George sleeps

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He had a hard time sleeping.
His doctor checked him for sleep apnea, but George kept himself fit and lean.
He was fine during the sleep study, too.
So, the doctor recommended a relaxing herbal tea, and that George get an ambient noise generator.
The herbal tea was soothing, and the noise generator produced the sound of the ocean waves.
Which is silly, when you think of it.
George, laying there in his bunk, right under a porthole, and using a noise generator instead of just opening the porthole.

Weekly Challenge #984 – Caught in time

The next topic is Ashlar

THOMAS

Caught In Time

Every Tuesday, Miriam brought my Walmart groceries, her bonnet crisp, her voice soft. This week, she sneezed twice as she handed me my bags. I nodded, uneasy. By Thursday, my throat burned. By Friday, fever.

I lay in bed, certain I’d caught something from her—something plain, Mennonite, unvaccinated. The irony struck me: I, a man of modern medicine, felled by a woman still baking bread in a wood stove.

I’d called Walmart to report it. Then came regret. Had I damned her? Had I let fear twist my judgment? Caught in time, but too late to take back. Damn!

RICHARD

— Flashback —
It was unexpected.
I almost missed it amongst the paperwork during the clearout.
The photograph fluttered to the ground, freed from the pile of old newspapers and random leaflets that had accumulated over who knows how many years.
I retrieved it and flipped it over, and suddenly realised what I was holding.
A precious moment, from so long ago, caught in time by the camera’s lens and kept for posterity. Not just a picture, but a cherished memory.
So long forgotten, and I’d almost thrown it away.
Now it sits in pride of place, in a frame on my desk.

SERENDIPIDY

The question is not so much what did I do, but whether it was caught in time?
You know I developed the virus.
You are well aware by now that I released it into the wild.
And you certainly understand the consequences of what I’ve done.
But it’s going to take time to develop an antidote.
Research and development are costly, complex, and are unable to come up with a solution overnight.
But, overnight may well be the only time you have.
And even then, it may be too late.
I know the answer, of course.
But, I’m not telling!

TOM

984

TimeY WyMe

Not easy being a Time Lord. Hard enough to catch a falling anvil. Try catching the most important moment in a person’s life. Knowing the exact place to be and just the right level of interaction. Not easy my friend, sometime it goes way-way south and you spend eons backtracking in the Time Loop to set things right. Take this here butterfly, looks like a normal butterfly, yes. Well, no this butterfly is actually every butterfly or more to the point “butterfly is an illusion.” A single soul caught in time. Trend lightly in her presence less the unraveling begins.

861

Remote

In the olden day there were only seven channels available on the Tv set. To watch these Tv stations one had to arrange a set of “Rabbit Ears” into a reasonable representation of modern art a top your set next to the ceramic Leppard. Wish to bring joy to your grandparents? Use “Rabbit Ears” in a complete sentence. Proper verb optional. To change stations, one had to turn a dial, but at some point, the remote control was created, but the signal was sent by banging two pieces of metal together. Think a single note wind chime in your hand.

862

Rubegoldbergian

I love games as a child. Drove my parents crazy to get the next kid centric boardgame. Hands down the must kinetic game was Mouse Trap. Not much on plot, high on execution. One would think the limited number of moves would bring on a sense of boredom. Nope fun every time. Little did I figure out at the time this would prepare me for the endless twisted path the modern world cast in my path. I only wish that each of life’s machination was a brightly colored piece of plastic that could be neatly disassemble back in the box.

NORVAL JOE

On his way home from school, Billbert stopped by the hospital to see how Mr. Withybottom was doing. The nurse told him Linoliamanda and her mother had just left with their driver, but he might find them in the parking lot if he caught them in time. Unfortunately, they were already gone. Disappointed, Billbert continued home.

As he passed his fence, he heard Sabrina whisper from his back yard. “Billbert. Don’t look at me, so that if anyone asks, you can say you haven’t seen me. Just go unlock the back door so I can sneak up to my room.”

PLANET Z

Nobody remembers the actress Sapphire Frankel.
Her raspy Southern drawl ensured an end to her career in the talkies era.
All of her films were on nitrate stock, none were preserved.
The studio records building burned up in a warehouse fire in the fifties.
Promotional posters all lost to the dustbin, not a single one in the hands of a collector.
She had an aversion to merchandising, never wrote a memoir.
No children, no family.
No affairs with Hollywood legends, not even Tallulah Bankhead or Marlene Dietrich.
Not even a gravesite, her ashes scattered by a studio secretary long ago.

George and the flying elephant

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
Things got so bad, he ran away and joined the circus.
For his first three months, George did nothing but shovel animal poop.
Then, when a baby elephant was born with huge ears, George got an idea.
“I will teach it to fly!” he said. “Then, I can stop shoveling animal poop and be famous!”
“For the last time, no,” said the ringmaster. “This is as dumb as your flying baby giraffe, flying baby bear, and flying baby lion ideas!”
George ran away and joined his old pirate ship.

Phantom George

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
So, while attacking a merchant ship off the coast of Bangalla, he fell overboard.
Pygmies dragged him ashore and nursed him back to health.
“Do you swear an oath to vanquish piracy and slavery?” asked the pygmies.
“Sure,” said George. “Yeah, okay.”
They showed him a cave and gave him some purple pajamas and a black mask.
They didn’t fit so well, and when George tried to put on the mask, he clumsily fell out of the cave.
And that’s how George became “The Ghost Who Falls A Lot.”

George learns discipline

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
The captain thought that George’s problem was a matter of procedure and discipline.
He made George clock in and clock out for his shift and write detailed reports about what he did while on the clock.
George wasn’t good at reading and writing, so the reports were incomprehensible.
George ended up having to explain what he tried to write, which took even longer.
Giving George no time to do his actual pirate job.
“It’s all in the metrics,” said George, scribbling up another meaningless, illegible report for the day.

