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.