Weekly Challenge #995 – Reflections

The next topic is PICK TWO: What’s that beeping?, Signpost, Sample, In the movies, Ordered

LISA

At the homeless Shelter
Cheryl was soon to be divorced. She’d been volunteering at a pop-up feeding station for the city’s homeless.
She’d watched her ex enter in the reflection of the tea urn and was pleased she was getting the chance to say goodbye. Despite a multi-million-pound fortune he’d said he was bankrupt so couldn’t pay any alimony and then simply disappeared.
She poured tea for the recent arrivals.
Her husband got a special cup with poison added. Lawyers were hired and found his hidden funds, paintings and offshore accounts. Cheryl inherited it all and opened a permanent homeless shelter.

RICHARD

— Reflective —
What do I see?
Not the person I am now.
I see the passage of time.
The hair, now greying, testament to the passing of the years; the lines and blemishes of a face, now careworn and weary from toil.
A frown, where once there was laughter; eyes that no longer sparkle; a face full of character, if we are to be kind.
A face growing old, if we are to be honest.
She appears behind me, peering over my shoulder.
“What are you looking at?” She asks.
“Just reflections” I murmur, and close my eyes to hide the tears.

SERENDIPIDY

I like the hall of mirrors.
I like the distorted reflections, the ungainly bodies, the twisted and deformed torsos.
I like to imagine that what I see in the mirrors is a reflection of the true inner character of those who stand before them – the real person that lives within all of us.
But when I stand before those mirrors, I see perfection.
A person standing tall and proud; the broken soul, hidden deep within.
In the hall of mirrors, only I appear unblemished: Beautiful.
But just wait until I emerge into the world outside.
And reveal my true self.

TOM

A rich interior Life

When I saw the topic reflections a fragment of a lyric screamed up in my thoughts. After changes upon changes, we are more or less the same. But try as I may I could remember the line that went before. So I searched and found it was more reflective then the first. “I am older than I once was And younger than I’ll be But that’s not unusual No, it isn’t strange After changes upon changes We are more or less the same After changes we are More or less the same.” The poetry of my youth is always there.

LIZZIE

A dream covered in blue. The sun spying on the curl of my soul. Twists and turns and fears and so many futures waiting, just waiting.
A dream covered in red. The sun no more. Just the rage, the blinding rage of powerlessness. And the anger and the hatred and all the gloomy futures in complete darkness, wailing in silence and waiting, just waiting.
And then, my dream covered in time. The sun again. The sky so clear. The twists and turns of my future, waiting to be sheltered in blue and blue and blue. Maybe tomorrow. Yes, maybe tomorrow…

NORVAL JOE

John pulled out a gun, motioning Billbert and Mandi toward his car. In the vehicle’s window, Billbert saw their reflections and John was distracted, no longer watching them. He wanted to drag the guy into the air and drop him, but then John would know Billbert’s superpower.

Instead, Billbert grabbed him, levitated forward rapidly, and stopped abruptly. The man was weightless as Billbert held him, but regained his mass as Billbert threw him forward.

John landed yards away in some bushes.

Billbert and Mandi ran around a corner before lifting into the sky and flying safely back to Billbert’s house.

PLANET Z

After centuries of industrial pollution, Earth was no longer able to sustain life.
Undrinkable water, unbreathable air, unfarmable land.
Nearly every species extinct and stored as a set of genetic sequences in a zoo library.
Humans sent out terraforming pods across the solar system, and when the colonies had been established and stable, humanity left Earth.
And left behind a terraforming pod.
They were literally going to terraform Terra back into Terra.
The AI controller found this somewhat ironic, and then initialized the startup sequence.
A few humans had refused to leave.
The Ai controller watched them burn with satisfaction.

George the Buddhist

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
“This is because you do not follow the path of Buddha,” said a strange man in a saffron robe.
“All life is suffering. Craving causes suffering. Suffering, once identified, can end. Accumulating good karma can end suffering. Look within, and master your own fate.”
George looked within himself.
Then he drew his sword and pointed it at the strange man.
“Give me your karma,” he said.
The strange man laughed. “You cannot give or take karma.”
“Fine,” said George. “Give me that robe.”
He wore it as a cape.

George and Mardi Gras

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
Not that the Mardi Gras Parade Committee cared.
They were looking for authenticity, not quality, and as long as George could stand on a float and wave, who cared, right?
George showed up, expecting a big parade, a big party, and all the beer he could drink.
That would make sense if the parade were in New Orleans. Or Galveston.
But not in Fairbanks, Alaska.
“Holy shit, it’s cold,” said George.
George threw a lot of beads from the float.
In that weather, hell, the women had earned them.

George and Vincent

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He liked to wander through fields.
One day, George came upon a man with an easel and blank canvas, clutching his head, weeping.
He looked up, staring at George with the bluest eyes.
Mesmerized, George barely noticed that the man had taken his pistol, pointed it at himself, and pulled the trigger.
George helped the man back to town, leaving him with the local doctor.
“I wanted it to end like this,” whispered the man to George.
George returned to his ship, and hung the canvas by his bunk.

George dies in his sleep

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
He has so many brushes with death, he could paint a highway from New York to Los Angeles with them.
“We’re not the kind of men who die in our beds,” said the captain.
George took this advice to heart, staying in his bed as much as possible.
“At least I’m safe in my bed,” said George.
The deck went unscrubbed, the sails went untrimmed, and countless other important chores went undone while George cowered under his covers.
The rest of the crew tossed him and his bed overboard.

