The next weekly challenge topic is: Intake
SCRIBBLING WREN/LISA
“Better now? Now?”
Sally the optician had stopped caring before Harry sat in the chair. Harry wasn’t bothered either. He’d made ‘Silly Mistakes’ at work so they’d sent him for an eye test but they were paying and it was in company time.
“Better now?”
He started randomly saying what made him see clearer.
“Better now?”
Sally didn’t notice and prescribed glasses that would make things much worse at Harry’s work.
The receptionist who was concentrating on counting the hours’ til home time typed the amount wrong in the card reader, this mistake quadrupled the bill.
No one ever noticed.
RICHARD
All this…
I remember the day my father stood at my side and proclaimed, “One day, all this – as far as the eye can see – will be yours.”
I looked at him cynically. “But, dad, I can only see as far as the back wall, that’s what… Twenty feet?”
He nodded sagely, “Therein lies an important lesson. You’re stuck with what life gives you. Even if it’s small, appreciate its worth.”
I took his words to heart, sold the land to a property developer for a small fortune, and bought a country estate that extends as far as the eye can see!”
LIZZIE
“As far as the eye can see, the blue ocean, a nothingness filled with promises of many tomorrows. A certainty of the soul. A timeless motion forward. Perhaps even…”
“What on earth are you talking about, man?!”
The raft drifted aimlessly.
“We’re lost. We’re going to die and you’re blabbering crazy stuff.”
“No, I’m not.”
“Yes. You’ll start seeing things soon.”
“You mean… Like that dragon?”
“Yes, like that dragon… Good grief man, there are no dragons.”
The dragon swallowed them whole and burped. Not tasty, not tasty at all. Skinny, dehydrated humans. Nope, never again. Heartburn was a killer.
TOM
Major Tom
As far as the eye can see there were stars. It takes a bit getting uses to the stationary effect. On earth the stars spin across the horizon. In space the dance is frozen. With no up or down or much of a right or left the sense of fall is overwhelming. I time my breathing to the beating of my heart and fix my focus a single star. The light I see left that star millions of years ago. Any civilization that light fell upon has long since turn to dust. When the oxygen runs out so will I.
As To the Reason for My Absence
I didn’t write for about a year. Figure it was the end of my podcasting career. From time to time, I would listen to the challenge, I noted Norval Joe was close to having his first 100 stories in a row. I wanted to celebrate that milestone, so I wrote a story to him. Then one the next week. One foot in front of the other. That was many years ago, over a decade. I have Phil to thank for my return. I promise myself I would never let events keep me from post weekly. Then death two happen: Jim
SERENDIPIDY
It crops up all over the place: On banknotes, coats of arms, seals, and in the insignia of clubs, societies and religious orders, all over the world.
It is the All-Seeing-Eye, and it pervades every aspect of our lives, watching our activities, monitoring our every move, and overseeing our transactions.
Nothing is hidden, nothing is secret and our lives are laid bare before it.
It’s watching you, and you’d better be sure that what it sees is good, wholesome and charitable.
Because, there will be consequences!
And, as far as the eye can see, yours will be unfortunate!
TURA
As far as the eye can see
———
God created three minor gods, who knew God not. They contended who should rule the world.
“I will have as far as the eye can see,” said the first, whose eyesight was so sharp he could see the back of his own head. He rules the lands of the Earth.
The second claimed, “As far as the eye cannot see.” Everything that is underground became his realm.
The third claimed, “That which lies between,” and so rules the waters and waterways.
The three dispute their boundaries, and this creates storms, earthquakes, and tsunamis.
God looks down and does not speak.
NORVAL JOE/PHILIP CARROLL
The old man sneered at Billbert. “Your friend is nearby, but you’ll never find her.”
Sabrina was coming around so he sloughed her off his shoulder, took her hand and levitated back up into the sky. They looked for where Linoliamanda could be stashed, but only the tops of trees extended as far as the eye could see.
Billbert dropped back into the cabin and set Sabrina down.
“You won’t tell me where she is,” Billbert said, grabbed the man by the front of his robe and shot above the trees.
The man dangling, Billbert laughed. “Don’t tell. Just point.”
JARED/JRADIMUS
Dramatic Irony Bites Like a Rabid Monkey
Our hero had been exposed to enough ‘genie media’ that he should have known about the mischief behind genies’ wish granting. I guess something about the spectacle of a genie erupting from a magic lamp disrupts rational thought, because when Harvey found himself in this fantastical scenario, he didn’t even pause before he wished:
“First, I want to be a licensed realtor. Next, I want to get into the millionaire’s real estate market. Then, I want to dominate that market as far as I can see.”
These were the words that have haunted him since the accident that blinded him.
PLANET Z
I went down the stairs, opened the vault doors, and looked down the corridor.
Alcoves along the stone walls, niches with bones as far as the eye could see.
The Friar patted me on the shoulder.
“One day, you’ll join them.”
I walked along the corridor, sometimes there was a worn rusty plaque.
Fragments of paper, chalk marks on the stone wall.
“Only they know who they were.”
Forty years later, I was the one wearing the robes.
Leading acolytes down the stairs to the vault doors.
And reminding them that they’re mortal.
And telling them: “Make your life count.”