Weekly Challenge #843: ANYWHERE

Also, Ed is inviting everyone to contribute to his site Edwardian Times, which is a great opportunity for more ways to express and create. Head on over there and check things out, and let’s all have some fun and challenge in crafting more imaginations.

Floopsy

TURA

Anywhere
———
“Where shall we go for dinner?” I asked.

“Oh, anywhere,” she said airily. But strolling through the restaurant district, she turned up her nose at every place we passed. “Anywhere” seemed to be a rather narrow category.

“It had red upholstery!” she shrilled. “It looked like a McDonalds!”

“And really, Turkish-Siberian-Japanese? The eclecticism is killing me!”

“‘Austrasian’? That means mediaeval Central Europe” (I didn’t know that) “so it’ll all be huge plates of Eisbein mit Sauerkraut and anachronistic potatoes.”

Eventually I just chose a place. But when the waiter came to take our order, she said, “Oh, anything.”

LIZZIE

Anywhere was a town in the middle of nowhere. Life was tough.
One day, a stranger came into town. They didn’t like strangers.
“Anywhere a man can sleep around here?” He asked.
No one answered.
The next day, he was gone and he never came back.
However, he left a thank you note and a stone.”Bury it.”
And they did.
A year later, they heard some noises, dug up the stone, but it had disappeared. Instead, they found a tunnel with thousands of precious stones.
The… stone… had hatched and people began to think that perhaps strangers weren’t always bad.

RICHARD

Anywhere

“Where to, guvnor?”

“Oh, I’m not really bothered, it’s my first time in London. Take me somewhere you’d like to go. Anywhere will do.”

The cabbie craned his head round to look at me, a quizzical look on his face.

“Well, if you’re sure?”

I nodded, “Yes, this is all a new experience for me”, I laughed, “I’m placing my fate in your hands!”

Half an hour later, we pulled into the driveway of a suburban house.

“That’ll be twenty quid, guv.”

“But, where exactly are we?”

“Somewhere I wanted to go mate – home!

You can get the bus back!”

ED

Anyone from Anywhere

Charlie’s mind was blank. Well, not completely. He knew how to walk and talk. But he couldn’t remember anything that mattered to him, or to the people around him. They all had answers they wanted, but those answers were not coming now.

Maybe they would; maybe they wouldn’t.

The doctors, nurses, and people who said they were family told him he had been in a motorcycle accident days ago while heading home from work. “Your body is suppressing the trauma,” he was told. “You have amnesia.”

As far as Charlie knew, he could be anyone from anywhere. It was unsettling.

SERENDIPIDY

The young man wound his window down and beckoned me over.

“Excuse me, we’re a little lost, can you tell me where we are, please?”

He passed me a folded map, and I leaned down to peer into the car.

I could tell they’d been arguing, the woman in the passenger seat wore a tight-lipped expression, and you could almost feel the tension between them.

I handed back the map.

“It doesn’t matter where you are” I said, “but, you really want to be anywhere, but here.”

Then, I pulled out my pistol, and shot him in the face.

NORVAL JOE

I guess I need to address the elephant in the room.
Has anyone seen Tom anywhere? I mean, what could possibly go wrong when you live in the dry hills around Clear Lake, California.
Did he take a trip to Planet Z?
Did Tom get sucked into a black hole, or maybe through a worm hole to a thicket in Yorkshire?
Maybe we can ask Cervantes or Ford. Maybe he’s sought refuge amongst the Canadians.
Regardless of the reason, Tom, I want you to know your absense has been noticed.
So, good night America, and all the ships at sea.

PLANET Z

With a laptop and a phone, they say I can work from anywhere, but there’s some limitations.
I’ll need to be able to recharge the laptop and phone, obviously.
Can’t work if the batteries are dead.
I also need to be able to access the Internet at a reasonable speed.
I can’t work from underwater. The laptop and phone would have severe issues.
Nor can I work while skydiving. It would keep meetings brief, but even with noise-canceling headphones, the roar of the wind would be too loud.
And there’s no way in Hell I’ll ever move to New Jersey.