Day: November 18, 2018

Weekend Fun

Fandango14 Comments

9151BD27-5F39-491A-871E-D60BA349190DTeresa, the Haunted Wordsmith, wants to have a little weekend fun. No, not that kind of weekend fun. Get your minds out of the gutter, for crissake. Although if that’s the kind of weekend fun she hopes to have, more power to her.

But I digress. Teresa posted a new challenge. She posed three questions and then instructed the three of us she tagged to:

  1. Answer the questions you receive (straight, funny, absurd, up to you)
  2. Add three more questions of your own to the list
  3. Tag three people

Okay. Here are her questions and my answers:

1. What would Klaatu (The Day the Earth Stood Still) think of Earth if he landed today?

Way back then, during his first visit to our planet, he warned the people of Earth that, if we can’t live together peacefully, we would be a danger to other planets and that our planet would have to be destroyed. On this visit, he would tell us that his previous threat of the Earth’s destruction from the outside no longer applies, now that we are destroying it from within.

2. If books’ characters were not imprisoned by their covers, which two characters would make a great couple?

Offred from “A Handmaid’s Tale” and Winston Smith from “1984.” They would make such an upbeat couple, don’t you think?

3. For US folks: Turkey, Ham, or Something Else on Thanksgiving? For Int’l folks: What is one food you recommend most from your country?

Turkey, of course. It’s the one day of the year I eat turkey.

Okay, now for three more questions:

4. What are your three favorite movies?

5. Toilet paper rolls: over or under?

6. What’s you favorite fish? No, not the kind you eat, the kind you keep in an aquarium, assuming that you don’t raise fish in an aquarium in order to eat them.

Now to tag three people who I presume are supposed to answer Teresa’s three questions as well as the three I added.

Have some weekend fun y’all.

Sunday Photo Fiction — The Room

Fandango21 Comments

EFBFC63F-753E-4176-9D73-7C286C5DEEBFThe lamp on the bedside table was always on. The bed was always made except when Donna was sleeping in it. Her room was tidy. She tried to keep it looking like it could have belonged to any normal girl her age.

But Donna wasn’t the living the life of a normal girl, nor was her room even close to a normal room. She had a few books to read, a landline telephone that wasn’t connected, and a cellphone with no SIM card or WiFi access. No TV, radio, or clock. Donna was never sure what time it was. The black curtains, where a window should have been, concealed nothing but a blank wall. A small, windowless bathroom was attached to the room. The only door to the room was locked from the outside.

Donna couldn’t remember how long she’d been locked in the room. Weeks? Months? She didn’t know. Twice a day he’d bring in food. Once a week he’d have his way with her. Every other week he’d bring in fresh towels, clean bed linens, and laundered clothing.

This was her world now, at least until she could figure out a way to end it.

(198 words)

Written for Susan Spaulding’s Sunday Photo Fiction prompt.

Song Lyric Sunday — Rhythm of the Rain

Fandango22 Comments

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Helen Vahdati picked “listen.” I’m reaching way back to my freshman year in high school for my song choice, “Rhythm of the Rain” by the Cascades.

The song, recorded by The Cascades, was released in November 1962. It was written by Cascades band member John Claude Gummoe. “Rhythm of the Rain” reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in March 1963 and number 1 on Billboards Easy Listening chart. Billboard ranked the record as the number 4 song of 1963.

The song is about a man whose lover has left him. The falling rain reminds him what a fool he has been. He asks the rain for answers, but ultimately he wishes it would just go away and let him cry alone.

Gummoe said that he wrote “Rhythm of the Rain” over a period of time, but the lyrics began while he was serving in the U.S. Navy. The ship he was on was sailing in the North Pacific and it was raining heavily and the seas were tossing. He felt like the rhythmic sound of the rain was talking to him.

Dozens of artists have covered this song, including Lawrence Welk, Bobby Darin, Johnny Rivers, Dan Fogelberg, Jan & Dean, Neil Sedaka, and Jerry Jeff Walker. A huge worldwide hit, BMI named “Rhythm of the Rain” the ninth most performed song of the 20th century.

Sadly, the Cascades turned out to be a one-hit wonder, as neither of their two follow-up songs charted and the group broke up in 1967.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
Telling me just what a fool I’ve been
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain
And let me be alone again

The only girl I care about has gone away
Looking for a brand new start
But little does she know that when she left that day
Along with her she took my heart

Rain please tell me now does that seem fair
For her to steal my heart away when she don’t care?
I can’t love another when my hearts somewhere far away

The only girl I care about has gone away
Looking for a brand new start
But little does she know that when she left that day
Along with her she took my heart

Rain won’t you tell her that I love her so
Please ask the sun to set her heart aglow
Rain in her heart and let the love we knew start to grow

Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain
Telling me just what a fool I’ve been
I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain
And let me be alone again

Oh, listen to the falling rain
Pitter patter, pitter patter
Oh, oh, oh, listen to the falling rain
Pitter patter, pitter patter

FOWC with Fandango — Tryst

Fandango30 Comments

FOWCWelcome to November 18, 2018 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “tryst.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.