Category: Weekly Challenge

Weekly Challenge #897 – Old Videos

I blew up a bit in this one… leave a comment to let the writers know if you liked their stories.

The next topic is Riot Of Color

RICHARD

Old Videos

Tucked away at the back of the wardrobe, I’ve several boxes, stuffed full of old videos.

I’ve had them boxed up for around twenty years now, and they’ve followed me through at least three house moves, carefully packed up, transported, and put away in their new home.

Why have I kept them?

Through some vague sense, of ‘I might want to watch them, one day’? Not that I’ve anything to play them on anyway.

And the fact is, I’ve not watched any of them in the last twenty years, and probably never will.

But I keep them.

Just in case.

TURA

Old Videos
———
I have a stack of VHS tapes I’ve never got around to watching. I still have a VCR, but I never have the time. I could convert them to digital files, but my video to USB converter is so old it’s not compatible with my current OS. I could replace it, but when will I find time to do the conversion? Will I ever watch them anyway?

If I put this off too long, the tapes will degrade and won’t be playable at all. Then at last I’ll be able to dump them.

Maybe I should just dump them now.

LISA

Something Nasty in the Woodshed

Me and Simon had only gone round to help Fay next door clear the attic. Her husband had died a month ago, him and Dad had been as thick as thieves. She was moving somewhere smaller.

There were boxes of old video tapes up there with dates and girls names on. We’d seen the documentaries so joked about our serial killer neighbour.

After unearthing an old player we stopped for lunch and watched a video. It was much worse than we suspected. And it looked like he buried them in their garden.

“Fuck!” said Simon “is that your Dad digging?”

SERENDIPIDY

There are old videos of life in the village: Life before the calamity.

Grainy, blurred videos in washed out colour of picnics on the village green, laughing toddlers at the playground, couples, friends, families happy and relaxed, without a care in the world.

There’s even the odd wedding video.

Good times. Nobody could ever have imagined the horror that was to come.

It was a fine spring day, late in June. The sun was shining, and people were going about their business, blissfully unaware of what was coming their way.

For that was the day I arrived at the village.

LIZZIE

“Come on. It’s starting,” I said. Old videos and popcorn!
But… I had forgotten. Our old videos don’t go with popcorn. They go with sorrow.
“Say cheese for the camera,” they would say cheerfully.
We never did, no.
“Don’t be so grumpy all the time, you two.”
We were kids. We weren’t grumpy. We weren’t stupid. We weren’t shitheads. We were just kids.
Memory is such a trickster, isn’t it? It erases everything.
And here I was, in front of the TV, a bowl full of popcorn on my lap.
I wanted to cry, but I had no tears left.

NORVAL JOE

The woman seemed surprised by Billbert’s request for a back exit. Then she smiled and led them past a rack of dusty VHS movies for rent, through a door and into what appeared to be the woman’s home. A chunky man in a sleeveless t-shirt and gray slacks, sitting at a dining table didn’t look up from his newspaper as they traipsed past.
A back door led them to a wooden porch, forty feet above the placid Matole river.
The woman nodded to some stairs. “These will take you to a trail along the river, if that’s what you want.”

PLANET Z

Old Man Pinella sits in his home theatre, watching videos of the band.
Jason on guitar, Billy on bass, Joe on keyboards, and Wally on drums.
And then there was Vicky… oh, how she could sing.
The crowd was spellbound… after every song, silence.
And then the loudest applause and cheering and shouting.
The last video ends, and Pinella sits in the dark.
Remembering the band coming backstage, roadies packing up the equipment, and Pinella handing out plane tickets.
“I’ll see you in Chicago,” Pinella said to the dark screen.
He sips his coffee, and walks out of the theatre.

Weekly Challenge #896 – PICK TWO Reviewal, Painfully shy, Rats, Translation, Crack of dawn, Shine

The next topic is Old Videos

LISA

A Proud Murid Mother of Seven

Her babies were born during a summer thunderstorm. She nurtured them in a disused ventilation shaft whilst secretly dreading the day they’d leave the nest.

She prepared them well though – taught them about hawks, owls, cats and foxes even racoons although there weren’t many of those to be found around Digbeth Coach Station. She warned them of the temptation of poison bait boxes, and the dangers of eating cold kebab meat straight from the bin.

