Prose – Page 49 – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Fire

Despair defeats hope with fire.

Pete wondered what that was supposed to mean while reading the fortune to his wife. He felt enough despair for it to feel like the fires of hell.

“What does yours say?”

“It’s blank.”

“Remember when I got ‘A fool at forty is a fool indeed’?”

She remembered, but her blank fortune worried her.

“Maybe I should ask for another one?”

“Let’s switch.”

“Does that count?”

They switched. She read these words, “The fire of hope defeats despair”,. and gave it back.

“This one belongs to you.”

She asked for a new fortune cookie.

Linked to Carrot Ranch where the theme this week for the 99-word stories is “fire”.

Eminence

After moving to the beach town whose eminence attracted him he no longer got up early to join the seagulls as the sun rose above the ocean. He no longer paid attention to the tiny lizards running on the sidewalks. He stopped celebrating the tropical climate and started complaining about the heat.

It shocked him to realize that he no longer wanted to go to the Cuban-run bakery for a cortadito. He made his own coffee.

His relatives from northern lands were still awed by palm trees and lizards, but by moving to paradise he had become a local.

Linked to Carrot Ranch where the theme for this week’s 99-word flash fiction challenge is “eminence”.

Lizard Sitting Still Hoping I’ll Go Away

Bucket of Water

Grace fills a small bucket of water from her sink for four plants on her balcony overlooking the bay overlooking her former life far away. She hopes the plants thrive. They may not like it here and they have no way to escape.

With the water delivered she looks down on the tiny neighbors walking the street all accustomed to being here, mentally preoccupied. They look happy, but who knows? Happiness is not what it’s all about. It’s all about – what?

She figures those tiny plants have to trust her, but sometimes water comes from the sky as well.

Linked to Carrot Ranch with 99-word theme: "bucket of water"

Technology: Chisel

Brad knew he didn’t have the proper tools to do the job right, but he rarely did. The door and opener cost under $50. He’d reuse the old hinges.

He did have to buy a chisel. They told him he couldn’t return it when he was done. He could live with that.

After sort of measuring everything, he realized it wasn’t as easy as he thought to carve out where the hinges should go.

Eventually in spite of everything he hung the door.

Happy wife happy life: she was happy. For the most part the new door even closed.

Linked to Carrot Ranch where the theme for the 99-word stories is chisel and to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge where the theme is technology.

Other Worldly

I move my black mouse and click. I know I should be doing other things.

“Like what?” That silent voice inside me asks.

Well, like watching this orange sunset or bothering that white bird sitting for no good reason on the railing or contemplating the other worldly mysteries of this grand universe.

Knowing I have no clue, I hear. “Really, like what?”

So I let my inner squeaky wheel, my imaginary “friend”, guide me downward into the depths of another suspicious, weedy, mosquito-loving rabbit hole I have no business exploring. But what else, really, do I have to do?

Linked to Carrot Ranch’s March 7th 99-word flash fiction challenge using “mouse”. Also this will be linked on Monday to K’lee and Dale’s Cosmic Photo Challenge with the theme “in the realm of the other worldly”.

At Least It’s Not a Raven Pecking Pecking at My Door

One-Liner Wednesday – Misty Mountain Morning

Stories finally told are secrets finally shared.

Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday.

#1linerWeds badge by Cheryl, at dreamingreality646941880.wordpress.com/

Colonnade

Fernando and Pedro walked the boardwalk with a colonnade of condos on their left and the ocean on their right. They stopped at a mural. The artist painted a somber woman with an orange and gold halo walking past an archway.

Fernando remarked, “There comes a time in one’s life when one reaches the age of reason. One only wants the best. And then one wants to give it all away.”

Pedro asked, “And what if we never reach that age?”

In the warm winter winds they admired the mural of that woman.

“Ah! But what if we do?”

Linked to Charli Mills’ Carrot Ranch January 17: Flash Fiction where “colonnade” is the theme for this week’s 99-word story and to Sue Vincent’s Imagination #writephoto prompt.

Sue Vincent provided the photo above. Charli Mills provide the photo below.

Alternate Prediction – Carrot Ranch Story

Three crows landed near Pablo. Two of them pretended to peck around for treasure while the leader laid into Pablo with an obnoxious, “Caw! Caw! Caw!. Fortunately, Pablo was fluent in this particular dialect of crow. Crows don’t stop by without a message they feel they must deliver:

“You will experience enrichment beyond your puny imagination. All those plans you’ve been making will fail. They are nothing compared to the reality that awaits you. Any questions?”

Pablo and this crow had previous encounters. “Do I have a choice?”

“Unfortunately, all you can do is mess things up a bit.”

Linked to Carrot Ranch’s January 10: Flash Fiction Challenge on the theme of the idea of “enrichment”. The challenge is to write a 99-word story (excluding title word count) on the theme. Come join us with your own story.

Broken Fence

The Fredericks bought Adkins Estate with farmhouse, barn and sheds. The farm maintained itself from land rentals to local farmers. There was also a notorious fence separating it from ancient Indian burial grounds.

That’s why they bought it. They planned to rent rooms to people wanting to spend the night in a haunted house.

They repaired the buildings but broke the fence to make it look spookier. They called their website “Visit Fredericks’ Freaky Ghost House”.

Many rented rooms and left five-star reviews until it became known that after changes to the fence, the ghosts no longer felt welcome.

Linked to Charli Mills’ Carrot Ranch flash fiction challenge with the prompt “broken fence”. Stories are required to be exactly 99 words excluding title. I searched, but I could not find Frederick’s Ghost House. Just in case there is such a place, this is a work of fiction.

Photos: “Deep Green Looking Up”, above, and “Where There’s Sun There’s a Shadow”, below. These don’t look spooky to me, but perhaps I am not looking close enough.

On the Bridge — #writephoto

Ellen stood on the bridge while Nathaniel photographed her from the shore.

“Don’t spoil my memories!”

He did not know how he could spoil her memories, but Nathaniel took multiple shots and made sure the photos looked good. He saw her smile. That let him know she was glad he was taking those pictures. For her part Ellen saw no future that did not include Nathaniel.

Today her face is wrinkled. While she was still able to walk her family decided to take her to her childhood home which seemingly random turbulences over the decades tossed her far away from. She asked to see that old stone bridge. They found the bridge. It was still there in spite of the changes, some challenging, some like windfalls of blessing, that would make almost everything else unrecognizable to her.

As they walked over the bridge, Ellen stopped to the best of her remembrance where she stood when Nathaniel took those photographs. She wondered what happened to him. Why did she lose him that summer?

Ellen thought of her family, husband, middle-aged children and grandchildren starting to have infants to care for. Some of them were with her on the bridge worrying she might fall and guarding her from the edge. She may have another year to share with them. As she breathed the air and watched the water move below she felt an overwhelming gratitude for all of it. The parts of her life she got right soothed those she wished she did differently. She looked toward the shore where Nathaniel stood long ago and smiled at him once again.

Linked to Sue Vincent’s #writephoto prompt. She provided the photo for the prompt. I am also linking because of the reference to gratitude in the story to Debbie Roth’s Forgiving Fridays.