspaper.

This is his exciting report from the latest printing:

Police were sent out on a disturbance call Friday night at 3 a.m. to Lower Road and Ashbury in Stoney Creek, only to discover a burning running shoe in the middle of the road. Fire fighters soon distinguished the flames. Police have no witnesses to the crime and to date, no one has laid claim to the shoe. 

***

Picture Prompt Provided By: 

http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-6222016.

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WRITERLY WEDNESDAY PICTURE PROMPT - BITTERSWEET

BITTERSWEET

Watching them, my soul’s warmed. He’s a great father. I couldn’t find a better guardian for our son.

My husband is smart, witty, and a great provider. I think of the first time we met in the grocery store. I knew he was following me.

Him: “Excuse me ... can you tell me where the bread is?”

Me: He’s kidding right? “Uh ... if you avert your eyes to the left. Ta da!”

He turns red and smiles: “I’m so blinded by your beauty, I can’t see.”

Me, groaning: “That’s a terrible pick-up line. Does it ever work?”

Him, laughing: “This is the first time I’ve used it. You tell me.”

I stare at him now, a protective arm around our son. I smile. It did.

I feel a pull.

Time to go. You don’t yet know that I’m dead. A car accident two blocks away.

Goodbye my loves.

***

Flash Picture Prompt Provided by:

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WRITERLY WEDNESDAY FLASH FICTION PICTURE PROMPT - CHOICES

Here we are again! Writerly Wednesday! Hope you enjoy!

Choices

She stared at the man opposite her, knowing that no matter how carefully she chose her next words, it wouldn’t matter. She was hurting him. It would take him awhile to get over it. They couldn’t remain friends; his expectations would overshadow that possibility. Maybe someday; maybe never.

He was a good man and she had the utmost respect for him but she couldn’t live a lie.

The look in his eyes and the slump of his body told her he knew. After three years, he could read her well. After college, he’d gone into business with his father. She worked at the hospital as a nurse.

He loved his life. She wanted more. She was heading to Africa to work on the Mercy Charity Hospital Ship. Her blood raced with excitement thinking about it.

She held his hand, took a nervous breath and began to talk.

***

Today's Flash Fiction Prompt provided by:

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WRITERLY WEDNESDAY FLASH FICTION PICTURE PROMPT - A MOTHER'S LOVE

This week I'm going out on a limb with a controversial subject that may not be to the liking of some. It's a challenge to address something like this in 150 words. However, it is more about the unconditional love and support of a mother and the angst a mother can experience even with an adult child. Hope you like it.

A Mother's Love

I stared at the photo. She loved that park. I remember buying pretty dresses in the early years. She refused to wear them. Definitely a tomboy. I came to accept she wasn’t a girlie girl. But who knew?

The teen years aroused my suspicions. Was she a lesbian? She was popular with both boys and girls but never dated, studied hard, won a scholarship to university. I was proud. But this?

She told me a week ago and I’ve been crying for days. Initially, for me. But this is about her ... him. Transgendered. Hormones. Surgery.

I carried my child for nine months, nurtured her, raised her ... him as a single mom. Now the tears are for him and what he’ll face.

I heard the door open. I stood. “Mom?” He entered the room and into my outstretched arms.

“You’re still mine,” I said.

Together, we cried.  

***

Flash fiction prompt provided by:

  http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-542016

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WEDNESDAY WRITERLY PICTURE PROMPT - FOND MEMORIES OF VERMONT

Fond Memories of Vermont

I said to my husband:

“I LOVE Vermont. 

They celebrate all four seasons with year-round festivals of every kind featuring their specialty foods. Winter skiing and spring fishing with the tapping of the Maples for maple sugar candy and maple sugar pie; summer ferry rides, camping at Grand Isle on Lake Champlain and their famous strawberry shortcake. Fall is my favourite time of all with the world’s best foliage, biking through the endless valleys and rolling hills. A beautiful array of dazzling reds, oranges, golds, yellows and, of course, their famous apple pie with a fresh slice of state cheddar cheese.”

My husband said:

“Honey, I don’t think we love Vermont. I think we love food.”

***

Flash Fiction Prompt provided by:

http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-4272016.

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WEDNESDAY WRITERLY PICTURE PROMPT - SEXY MANNEQUINS

           SEXY MANNEQUINS  

I HATE THEM.

Don’t get me wrong. Dressing windows satisfies my creativity. Exploring the use of fabrics, accessories and colours to show a product line at its best is truly art.

When I set up my business years ago, most were headless, torso and legs, and t-bar mannequins; androgynous one-size fits all.

Now they’re full-body with all the attributes of the female body. You have the Madonna, the Marilyn Monroe, and ...