George keeps his job

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
In spite of George’s lack of expertise in piracy, piracy is a rare skill in the labor market.
So, even a pirate that’s not very good can command a decent living doing it.
In an era of full employment, George’s prospects became even brighter.
When the captain complained about George’s mistakes or incompetence, he had to consider how hard it would be to replace George.
So, he shrugs and fishes George back out of the water.
“Try not to fall overboard again, please,” says the captain.
“Aye aye, sir.”

George and the poodles

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He spent too much time lying on the deck while poodles romped all around him.
The captain of the ship thought that this was a waste of time, but the captain’s mother was the ship’s chef, and she liked to adopt and raise poodles.
Any time he’d get mad about it with George, his mother would show up and say how much the poodles loved the attention.
When provisions got down to hardtack and water, the poodles vanished.
While the captain’s mother wept, George begrudgingly went back to work.

George gets rain delayed

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
When it started to rain during a sea battle, he threw up his hands and shouted “TIME OUT!”
Men on both sides of the conflict lowered their swords, and George ordered the decks to be covered with a tarp.
For three hours, the men sat around, sipped their tea, and a few did belly-slides on the wet tarp.
“Do you think we’ll need to postpone?” said George to the other captain.
Five minutes later, the sun came out, and they rolled back the tarp to begin fighting once more.

Weekly Challenge 983 – PICK TWO Aviator Circuit Twice Chamber Squirrel

The next topic is Caught in time

LIZZIE

What is that?
A map.
Of what?
No idea.
North Pole?
No.
South Pole?
No.
Then what?
No idea.
Speak louder, my hearing aid is not charged.
NO IDEA.
No need to shout.
You told me… Ok, never mind.
So, it’s not the North Pole or the South Pole.
Nope.
What is it then?
I don’t know, I forgot to bring my glasses.
Aviator’s map?
No.
Well, when I look at it this way, it kind of looks like a squirrel.
A what?
A squirrel. Just squint and you’ll see.
Short circuit alert. Later.
It’s a squirrel, I tell ya!

RICHARD

— Chocks Away! —
Three solo circuits around the airfield and you’re an aviator, according to our instructor. The rest of the lads, like myself, had their doubts. Most of us had never even sat in a cockpit until a week ago, and now here we were, flying!
After a fashion, anyway, but we weren’t learning to be stylish. As long as we could get up into the air, stay in the air, and read a map we were good to go.
Now, it was just a matter of waiting.
For the sirens, scrambling us to take flight, and take on the enemy planes.

SERENDIPIDY

I won’t tell you twice.
Tell me what you know, or it’s the torture chamber for you!
And you know what happens there, don’t you?
Little boys like you don’t last very long on the rack, and it’s surprising how talkative you become once I start to tighten the thumbscrews.
So you should probably reconsider your attitude.
Today’s test is on your multiplication tables, so tell me what you know and prove that you’ve been practicing, and doing the homework you were set.
Or, I very much regret, that the next lesson you’ll be learning will be very painful indeed.

NORVAL JOE

As if he might see Sabrina outside, Billbert gazed out the window into the courtyard where students locked their bicycles. Sabrina wasn’t there, but Bobbi was, wearing aviator glasses and walking a circuit around the bikes. He couldn’t see her eyes behind the mirror-like lenses, but Billbert was sure Bobbi was looking for him.

If he could find her at lunch, he would ask her what her problem was. Was she a spy or running interference for her brother, the bully?

Though he searched at break and lunch, he saw neither Bobbi, nor Sabrina, for the rest of the day.

TOM

In honorable company

From his angle he could clearly see twice the number of chambers were loaded. “Say my good-fellow your second seem to have chambered a second.” The duke hefted the pistol level to his hip. “Why I do believe you are correct.” “I will wait till corrections are in order.” The duke just smiled and raised the gun higher. “Not very sporting old man.” “Rank has its perks.” “So does being raised on the streets of London.” If he had been twice the gentleman as the duke all would have ended with biting words instead of business end of a dirk.

TURA

Chamber; squirrel
———
My job at the research institute is putting the selection into selective breeding.

The slug loaded into the first chamber smacks into the branch the squirrel is hiding behind, panicking it into motion. The shot pattern from the second brings it down.

The squirrels eventually got smart enough to just freeze onto the branch. At first, I could sidle around for a clear shot, but now they’re smart enough to not panic, and keep hidden. I don’t let up though.

After making intelligent squirrels, we’ll try bigger animals: wolves, bears. Humans need more competition these days, to keep them sharp.

PLANET Z

When you load a squirrel gun, be sure to load a squirrel in every chamber.
Load it right, so it comes out head first.
You don’t want to point it at a guy, pull the trigger, and come up empty.
And never point a squirrel gun at anyone unless you intend to pull the trigger.
Otherwise, you’ll get a reputation for giving empty threats.
Hold that squirrel gun like you mean it.
No backing down now.
And don’t stuff it down your pants like some kid.
You don’t want that thing going off and shooting a squirrel in your pants.

George and gunpowder

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He heard that the great pirate Blackbeard put gunpowder in his rum, so he thought that if he put gunpowder in his rum, that would make him great, too.
George snuck into the ship’s powder hold and grabbed a bag of powder.
The problem was, he’d grabbed a bag of saltpeter that hadn’t yet been mixed with sulfur and charcoal.
When George poured it into his rum, well, let’s just say that George wasn’t very good at something else.
“No wonder why Blackbeard doesn’t have any kids,” said George.