I am grateful to Sammi Cox for publishing this story in Whispers and Echoes. Here is the submissions page in case you would also like to contribute to the journal.
Mice, or Rather the Mouse
“There isn’t much we mice can do.”
“Let alone one mouse”.
“What has a lion ever done for us? He’s probably trapped for a good reason.”
And so they tried to discourage Tamar from helping the lion escape from the ropes binding him.
“If you’re going to help him, don’t lecture him about his diet.”
“He might eat you.”
“Or smash you.”
Tamar recognized him. He’s the one who let her go. A quiet voice told her to gnaw the rope and then get out of the way.
So she did and when she did the other mice helped.
Linked to Carrot Ranch’s September 17th Flash Fiction Challenge where Charli Mills offers the theme of mice. This is a retelling of Aesop’s Fable of the Lion and the Mouse.
Fall – Décima
Dark witches of the winter know Some spells they heard in full-moon fall. Their Ba’al doesn't know it all. His shadows flicker where they go When morning light lets failings show. Those who wake in time may see How ignorance loves mystery, How feelings masquerade as good, How petty sins start ticking. Could They all explode mechanically?
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use “fall” as a rhyme word in the B lines where the rhyme pattern is ABBAACCDDC. The photos are from around October/November of last year.
Kettle – Six Sentence Story
George and his wife escaped from their burning apartment. Local politicians, some of whom he voted for, and reporters, labeled the rioting a peaceful protest, but he couldn’t see anything peaceful about the looting of his small store while the police were told to stand down. It would take years for them to recover from this toxic self-righteousness.
Standing apart from the rioters in an alley George tried to identify the mistakes they made that led to their decision to settle in this city three decades ago. He couldn’t think of anything fundamentally wrong with their decisions. He might still be wondering how they could have done things differently were it not for a large kettle containing fluids that exploded, scalding him and his wife, bringing them to their knees and then laying them on the ground.
Linked to Six Sentence Stories where Denise offers the word “kettle” to use in a story having six sentences.
One-Liner Wednesday – The Hidden Battle
Whenever people sin it empowers the devil.
Peter Warren, Sermon on September 13th at Calvary Chapel Miami Beach, author of “When the Shooting Stops: Where is God When We Suffer?“
Linked to Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday.
As Summer Fades
Slip from summer into fall. Then winter brings us cold, white days, But spring, that wonder of it all, Leads back to summer anyway.
Linked to Cosmic Photo Prompt where Dale offers the theme of “as summer fades”.
Also linked to Trent P. McDonald’s The Weekly Smile. It was raining this past week and so I worked on a puzzle in computational number theory. The challenge was to verify the 3x+1 trajectory-length records by running a different program to find them. Using Python my best time for integers under 670,617,280 had been over 700 seconds. Last week I was able to reduce that to 352 seconds. That made me smile. If I believe what others have achieved, they can do it in under a few seconds. That’s my goal unless it stops raining. Even if I get it below 10 seconds, it is about as significant as solving a 1000-piece jig-saw puzzle, but at least I will be able to verify the larger records that have been found.
Sunday Walk 6
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psalm 51:2-3 King James Version
Songs One Can’t Forget – Flash Fiction
“I hope the kids don’t remember that song you used to sing to them about the bird and the word.”
“I didn’t sing it for long. When they got older, I pretended to be the voice of their doll, Sweetie Baby.”
“You know, we still have that doll in case they ever want it.”
“It’s good to keep stuff like that. Actually some of those old songs aren’t any goofier than the ones they sing today. No wonder we’re all messed up.”
“At least the grand kids don’t know the song.”
“Unfortunately I sang it to them as well.”
Linked to Carrot Ranch’s September 10th Flash Fiction Challenge. Charli Mills offers the prompt to use something heard on the radio now or in the past.
Blend
I feel as if I ought to send A warning out to one and all: Beyond the bend's a cliff, a fall, A tragedy, a blur, a blend Into a gorgeous, awful end. And then inconsequentially What would become of you and me? Ah! Let it come here anyway. Yes, Come tomorrow. Come today! Embrace the opportunity.
Linked to Ronovan Writes Décima Poetry Challenge where the challenge is to use “blend” as a rhyming word in the A lines. The poem has ten lines with rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.
Gallery – A Six Sentence Story
“All those tiny people in the gallery don’t know it but they’re at the center of the universe,” Mark asserted.
George protested, “The universe doesn’t have a center.”
And so the claims and counter-claims of George and Mark came and went, often nowhere. Where would one want them to go? Should they flutter to the whatchamacallit radio source at Sagittarius A*?
“And,” Mark continued, “if those tiny people in the gallery are at the center of the universe they’re right smack dab where they ought to be.”
Linked to Six Sentence Story where Denise offers the challenge word “gallery”.
