Weekly Challenge #890 – Collection

The next weekly challenge topic is: Frozen in time

LISA

A Neatly Folded Bag for Life.

I said I’d be there about ten to pick Mum up, but you all know my timekeeping skills don’t you? And it was raining so the roads were packed. Then I got caught up in a funeral procession. It felt disrespectful somehow to overtake; I mean Mum was in no hurry was she?

It was the greenness that struck me, the jars were all green. The lady at the Crem explained its screw top before sliding Mum into a green box.

“Will you need a bag?” She asked with a smile.

That was green too.

But I’d brought my own.

RICHARD

Philatelost

Whilst cleaning out the loft, we found my great-grandfather’s stamp collection. Nobody had seen it for years, and we’d assumed it lost; a terrible shame, considering it was supposedly worth a fortune.

I remembered poring through the album as a child, which is more than great-grandfather did: He was content to simply collect and file the stamps. Only I was ever interested in them.

We sent it to be valued, only to be told it was worthless.

It would have been worth a fortune, if only the young me hadn’t ‘artistically’ altered all the designs in marker pen!

SERENDIPIDY

I needed a hobby to fill my spare time, which is why I took up taxidermy. Over the years, I’ve managed to amass quite a collection, but it’s always been difficult to source a suitable supply of subjects.

There’s only so much roadkill out there, and much of it is in no state for stuffing. So I started to improvise, and would carefully mow-down any animals unfortunate enough to cross my path, whilst out driving.

Kids were easy pickings too, along with the occasional wandering tramp, and joggers, all finding their way into my collection.

Aren’t hobbies just great?

LIZZIE

He knew that the collection of plates with flowers on them was worthless.
However, his wife thought they were her ticket into a world of traveling and luxury.
When she died unexpectedly, one of her daughters lit two candles next to the plates, mentally claiming them as hers.
“No one wants these plates, right?”
Everyone said they did want them.
That’s when a family crisis started. Years of arguments ensued. Marriages. Grandchildren. Divorces.
And the damn plates were still there, sitting on the shelf.
Good thing he had hidden the gold.
Traveling was nice and luxury hotels were even better.

TOM

He who dies with the most toys wins

Every generation had its collectable collections. From Legos to Pez candy dispenser. I was too young for Match Box and too old for Hot Wheels. Have a very limited collections of 60s baseball cards, and even smaller collection of bit coins. Long ago I sold by collection of Salvador Dali and Picasso, spent a year on the beach with that moo-la. Since I have retired from the college my passion for collecting has centered around Marked Playing cards. I have eight of best produced decks in the world. My current favorite is the NOC deck, a wickedly simple binary system.

NORVAL JOE

Sabrina called from above. “Sorry. I didn’t have time to warn you. Are you okay?”
The man floated face down in the water.
“Yeah. He missed us.” Billbert turned the old man over, leaned him against the well’s wall, and slugged him in the stomach. The old coot coughed out water and began to breathe again.
“Look what I found.” Linoliamanda held out a collection of beer bottle caps.
Billbert frowned. “So?”
“Look.” She turned one over to reveal an arcane rune written inside and handed it to Billbert.
The metal was ice cold on the palm of his hand.

PLANET Z

The warehouse fire put three guys from House Sixteen in the hospital.
Bobby and Big Mike were fine, just a little smoke inhalation.
But The Kid, what a mess.
He fought. He held on.
His girl holding his hand for weeks.
We visited him, told him Big Mike’s cooking got worse, worse than hospital food.
I think he heard us, cause he smiled.
City throws a big funeral, sure. Uniforms and a march down Main Street.
But the union only does so much for a guy.
So houses from all over the city passed the boot around for his girl.

George talks to birds

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He liked to talk to trees, butterflies, and birds.
There usually weren’t all that many trees and butterflies on the ocean, but one of his shipmates had a parrot companion.
George would talk to the parrot as if it were a person, and they’d have long conversations.
When the owner of the parrot would try to walk away, George growled “Don’t interrupt our conversation!”
The parrot’s owner tried to give the parrot to George as a gift, but George refused.
“Why would I want all that hassle?” said George.

George splits the atom

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
His swashbuckling skills were legendarily bad, having once lost to a baby in a stroller shaking its rattle.
Once, he slashed at a sailor and barely nicked his shirt, managing to catch a single atom of the fabric.
Splitting the atom in half, the resulting explosion annihilated George, his opponent, the ship they were on, and the port they were docked at.
The shockwave leveled everything within a mile, and a wall of fire incinerated the ruins.
A mushroom cloud billowed from the site, rising into the grim sky.

George gets a tip

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He spent a lot of time getting drunk in taverns.
One night, he overheard sailors talking about a gold shipment.
George raced back to his ship to tell his crewmates.
Later that night, George overheard them saying how much of a stupid fool George was.
Dejected, George went back to the tavern.
The next day, the pirates attacked the cargo ship with the gold.
But it was a trap. Several Navy frigates ambushed the pirates.
George was at the tavern, buying drinks for the sailors with the reward money.

George has an emotional support animal

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He started carrying around a teacup Chihuahua in a tiny orange vest.
“It’s my emotional support animal,” said George, pulling out a doctor’s note.
“Fine,” said the captain. “Just make sure the dog doesn’t get scurvy.”
Other pirates brought aboard their emotional support animals.
Dogs, pigs, cats, chickens… you name it, they brought them.
Things got out of hand quickly, with dogs chasing cats, a boa constrictor eating all the pet rats, and nightly cockfights.
The captain banned all the animals, but only after winning a few cockfight bets.