George is on Angie’s List

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
If you looked for Looting, Pillaging, and Plundering on Angie’s List, George’s ratings were awful.
And his customer reviews were absolutely horrible.
People can be mean on the Internet, but what people said on George’s profile was brutal.
You’d just as soon hire crackheads off of the street to crew your vessel than think about hiring George.
When he did raid a town, the townspeople demanded a different pirate than George.
“No!” growled George, and he proceeded with his looting and plundering.
And more nasty reviews would appear online.

George v Fat Freddy

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
Because of this, George got the worst bunk on the ship.
Right under Fat Freddy.
You’d think that Fat Freddy’s hammock would come loose and he’d fall on George, right?
Nope.
What Fat Freddy did was fart. A lot.
One night, George went berserk and pulled out a knife and stabbed Fat Freddy through his hammock, over and over.
Fat Freddy tore through his hammock and fell on George, crushing him.
The next night, George was glad Fat Freddy was gone.
Until Bedwetting Bob moved his hammock over George’s.

Weekly Challenge #994 – Mad World

The next topic is Reflections

LISA

Mad World: Tears for Fears
It’s a party; everyone’s my age. I think someone thought it was fancy dress – a nurse chats with someone in the corridor. Maybe I’ve had too much to drink because I’m not too sure where I am, everyone seems familiar but I couldn’t tell you anyone’s name.
I hear the nurse telling someone that wants to leave that it’s a home for people with memory issues & they live here. Heartbreaking really.
I enjoy the music, lots of familiar songs but feel I’m ready to go. The doors locked. The nurse approaches and puts her hand gently on my shoulder.

RICHARD

— Mad —
He had that sign on his desk, you know the one ‘You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps”.
It was that sort of inappropriate attitude that had led to this meeting today, not that it would matter soon.
“Jeff, I’ll come straight to the point. You’re fired.”
His face was a picture, “Fired? But, why?”
I shrugged. “You know, the usual… spending cuts, the economy, rationalisation. And, oh yes, you’re crap at the job!”
“But what’ll I do?”
I grabbed the sign, handing it to him. “You’ll fit in – it’s a mad world out there!”

LIZZIE

The pictures on his wall looked old. Was he ever in Paris, she asked. He shrugged. The stamp, what was it, she asked. He shrugged. And the certificate, she asked. He shrugged. I’m starting to doubt this is your home. It isn’t, he replied. Her heart started racing. Why did you bring me here? He chuckled. Is it your mother’s home? He lowered his eyes and pointed. The door was closed. Don’t go in there, she thought. You’ll understand, he said. She opened the door. The woman was sitting, her rocking chair moving gently, her mummified fingers clutching a knife.

TOM

The Opening scene

Sometimes a line is drawn and everything on one side is consider old and
quaint. The other is the new new. There was everything before Star Wars
and everything after. It all happened in a weeks’ time. Guys in San
Fransisco were screaming about this new sci-fi movie. So, I got the last
ticket to the midnight show. The excite in the room was through the
roof. Cheers at the opening title. Then a beautiful space ship crosses
the screen … and a battleship fill the screen. People screamed I
screamed. Greatest single moment I ever had in a theater.

Mad World

One turn to the left instead of one right, your whole life would have
been a different life, filled with different people, like the Pope. It
is highly possible I meet the Pope as a kid. I am sure I was in the same
rooms as him. I was accepted to the same seminary he attended. The high
school I did attended was literally across the street from the
Augustinian Major seminary. In school we were on student government, ran
the year book, on the debate team. It’s a mad world when one degree of
separation separates you from the pope.

SERENDIPIDY

Six days now since the world went mad.
All my fault, of course. Who else would it have been?
It was me that sent the offensive messages, and that’s all it took.
Everything else was simply down to human nature; the need to retaliate, the sense of entitlement, the propensity to blow things up out of proportion.
On day two, warning shots were fired. Day three, all-out war. And now, the few who are left are picking up the pieces.
Thanks to a few insulting messages, the world’s gone mad.
But it was a mad world to begin with.

NORVAL JOE

Billbert frowned. “Well. We can’t let John kill you and your mother. It would be a mad world without you. Empty husks and all that. Still, in this world, you can’t poison people and get away with it. We need to go to the police.”

Mandi hesitated, then nodded.

They flew to the police station and landed in the back alley.

When they told the officer their story, he shook his head. “If there was evidence of poisoning, we surely would have found it by now. Go home and rest your imaginations.”

John was waiting for them outside the station.

PLANET Z

I can never remember how many times the word mad appears in the title of the film. Let’s just call it. It’s a mad world. spotting classic and then current comedians in cameos must’ve been fun. Although there is nothing sadder than seeing the mummified remnants of the three stooges show up as fireman. not even the real three stooges. Shemp and curly were long dead, and Joe Derita there gawking like a fish out of water. Or was it Joe Besser? Hella fine now. And I don’t feel like watching the movie again. Or looking it up on Wikipedia.

George’s pumpkin

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
For the Pirate Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest, other pirates made spooky and scary jack-o-lanterns.
George made a cute fluffy kitten.
The ears moved and eyes blinked, and it mewed every few seconds.
“The heat from the candle powers that mechanism,” said George.
The notorious Blackbeard the Pirate was the contest judge, and he walked along the table, inspecting every entry.
When he got to George’s pumpkin, he looked it up and down, and from all around.
Then he picked it up, held it high…
And smashed it to bits.

George the Porgie

George was a pirate, but he wasn’t a very good pirate.
The other pirates called him Georgie Porgie and sung the rhyme at him.
“Got any pudding and pie?” they taunted.
George checked his pockets. “No, but I have some tickets to The Cure concert tonight.”
The pirates cheered and George said he’d meet them at the concert.
But when they got there, George stood them up.
He pulled up the anchor and set sail for another town.
“Assholes,” mumbled George.
As he steered the ship, he took a bite of pie and enjoyed it with a can of pudding.