They first ventured out at the crack of dawn. They stuck closely together but went straight under the wheels of the overnight coach from Aberdeen.

RICHARD

Hello World

I’ve always been painfully shy. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been the one hiding in the corner, keeping as low a profile as possible, and avoiding interaction with others.

It had to stop.

I got counselling – in itself a huge leap forward – and they gave me suggestions of ways to break out of my shell.

The internet was the perfect way to keep people at a distance, whilst stepping out of my comfort zone.

Try writing stories for a podcast, they said.

So, I did.

And here I am.

At long last, it’s my turn to shine!

LIZZIE

At the crack of dawn, the rats would come out to play.
He knew they would try to shine.
But he wouldn’t let them. Oh, no.
At the crack of dawn, the rats would start to talk.
He knew they’d give him up.
But he wouldn’t let them. Oh, no.
There was only one way to stop this madness.
He drove to them.
At the crack of dawn, he knocked on their door.
They opened, saw him and tried to run.
It was messy and they never got to shine.
He almost felt for them, at the crack of dawn.

SERENDIPIDY

Every morning, at the crack of dawn, the rats return to their lair.

The village breathes a collective sigh of relief, and once the sun is high in the sky, life can resume as normal.

Doors and shutters are checked, freshly-gnawed holes are filled, and bait and traps set, only then can we attend to the preparing and cooking of the meat snared overnight.

Once we have eaten, we prepare once more, for the darkness and horror of the night.

By day, we may feast on the rats, but when the night comes, they seek to feast on us.

TOM

Even in the quietest moments

Maurice surveyed the horizon, a mere sliver of light over the waves of black sand. He was not the one to be up at the crack of dawn. He was the night hawk, the man with the 10,000-yard stare. When he saw her face in the starlight, he could not bare to wake Amanda. It was the first time in weeks he noted the grief had for a moment crept away into the blackness about them. The trouble with the blackness is it was just as likely to creep back at you. What was creeping towards them were the rats.

NORVAL JOE

A kindly old woman smiled at them from behind the counter inside the store. She leaned forward to look out the window. “How’d you three get here?”
Sabrina picked up a shiny packet of powdered donuts. “We’ve been walking since the crack of dawn. Will this road take us to Eureka?”
She nodded. “Ferndale, Fortuna, then on to Eureka.”
Billbert paid for their donuts and milk. He headed for the door and stopped. A jeep pulled into the parking lot with three familiar passengers.
“Rats!” Billbert said. “In reviewal of our situation, is there a back door we can use?”

PLANET Z

Drusilla is painfully shy.
Sits in the back of the classroom.
Never raises her hand.
Wets herself when she’s called on anyway.
And if she answers, she answers in a whisper.
Changes in a bathroom stall for gym.
And runs to the bathroom to change back.
Nobody invites her to their parties.
Which is fine by her.
She likes to keep to herself.
And her pet rats.
Well, she calls them her pet rats.
But they’re just ordinary rats in the house.
Running around the cellar.
She puts out cheese for them.
They eat, and run back into the shadows.

Weekly Challenge #895 – Canyon

The next topic is Reviewal, Painfully shy, Rats, Translation, Crack of dawn, Shine

RICHARD

Undeliverance

As we paddled into the canyon, Jack murmured, “If you hear banjos, just keep paddling!”

“Very funny” I replied, but to be honest, I was unnerved. The rock walls closed in on us as the current caught our canoe and we began to speed, ever faster, through the narrow passage.

If we were to capsize here, gun-toting hillbillies would be the least of our problems.

Thankfully, we got through without incident and began to unpack on a handy beach.

Then, I heard the sound of a shotgun bolt drawn back, and a voice behind called out, “Squeal, piggy. Squeal!”

LIZZIE

Canyon was a crow.
Canyon hated his name.
Canyon abhorred the guy who had named him.
Canyon never replied when the guy called him.
The guy’s greenhouse was his pride.
So, Canyon started with pebbles and slowly upgraded to stones.
The day one of the windows shattered, Canyon cawed in triumph.
That’s when he stopped being Canyon and became a Jerk.
Canyon didn’t like Jerk either.
The guy fixed the window and sneered.
A convoluted plan ensued. Canyon’s buddies would help.
Well, the guy didn’t live long enough to enjoy his greenhouse.
It was a murder, by God, a murder!