George the party animal

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
The captain always held an end-of-the-year party for the crew.
George didn’t like crowds, so he volunteered to the skeleton crew that would watch the ship while the rest of the crew went to the party.
The captain would leave a list of chores for the skeleton crew to do.
Scrape barnacles. Swab the deck. Clean out the cannon.
George crumbled up the list, threw it over the rail, and climbed up to the crow’s nest.
He watched the sunset over the harbor and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Dread Pirate George

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He managed to get taken captive by The Dread Pirate Roberts.
“My real name’s Westley, and I’m in a bit rushed,” said Roberts. “I need to get back to Florin to rescue my true love from kidnappers. Mind taking over things for a while?”
George agreed, and Westley trained him as quickly he could.
“Good luck,” said Westley, handing off the mask, and rowing away in a lifeboat.
George waved, put on the mask, and took command of the ship.
Which smashed into The Cliffs of Insanity and sank.

Weekly Challenge #889 – Satisfied

The next weekly challenge topic is: Collection

SCRIBBLING WREN / LISA

The sun woke an hour ago and has been nudging me ever since. I’m not ready yet to raise my concrete heavy eyelids, I’m still desperately clasping onto my evanescent evening.

Honestly? I’m face down in a pillow and can’t lift my head. It’s a struggle keeping the spit in my mouth. I need to go to work, but I probably need to go home first. I sense him next to me.

I’m not sure if it’s my age, or the head fug of satisfaction but I can’t remember his name. I’m far too sated to feel any embarrassment though.

RICHARD

Un-satisfied

According to the song, you can’t always get what you want; but, if you try sometime, you might get what you need.

But, what if, whatever it is that you need also happens to be what you want? Do they cancel themselves out, and you get something else entirely?

And, how about if you don’t try sometime, but all of the time? Do you get more than you need?

What about if you don’t try, at all… Do you get everything you want, all of the time?

It’s all too confusing, perhaps that’s why Mick Jagger couldn’t get no satisfaction.

SERENDIPIDY

Mother always used to moan at us kids, whenever we were having fun.

“Stop pulling faces!” She’d say, “One day, the wind will change, and you’ll stay that way.”

We hated her, and the resentment grew, until we decided to put her in her place.

I don’t know where my brother found the acid, but it sealed our fate.

We were at the park, pulling faces as usual, and mother trotted out her usual line.

I grabbed the acid, and as I threw it, the wind changed, blowing it back in our faces.

I’m sure mother was more than satisfied.

LIZZIE

Let the music play.
And smile.
They tell you about her.
You don’t recognize her in their words. But you smile.
They talk about what they don’t know, veiled words of criticism oozing through.
Smile. Always smile.
Because letting them know what you really think would show ungratefulness.
And you’re not ungrateful.
Let the music play.
Words turn into this vague hum.
And you try to make sense of it all. But you don’t want to, because you know all about her.
They are satisfied. They have now established themselves as better than you.
It’s OK. It’s OK…
You smile.

TOM

Heaven can Wait

Story goes my grandmother Margherita went on the grand tour in 1919. While in Florence she visited the Church of Santa Margherita. Standing in the exact spot Dante last beheld Beatrice she was struck with an overwhelming sense of sadness. As she gathered her composure in a pew an old woman gave her a paper and pen. In broken English the woman explained “Plead in writing to Beatrice to ask her to fix your love live.” Grandma placed the note in basket at her shrine. From it she took a paper that said Satisfied. She gave this totem to me.

NORVAL JOE / PHILIP CARROLL

Fortunately, the water in the well was shallow and there was no real potential for drowning.
The old man leaned over the well and in a smug satisfied voice, he said, “You’re stuck now. You’re in a magical dead zone.”
Billbert bristled. “I have a super power–not magic.”
The knight laughed. “Call it what you want. You can’t use it down in the well.”
Suddenly, with a grunt and a scream, the old man toppled over the edge of the well and splashed into the shallow water. Billbert had only a moment to step out of the falling man’s way.

PLANET Z

Thanks to the Happy Chip, everyone is satisfied with everything.
The manufacturer’s slogan is, after all, YOU WILL BE HAPPY.
Is that a statement of fact, or is it a command.
It certainly isn’t a threat… is it?
Sure, the law mandates that everyone living here has a Happy Chip installed.
There are no penalties or fines involved.
Anyone with a disabled, malfunctioning, or missing Happy Chip gets one installed.
For free. Not a single penny in co-pays or processing fees.
After the surgery, just walk through the scanner and… there’s the green light.
You’re good to go.
Satisfaction, guaranteed.

George’s fish tank

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
The captain ordered him to clean his fishtank.
George enjoyed his new responsibility, and he decorated it with all kinds of pretty rocks and fish.
As George learned more, he constructed bigger, more complex fishtanks.
At one point, most of the ship’s hold was taken up by George’s fishtank.
“ENOUGH!” shouted the captain. “It’s beautiful, but we need room to store provisions, cannonballs, and powder kegs!”
The next morning, the fishtank was gone.
The captain smiled, until he realized that the ship was stuck inside an even bigger fishtank.

A note for George

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He was always writing things down, but he never bothered to read any of his notes.
So, he ended up writing even more things down.
Which he also never read.
Pretty soon, George was up to his neck in notes.
“Stop writing so many notes,” George wrote on a note, and he added it to the pile.
Pretty soon, the entire ship was full of tons of useless notes. So full, it capsized and sank.
George went down with the ship, having failed to read his “Replace lifeboat” note.