#sixsentencestories – Poetry, Short Prose and Walking

Proverbial Fairy Tale: Happy Lad

Once upon a time, much like today, there lived a lad who was happy.

He was happy the next year and the next and he was even happy the year after that. One almost wondered if he would ever have a sad year, but even when it seemed like he should be having a sad year, he was happy.

People asked him why he was so happy wondering if they could be happy as well, but worried that there might be a catch or some odd requirement that would disqualify them.

He told them that a happy heart is a wonderful remedy but a broken spirit dries the bones which puzzled many figuring he really didn’t tell them anything useful, but some, even some of the puzzled ones, decided to just live happily ever after since what harm could it do? By doing so they might even witlessly check off all the requirements, if there were any, and live happily ever after.

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Denise offers the prompt word “check” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Proverbial Fairy Tale: A Critter’s Just Deserts

Once upon a time there lived a critter, a fish out of water, whom no one could figure out. We all knew he had problems, but he didn’t think there was anything wrong with himself, at least, nothing worth the bother of fixing.

Although he reassured us that he was fine – “just following a different drummer”, he lamely explained – how could we convince him otherwise without a proper diagnosis? So, we diagnosed him ourselves yelling: YOU’RE NUTS!

That should have solved the problem, but all it did was isolate the critter further while we went off to our regular therapy sessions and he let his problems go from bad to worse. Even after all of us went to our just deserts none of us could figure out why he kept living happily ever after.

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Denise offers the prompt word “fish” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Proverbial Fairy Tale: Lad And Lass

Once upon a time there was a lad who proudly declared that he took only one biology class (of which all he remembered was dissecting some frog), no chemistry classes and no physics classes (worth mentioning). He did take enough mathematics and programming classes to confidently declare that he could read all of that other garbage should he ever want to waste his time doing so.

About the same time there was a lass who had her eyes on the lad. It is unclear whether she pursued him or whether she convinced him to pursue her or whether there was any difference between those two options. Regardless, she got him.

Since biology works no matter how many classes you’ve taken nor how many frogs you’ve dissected nor how many boyfriends you’ve convinced to pursue you, they made a vow to live happily ever after.

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Denise offers the prompt word “vow” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Proverbial Fairy Tale: Dumping Dark Matter on the Commodity Exchange

Once upon a time there was a lad who read bestsellers like The Fool’s Guide to the Multiverse, The Evolution of Unbelievably Common Ancestors and How To Buy and Sell Dark Matter.

Our lad had many friends. He taught them everything he learned from his extensive reading. They said, “Wow!” In turn they taught all of it to everyone they knew.

The lad and his friends lived happily ever after until they dumped a tad too much dark matter on the commodity exchange generating an enhanced gravitational force that collapsed the exchange into an unstable stellar object which exploded leaving a nasty black hole all of which is detailed in the lad’s new bestseller How NOT To Dump Dark Matter on a Commodity Exchange.

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Denise offers the prompt word “force” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Proverbial Fairy Tale: Yadda Yadda Yadda

Once upon a time I listened to the yadda, yadda, yadda of a spell echo round the cylindrical walls of a black cauldron filled with a smelly, syrupy soup concocted to fix whatever it was the witch doctor stirring the pot said was wrong with me. Doc ladled some of the syrup into a cup and gave it to me forcing me to wrap my fingers around the cup’s ornate handle featuring a smiling serpent with a wicked forked tongue sticking out.

Now, what would you have done? Would you politely drink whatever was in the cup or would you dump it all out?

I often just drink it, but this time I poured it out when doc wasn’t looking. An ugly monster rose from the dirt floor and grew to immense proportions before its head exploded – and I was glad it didn’t do that in my stomach – leaving me happily ever after to tell the tale.

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Denise offers the prompt word “echo” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Six Sentence Story: Gloria

The shepherds knew an angel who
had told them of His birth.
They went to see the mystery
of peace, goodwill on earth.

Today as well we yearn to tell,
like them, this tale of love,
with accent true with joy that’s new
from ancient songs above.

Go on and see beyond the tree
how righteousness reigns there.
He will not leave though devils grieve.
He’s with us everywhere.

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Denise offers the prompt word “accent” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

I am grateful to P. A. Oltrogge whose book of poems, tales, carols and Bible verses, Christmas on the Porch, reminded me that it is the Christmas season and a narrative poem may be the best story.

The Piano Guys

Six Sentence Story: The Sixty-Third Of The Seventy Weeks

Daniel wrote, Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.¹

Although at first he didn’t understand, he knew he was promised understanding and that this was an answer to his supplication. But how did the virgin with child that Isaiah prophesied fit into all of this and why that name Immanuel?

The channel of events in the vision ended ominously with: and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.²

Understanding comes through obedience and as Daniel wrote in obedience his understanding matured until he realized the virgin’s role between the going forth of the commandment to rebuild the walls and this desolation along with the central importance of the sixty-third of those seventy weeks when the covenant would be confirmed.

As gratitude overwhelmed him with peace Daniel could see that the ink was dry enough for him to roll up the scroll.

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Denise offers the prompt word “channel” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

This completes the Daniel tales.

Daniel 9:24, KJV ↩︎
Daniel 9:27b KJV ↩︎

Six Sentence Story: The Cost Of Treason

After Nimrodwannabe’s kingdom fell to the Medes and Persians, Daniel won the favor of Darius, the new king, to the envy of others. Some of those others deceived Darius into passing a law, secretly targeting Daniel to get rid of him, that Darius could not undo punishable by death to whomever broke it.

When Daniel did not obey he was arrested and sentenced to spend a night in the den of lions who were kept hungry by not feeding them provision from the lion keeper’s shed. All Darius could do at this point to save his favorite was wait and see if Daniel’s God could and would protect him from the treasonous setup.

When Daniel survived Darius had the deceivers – along with their wives and children – cast into the same den for the lions to execute judgment. The lions eagerly did.

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Denise offers the word “shed” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.

Daniel 6:24 KJV – And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den.

Six Sentence Story: Daniel, The Prophecy

Whatever Daniel used for pen and paper in the 6th century BC, he knew he had to be ready to write down the words of prophecy. The one he received about the time of the evening oblation was the one he earnestly prayed for. It was the most important one anticipated for centuries and argued over for centuries more after it had finally been fulfilled.

As Daniel began his supplication, his prayer, Gabriel was sent. Before Daniel ended his prayer, Gabriel arrived bringing the skill and understanding Daniel would need to write down the vision.

Daniel took up his pen and wrote.

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Denise offers the word “pen” for this week’s six sentence stories.

Six Sentence Story: When Daniel Thought About The Lord

Daniel would have preferred living his life in Jerusalem, but here he was in Babilopolis. He would have preferred serving a real king, but here he was serving Nimrodwannabe, a king of sorts, true, but so shockingly not what Nimrodwannabe could have been that compassion overpowered the natural disdain in Daniel for this king of sorts.

Every evening and every morning and throughout the day and even when he was asleep at night his mind – no, his heart – was elsewhere. People understandably thought he seemed distant or tagged him as odd, but wherever he was he was right where he was supposed to be telling Nimrodwannabe the meanings of those strange tales that troubled the king’s dreams.

For all that and much, much more Daniel was thankful. Gratitude kept him so busy he didn’t notice – or perhaps care – if it was darkening evening or shiny morning or wondrous daytime or that sleepy, dreamy nighttime so long as he was ready when the words were spoken to faithfully hear and write them down even when the prophecy was too mysterious for him to understand.

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Denise offers the prompt word “tag” for this week’s Six Sentence Stories.