LISA

Some Unsettling News
I’m getting married on a plane, odd because I’ve never flown well. It’s turbulent, the pilot’s struggling and I’m expecting to wake up any minute. But I don’t. I’m falling, falling from the plane into a canyon and I’ve not saved my future wife…

Then, I wake.

Next to her.

The woman, I found out yesterday, that slept with my best mate on our wedding night.

The woman that said his daughter was mine; my wife of thirty six years.

I roll over on blood soaked sheets and try to get back to sleep wondering when to report her death.

SERENDIPIDY

The police report stated it was death by misadventure, an unfortunate combination of standing too close to the edge, a selfie stick, and concentrating more on the perfect pout, than on keeping her balance.

Death, by Instagram.

It wasn’t, of course. It was murder: Premeditated, planned and perfect.

“Get a selfie on the edge”, I suggested, “you’ll be perfectly safe.”

And she would have been, had I not tampered with the stick the night before.

As she pressed the button, the spring released, propelling her precious phone over her head.

She lunged. Grabbed. Failed. Fell.

I got a great photo!

TOM

Barney Google he ain’t

When I was a kid, my grandma came to live with us. We were a Daily New family, but my grandma was a Tribune reader. The Trib was the size of a telephone book. Not much interest to a child of eight. What was cool about the Trib was the comic section, four pages. Which was good because some of the stripes made no sense at all. Prince Valiant boring. And Steve Canyon way beyond my pay teeny-bopper grade. Good old squared jawed Stev was the inspiration for my favorite cartoon Clutch Cargo which employed that cheesy Syncro-Vox lip sync.

NORVAL JOE

Neither Billbert or either of the girls had any idea where they were. The sun was just beginning to lighten the sky, so Billbert guessed which direction was east. As they flew north they passed over ridges and small canyons. They saw marijuana fields below them and eventually came upon a small general store where a road crossed a river.
They landed in the parking lot.
Linoliamanda read the green road sign, “Honeydew, California. Population three.”
Someone hung an “Open” sign in the doors window.
“Oh, good. I’m starving,” Sabrina said. “Let’s get something to eat before we head on.

PLANET Z

The tambourine man fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed him.
Through the empty streets of the evening empire, concrete canyons covered by the sands of time.
Over to the docks, casting off the ropes from a magic swirling ship.
Sailing across the sky, the sun.
The gunslinger followed the trail of smoke rings, far past the frozen leaves of the snowy forest.
And on the windy beach, the tambourine man’s ship had foundered.
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow, but not the gunslinger’s bullet.
The pistol spun, and a gloved hand returned it to its holster.

Weekly Challenge #894 – Stand

The next topic is Canyon… and, yes, I know I screwed this up.

LISA

Swipe and Pay on the Last Bus of the Day

It was standing room only, always the same on a rainy Saturday night, a sea of vacant faces and glazed expressions. I was sandwiched between a woman with a lot to say and a good looking man, I found out later, called Paul.

The bus jerked us about. Someone nearby really needed to wash their neck. Paul and I collided for the whole journey. We apologised whilst sharing an uncomfortable look then awkwardly got off at the same stop.

Thankfully he hadn’t noticed his missing card; I did a food shop bought some shoes then threw it into the Clyde.

RICHARD

Old Boy’s Club

“So, Sedgwick, where do you stand on the fairer sex?”

“I beg your pardon”, I replied, momentarily distracted from savouring my brandy.

“Women, old chap! Some of the boys think we should allow them into the club, are you for, or against it?”

The Clarrington was one of the more forward-looking gentlemen’s clubs, but even so, some things are sacrosanct.

I took another appreciative sip of Brandy.

“No, women have their place, and The Clarrington is not that place.”

“Jolly good, old boy” He checked his fob watch, “Now, drink up, the pole dancing girls will be starting soon!”

LIZZIE

They said “You can become filthy rich being a travel blogger”. He believed them. One day, a guy said “You’re a wuss.” He was no wuss. He was a King. “Off with his head!” He’d always wanted to say that. His kingdom. An old mattress, a dusty rug, a lamp. He could walk a few feet to the left and a few feet to the right. Thirty years, till the parole board decided he could leave. He did have some incense burning. It made him look normal. The severed head in his backpack was sloppy. Oh, well, stand still, Zen…!

SERENDIPIDY

Teacher made me stand in the corner. She was always making me do that; I reckon she got a kick from it. What sort of person takes pleasure from exerting their authority over a kid like that?