 P-LEEE-ASE.

We live in a visually dominated world, people. Dressing idealized statuettes, complete with make-up and wigs, I am reminded on a daily basis of my short, stocky body with saggy arms, and facial wrinkle concealer.

At day end, driving home, I crank up Christina’s song and sing along as loud as I can.

                  We are beautiful no matter what they say     

                      We are beautiful in every single way

                       So don’t you bring me down today.

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Flash fiction prompt provided by http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-4132016.

WRITERLY WEDNESDAY PICTURE PROMPT

The weeks seem to fly by and here we are, Wednesday again. Just to update you on my other writing endeabours. I'm in the final chapters of Missing Thread, The Georgia Series, Book 3. I expect to finish it and have it sent off to my publisher by mid-April. Yay!

Meanwhile here's my 150 word flash fiction for this week. 

LADY

She sat in a field behind my parents house. She’d seen better days but I love that car.  My Dad’s pride and joy, he’d bought her as a fixer-upper She was all that, with no back seat. In those days cars didn’t have seat belts, so for the first couple of weeks, we three sisters sat on little stools, so low to the floor we couldn’t see out the windows. When Dad went around a corner, we were too short to reach the ‘oh shit handles’, and we’d slide off the stools onto the floor in a tangled mass of giggles. Dad would glance over his shoulder and shout: “You girls stop that fooling around.” Like we’d planned the whole thing.

We named her Lady, from the movie, Lady and the Tramp. She may have lost her looks but not her style or her memories.

She was still Lady.

Flash fiction prompt provided by http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-462016.

WRITERLY WEDNESDAY PICTURE PROMPT - BUNNY

I can't believe it's Writerly Wednesday again. The week flew by so fast. Hope you all had a happy and safe Easter weekend, shared with family and friends and lots of good food.

This weeks picture was difficult for me, but once an idea popped into my head, the story wrote itself. Hope you enjoy it.

Bunny

            Our two-year-old Chrissy found the rabbit hidden under her bed that Sunday morning. She’d held it up and giggled excitedly. “Bunny, Mommy.” 

            Has a year really passed since last Easter?

            I held the rabbit tight; flooded with memories rendering my heart heavy. We’d lost her two days later to a drunk driver who hit our car. Someone found the rabbit on the road and gave it to the police. I buried my face in Bunny’s fur and cried.

            Bunny went into the box with Chrissy’s things for my husband to store in the attic.

             My eyes scanned the redecorated room and the bassinet in the corner. My hands moved to my blossoming abdomen. This baby could never replace Chrissy but a new life could help us cope with the loss of another.

            I smiled. One day, I’ll give her Bunny and tell her of the sister she’ll never know.

Flash fiction prompt provided by http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-3302016.

Weekly Wednesday Flash Fiction - The Rings

Today is Writerly Wednesday. Here's my flash fiction story for this week.

Flash fiction prompt provided by http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-392016.

The Rings

            The rings had a story of their own. A lifetime of stories—full of promise, expectations, family. Good times and bad. And death.

            She picked them up and studied each ring. They’d worn well over the years; no loose diamonds or breaks in the band. Forty years and it seems like yesterday we were driving to California in our old Volkswagen van for a honeymoon.

            When he died, she didn’t think she’d make it. But here she was five years later. She sighed, kissed the rings and placed them back in the jewelry box.

            She looked at her reflection in the mirror, remembering his last words. I’m the one dying, not you. Promise me you’ll keep on living and find happiness again.

            Her eyes slid to her hand and the new ring covering the indentation the old ones burrowed into her skin over the years.

            She smiled.

WEEKLY WEDNESDAY FLASH FICTION PROMPT - EMPOWERMENT

Flash fiction prompt provided by http://www.writerlycorner.com/writerly-prompts/writerly-wednesday-2242016.

This is my weekly flash fiction prompt, a short story based on a picture prompt. Enjoy!

I DID IT!

            Amanda stared at the rock that came up to her chest. What fun it would be to stand on that rock and see the world below. She turned to her grandfather and pointed to the big structure. She raised her arms to him. “Papa? Upsies?”

            Papa smiled, shaking his head no. “Climb up. You can do it.”

            With a knitted brow, Amanda turned back to the rock. She put her hands on it; her mouth turning to a pout. “I can’t.”

            Papa pointed to her and used his fingers to walk around the other side.

            Amanda stared at him, perplexed. She walked to the other side and noticed the rock was slightly lower. Leaning her stomach on the top, she pulled one knee up, pushing and panting until she lay on the rock.

            Amanda stood, threw her arms up and yelled to Papa.
            “I did it”