I wasn’t bothered about spending time in the corner, it gave me plenty of opportunity to plot and plan, it was more about the embarrassment of being singled out and made to look a fool.

Another bonus of facing the corner, was that it allowed me slip my gun from where I’d hidden it.

Time that teacher got singled out, by me.

TOM

Stand

I’m child of the 50s. I cut my music teeth on the Chicago Silver Dollar Survey. A top 40s kid. A system best described by Joni Mitchell in Free Man in Paris: Stoking the star maker machinery Behind the popular song. This all changed in the 80s with the rise of Alternative rock. Thinking man’s rock. I totally embraced REM’s Stand with its super bubble-gummy pop bounce, so reminisceic of The Banana Splits, The Archies, 1910 Fruit Gum Company and The Monkees. “Your feet are going to be on the ground. Your head is there to move you around.” Yup.

NORVAL JOE

Not wanting to have to make a stand against the two burley teenagers, Billbert leapt into the air. Linoliamanda rose with him, but stopped, as Sabrina remained, standing on the ground as solid as any rock.
Billbert dropped back to the ground. “I can’t stand this.”
Sabrina pointed to a stand of trees. “We can hide in there. Maybe fight them off.”
“No. It’s no use.” He thrust his other hand to Sabrina. “Let’s give it one more try.”
Sabrina took Billberts hand forming a three person circle.
Billbert barely thought about it and they rose into the air, together.

PLANET Z

They.
They tell us to sit.
They tell us to stand.
They tell us to put our hands over our heads.
They tell us to put our hands down.
They tell us to sit again.
They tell us to smile.
They tell us to stop smiling.
Stop smiling, right now.
They tell us to stand.
And tell us to sit again.
They tell us to do a lot of things.
Over. And over.
Until they stopped.
Because we told them to stop.
We told them to sit down.
We told them to stop smiling.
We are no longer their slaves.

Weekly Challenge #893 – Moisture

The topic of the next weekly challenge is Stand

RICHARD

Alan

Alan always had to be right.

What do you want to go to the rainforest for? You won’t enjoy it?’

That’s putting it mildly: I’d hated every second of the trip.

You’ll almost certainly get lost!’

Right, again. I’d never been more lost in my life.

You probably won’t make it back.’

Unfortunately, that was certainly beginning to look like a real possibility.

It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity that’ll kill you.’

Almost right. The moisture that filled the air, made it hard to breathe; but, it wouldn’t kill me.

However the snake bite would.

Not always right, Alan!

LISA

A Thermos Flask Borrowed off Nanna

It’s 1982. The car journey from Leicester to Dad’s mate’s caravan in Cornwall takes roughly 400 years. We go every year. My younger brother is exploring the moist contents of his nostrils, and on the other side of me the older one is reading a well illustrated book about insects.

At the services we stare at a poster for iced coke while a cup of tea, that tastes more of plastic cup than tea, is passed around. A big lorry rumbles past and the thermos falls off the dashboard and smashes.

It proves to be the highlight of the holiday.

LIZZIE

Plants need a lot of moisture. So, he bought an industrial moisturizing machine for his greenhouse. The plants were happy. Their growth was impressive, he had to admit. At some point, he thought about removing the moisturizer but he went on vacation and forgot about it completely. When he got back, the roof of the greenhouse had burst open. Everything was of an industrial size, the plants, some birds that flew inside, even the ants. He should’ve suspected. That’s why the damn moisturizer was so cheap. It was all over the news. Industrial contamination was turning everything into giants, people included.

SERENDIPIDY

The car might have been abandoned, but the ticking of the engine as it cooled, and the occasional, almost imperceptible rocking on its suspension told me it was just parked up.

Not many cars made it this deep into the forest.

I approached cautiously.

A film of moisture obscured the inside of the windows; they were clearly enjoying themselves, and were completely oblivious to my presence.

Hand, resting lightly on the door handle, I wondered if they’d plead for mercy, or run for their lives.

Either way, it would be good sport.

And I was the one holding the shotgun.

TOM

Not Happy

If you come from Chicago or New York, you think your pretty much humidity badass. Heat – wet got that covered. Power through, get the job done, wring out your shirt, flip on the AC. I had no idea there was a place on earth that excelled in full impact Moisture. In Florida I met my match. It’s bad enough your body is coat 24 -7 multiple layers of perpetual film, but every centimeter of your lungs are drowning in wet. Actually, film would be a kind description, goo would be more accurate. Give me phoenix where moisture work in your favor.

NORVAL JOE

Billbert took a hand of each of the girl’s in his and jumped into the air. None of them went anywhere and the teenage knights were running their direction. Moisture breaking out across his forehead, he tried again. And again, they remained firmly on the spongy forest soil.
Linoliamanda dropped Billbert’s hand. “Take Sabrina. They don’t really want me. I’ll be okay.”
Sabrina’s eyes lit up. “You heard the girl. Let’s go.”
“No!” To Sabrina’s shock, he shook off her grip and then grasped Linoliamanda’s hand again.
Sabrina looked like she would cry, until Billbert said, “Now, take Linoliamanda’s hand.”

PLANET Z

It rained last night.
I’d gotten my car washed.
The guy with the sticker scanner asked about the paint scrape on the left side.
Where I’d hit the pole at the electric charger.
“We can buff that out,” he said.
The scrape was down to the primer, no way they could do that.
Needed to go to the dealer for a new panel.
I didn’t respond, I just drove up to the car wash track, put it in neutral.
After the wash, I drove home and parked out in the lot.
No cover. No trees.
And it rained last night.

Weekly Challenge #892 – Recovery, Falling, Rotten egg, Some guy/girl I met online, Hopeless, Fog a mirror

The topic of the next weekly challenge is Moisture

RICHARD

First Responders

We watched him.

Watched him as he toppled from the ledge, falling four storeys, until the concrete path below arrested his descent.

We ran towards him, time being of the essence, thinking that just maybe he’d survived the impact.

We reached his prone figure and I knelt down beside him, as Jack urged me to get the guy into the recovery position.

Then, with practiced efficiency, we did what we do best.

It was a good haul: We recovered his wallet, watch, mobile phone, cash and a gold tooth.

And we were out of there long before the ambulance arrived.

LIZZIE

“I’ve never felt so grounded,” he said.
She could see through him.
“Some girl I met online,” he said.
A whole lot of bravado, a cigarette hanging from his lips.
That snapshot she took of him… The ridiculous hat, the feather, the flower. Was it a rose?
Hopeless. Empty.
She still remembered the album crammed with photos of himself, only himself. Page after page, after page.
When she asked why, he grinned and mumbled some vague explanation filled with an under-layer of self-doubt he desperately tried to hide.
Grounded in his desperation, wanting to be seen for what he wasn’t.

TOM

Recovery

Hi I’m the Angle previously known as 103742 , but you can call be Bill, saves time. When I am asked, which isn’t often, why did you take place in the Great Falling? Well, I can tell you this, it had noting to do with pride. Heavens no, that’s a little gallows humor there. It was Jenny, actually Angle 8675309. She said want to go on a fall with me? What’s a fall I ask, angles don’t know shit about verbs, its that lacking free-will thing. So down we all go screaming cowabunga. Been in recovery ever since, making progress.

NORVAL JOE

When Linoliamanda finally took Billbert’s hand they quickly rose, the well and old man falling away below them. Having overshot Sabrina, Billbert made a quick recovery and returned to the girl standing by the well.
Sabrina held out her hand. “Let’s go.”
Billbert was hesitant. “I’ve never levitated two people. I don’t know if I can.”
“There they are,” one of the teens shouted as they appeared on the trail from the forest.
Sabrina shook her extended hand at Billbert. “Let’s find out, quick.”
As the group of teens ran toward them, Billbert tried to levitate the three of them.

PLANET Z

“Insert the Recovery Disk and hit ENTER.” blinked on the screen.
Erica opened her desk drawer and looked through the disks until she found one marked RECOVERY DISK.
Sliding it into the drive, the ejection tab popped out with a click.
“Here goes nothing,” said Erica, and she pressed the ENTER key.
A progress bar appeared, and a green line slowly crawled from left to right.
When it filled the bar, RECOVERED appeared on the screen.
Then it went dark, the system rebooted, and Erica waited for the familiar login screen to appear.
“I need a faster system,” she muttered.

Weekly Challenge #891 – Frozen In Time

The topic of the next weekly challenge is PICK TWO: Recovery, Falling, Rotten egg, Some guy/girl I met online, Hopeless, Fog a mirror

RICHARD

Frozen

For the thousandth time since landing the job, I was questioning my sanity.

You were suffering from a special sort of madness to want to teach seven year olds, but to imagine they could be taught music put me in a whole different class of crazy.

Every day, I’d return home with an aching head, and in a foul temper: The distorted wail and crash of tortured instruments haunting my mind.

But, if the playing was bad, the singing was far worse.

Today, we attempted ‘Let it go’

Just try getting thirty, seven year olds to sing ‘Frozen’, in time!

LIZZIE

Is this what we’re supposed to see?
Is this the real face of…
Now is the time to be honest.
However, no one wants to tell the truth.
Everyone is hiding behind fake compliments.
Is this what we’re supposed to do?
Is this the real…
And that flower was so fragile. As fragile as they were, staring at it, wondering.
The two of them. Alone.
They were real. Yes, they were, together in that frozen pain of what was not, together as they had always been, mourning what could’ve happened but never did.
The two of them. Together. Always together.

LISA

An Ordinary House in an Ordinary Street

Do you want to see inside? It’s a silly question really; we won’t stop long.
Strange huh? Like an old lady house frozen in time. These are all his Mum’s things even though she died a decade ago.

Is that smell getting to you? Sorry should’ve warned you – that antiseptic does catch your throat a bit.

Let me just show you the cellar… Can you feel it? Like a chill that clasps you? It’s like a normal place but your body knows some bad shit has happened here. We’d better go: I think I heard his car pull up.

SERENDIPIDY

For hundreds of thousands of years, I was trapped beneath the icy permafrost of the Tundra: Frozen in time, a forgotten relic of the ancient past.

The earth warmed -climate change, so they say- and slowly, but surely, my icy prison released me from its bonds.

I broke free from its cruel grip and fought my way towards light, and freedom, reaching for the touch of sunlight, denied to me for millennia.

And now, I am free.

Unknown to science, immune to your modern medicines, no natural enemies, no modern remedies.

I’m back!

It’s time to take back my world!

TURA

Frozen in time
———
Since Einstein, we’ve known that the past is not gone, only frozen. The future too, though we cannot see it.

Everything that happens has always been going to, and always will have. Not one particle of all the suffering in the world will ever be extinguished, but exists for all eternity. The happiness too, but surely happiness is but a single grain of sand in a vast desert.

Each brief candle is forever being blown out.

You start by thinking about the speed of light and end up here. But you always were going to, and you always will have.

TOM

The Great ReDo
Benny felt the moment slide just out of reach. If she had been four steps closer. If the child to his right had been farther right. Then there was the sudden gunning of an engine. The light reflecting off the store front window. A single arrent piece of paper flowing across the street. One thing, a thousand. Spin the stack, put back, push forward, pause and move. Who can say it would turn out any different? It remains frozen in time. Outside the reach of the fates, furies, and fay. It remains frozen in space. Blink and it is gone.

NORVAL JOE

Billbert stared at the bottle cap and its inscription as if frozen in time. What did this mean? Then it hit him and he snapped out of his stasis. “Linoliamanda. Give me all the bottle caps.”
Once he had them in his hands, he shouted to Sabrina. “I’m throwing you some bottle caps. Spread them out away from the well.”
When the metal caps left the well, he felt his superpower return.
“Take my hand, we’re getting out of here,” he said to Linoliamanda.
She blinked. “Are you going to leave that poor old man down here?”
Billbert scoffed. “Yes.”

PLANET Z

Winterhaven doesn’t appear on any maps, but if you go looking for it, you’ll find it.
Cobblestone streets, wooden buildings.
Shops and houses around a central square with a fountain and a church.
The clock tower says five after two, it always does.
Every minute, a train rolls by the Winterhaven station.
It never stops, just rolls right on by.
Bobby uses a magnifying glass and tweezers to arrange moss and tiny trees around the church.
Little adjustments every day, something goes here, move another thing there.
When the catalog arrives, he reads through it, imagining what next to add.

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.

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.

Weekly Challenge #888 – PICK TWO Forward, Oblique, Exterior, Black hole, Videotape, Stakes

The next weekly challenge topic is: Satisfied

RICHARD

Strong, and black

The coffee shop can be found on the exterior rim of black hole M87. It orbits there, impossibly, ignoring the laws of physics, and doing a roaring trade in espressos and hot paninis.

I particularly recommend their chocolate muffins, which are to die for.

And, truth be told, die is what you most certainly will do.

Because, although the coffee shop, itself, seems immune to the laws of time and space, its customers most certainly are not.

But, whilst partaking of a decent coffee and chocolate muffin, at least you’ll be crushed to atoms with a smile on your face.

LIZZIE

Forward, and they stretched their arms forward.
Oblique, and they stretched their arms kind of sideways but not quite.
Black hole, and they were confused.
Stakes, and they were even more confused.
One of them mimicked a vampire being stabbed. Everyone thought that was a good idea and did the same.
“The point of this class is to open your mind. Express yourselves.”
That’s when he said “I think I’m about to relapse and start killing people again. That stakes part triggered me a bit.”
The class was canceled due to a stampede of students exiting and never coming back.

SERENDIPIDY

When you receive the videotape, you can skip the first hour or so: There’s nothing much to see, so you should fast forward to the good bit.

You’ll know you’re there, when the lights flicker on, and your family appears -a cosy scene, all huddled up on the sofa watching their favourite TV programme.

And it’s only then that you realise that your family are not the only ones watching.

I’m watching them, recording their activities, their conversations… Oh, and their rather disgusting indiscretions also.

And, unless you pay me generously.

The whole world will get to watch them too.

TOM

888

Vinny had a Plan. Make it in Guinness with the larger collection of videotapes. He had a head start with 40 years of hording. People were happy to wheel-barrow their collections to Vinny, free for the taking in. Vinny also had an ace in the whole. He had a least at Area 51, which had the largest structure in the world. When the last cassette was wedged into the ceiling the guy from Guiness got out his tape measure. When the tip touches edge the end of magnetic tape it created a monster electric field. A black hole formed, everything vanished.

As to the reason for my absence

Just like the last Beatles single my friend, God rest his soul, lived on a long and winding road. It starts at the edge of the Upper-Upper San Francisco Bay were the lower-lower Sacramento bangs into it. It ends in the high valley plain which is my Lake County. Each end isn’t much to look at, but what is in between is the largest concentration of wineries in the world. We live in the low rent district of this corridor of wine wealth. So, we got a low rent district hospital. Here lies the problem in the time of Covid

NORVAL JOE

Once Billbert was sure Sabrina was following him to the well, he flew forward over the treetops until he came to the outer edge of a circular well. Before he landed, he dropped the old man so that the jerk hit the ground with a grunt.
Sabrina ran up to Billbert as he reached the well and looked into the black hole of darkness below.
“Linoliamanda?” he called.
“Billbert? Is that you?” A familiar voice rose from the darkness.
Without hesitation, Billbert leapt over the stone wall and jumped feet first into the cold water and the evil knight’s trap.

TURA

Forward; Oblique

———

“Forward! Oblique! À l’extérieure! Bloquez, bloquez!” My fencing master soon reverts to French in our sessions. He says that it is the language of fencing, although the Spanish and German masters I have crossed swords with in the salle said the same of their own. And I think that all of them are right, for the art takes different forms in each place. German for the sabre, heavy and brutal. Spanish for the rapier and dagger, thrusting to kill at a reach. French for the épée, for exactness in the art of death. And of course, Klingon for the betleH.

JARED/JRADIMUS

Poker? I Barely Know Her

She didn’t expect to feel like this. For all her planning and practice, all the preparations she had made for this exact scenario, she didn’t think she would feel like she just met her ultimate crush mixed with feeling like she had finished off an entire sack of Halloween candy.

Her opponent was a black hole – any useful information about his hand didn’t make it to his face.

Hesitating slightly, Simone pushed her chips into the center of the table – “I call.”

“Flush,” her foe said as he slowly fanned his cards on the table.

“Reset the simulation,” Simone barked.

PLANET Z

For years, Teddy recorded video of all kinds of wacky things happening.
He kept a journal to make sure he never sent the same thing twice.
Every week, he’d mail them out to all the television shows with the funny things people doing or happening and all that, but his was never picked.
When YouTube was created, Teddy posted all of his rejected videos there.
So many people subscribed and commented.
His share of the ad revenue was pretty good.
People sent him links to their own videos.
And he’d click Like and leave encouraging comments on all of them.