Day: March 20, 2019

A Mob Hit

Fandango4 Comments

Hand with a gun on grunge background“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Sandra asked. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know yet,” Barry said as he grabbed his passport, his wallet, and his roll-aboard.

“You don’t know?” Sandra said. “You sound totally incoherent, you know? You’re going off to who knows where, traveling hither and yon for some unknown period of time? What are the kids and I supposed to do?”

Barry felt terrible. The last thing he wanted to do was to abandon his family, but he knew it was for their own good. The mob was after him, not his wife and kids, so they’d be better off if he wasn’t around. All he had to do was to lay low and stay under the radar until the heat died down.

“Once I get to where I’m going,” Barry said, “I’ll send for you and the kids and we’ll figure out where we go from there.”

Barry walked out of the door that night and Sandra never heard from him again. The police  informed her a few weeks later that they had found his body. He was the victim of an apparent mob hit.

Written for these daily prompts: Weekly Prompts (passport), Word of the Day Challenge (incoherent), Your Daily Word Prompt (hither), Ragtag Daily Prompt (abandon), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (radar).

Weekly Song Challenge

Fandango8 Comments

7FF6A456-E868-456B-B057-7CA9B679D4F6Li, over at Tao Talk, tagged me for the Weekly Song Challenge, a prompt that was created by Laura Venturini. Thanks, Li, for tagging me. I’ll try to do it justice.

The challenge is to post three song videos:

  • A song by a band you think is underrated.
  • A song that gets on your nerves.
  • A song by a Solo Artist who’s first name begins with a K.

And then I’m supposed to tag two other people to participate!

So first, a song by an underrated band.

Mike Rutherford, one of the founding members of the band Genesis, formed the English rock band Mike & the Mechanics. The band is known for its hit singles “Silent Running,” “All I Need Is a Miracle,” and this song, “The Living Years.”

Next, a song that gets on my nerves.

I’ve never been much of a Ke$ha fan, but this song really grated at me when I first heard it and every time thereafter.

And finally a song by an artist with a first name that begins with a K.

Hmm, I could have used Ke$ha for this one, too. But instead, I’m going to do a double-K with Kris Kristofferson. How about this one out of his many songs?

Now to tag two bloggers. I choose:

More Rory’s Provocative Questions

Fandango13 Comments

2B695433-9259-4F0D-AC22-7B219D236533I’m not the only blogger who asks provocative questions. Rory, aka, A Guy Called Bloke, has his own set of thought provoking questions.

At what point in our lives do you think we think we are good enough?

The point at which we think we are good enough.

***

In life, what do you consider beautiful?

The point in life at which we consider life to be beautiful.

***

Do you think that when we dream, we can dream within a dream? But if you don’t dream, why do you think that is?

I know that there have been times within a dream when I said to myself, “this is just a dream,” but I don’t know if you can actually have a dream within a dream. Then again, I usually can’t remember most of my dreams within a few minutes after waking up.

***

How do you manage your stress or do you not suffer from stress?

There’s nothing like a little Ben & Jerry’s Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream to relieve the stress.

***

Are there things or maybe just one thing you wish to achieve before you die?

Reaching the point at which I feel I’m good enough and that life is beautiful.

***

Some experience many things during their lifetimes, but do you think there is something that everyone should experience at least once?

Yes. Eating a whole pint of Ben & Jerry’s Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream ice cream in one sitting.

***

Are you afriad to be different? To stand out from the crowd, to push away your peers if needs be and say “I am ME!”

No, I’m not afraid to be different as long as I blend in and remain unnoticed.

***

Which do you think is easier ‘to hate or to love?’

When I was a young buck, one of my favorite songs was Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With,” where part of the lyrics include the line, “If you can’t be with the one you love honey, love the one you’re with.” My girlfriend at the time hated that that song was my favorite when I was dating her. And that’s all I have to say about love and hate.

It’s a Mystery To Me

Fandango9 Comments

82E97FDF-1AF8-4D46-B84F-042EF40C0C6CSo Teresa, aka The Haunted Wordsmith, nominated me for the Mystery Blogger Award. There are a bunch of rules one is supposed to follow when one is nominated for this award. Ten rules, in fact. I’m only going to follow three, though:

  • Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link back to their blog. Thank you Teresa.
  • Tell your readers three things about yourself.
  • Answer the five questions from the blogger who nominated you.

So, first, three things about myself:

  1. I have a dog and a cat, both of whom (or both of which?) are rescues.
  2. I have been to every state in the country and have lived in seven of them plus the District of Columbia.
  3. I blog (write, read, comment, like) exclusively on my iPhone.

And here are the five questions Teresa asked:

  1. What are your plans for this fine spring weekend? It’s supposed to rain on Saturday, so maybe we’ll just stay inside and find a show to binge-watch. On Sunday, we are all (my wife, me, our daughter, our son, and their significant others) will be having brunch together, then going to a live stage musical, and then having dinner together.
  2. What kind of museum would you create if you could (what would you put in it)? Oh gosh, I don’t know that I have any ideas for a museum that doesn’t already exist. Oh wait. How about a museum of Donald Trump’s lies? Is there a building large enough to house them. (Oh, a fourth thing about me: I fucking hate Donald Trump.)
  3. What is something best served cold? Ice cream!
  4. What can always bring you out of a slump? Ice cream!
  5. What recently read book do you think everyone should read? I am not going to suggest a book that I think “everyone” should read. People’s reading tastes are way too varied. What I enjoy reading may not be “everybody’s” cup of tea. So read whatever interests you, entertains you, or challenges you.

Okay, that’s it. I am not going to tag a whole host of other bloggers for this. If anyone else wants to share three things about themselves and answer Teresa’s five questions, please feel free to do so.

Tuesday Writing Prompt — I Can Fly!

Fandango5 Comments

956AD8B1-3445-42D6-AB8B-C137F802F97EThere’s this writing prompt challenge called the Tuesday Writing Prompt Challenge, from the folks at Go Dog Go Café, that some of the bloggers I follow participate in. I haven’t yet done so. But when I saw the post and read that this week’s challenge is to “write anything with the topic of flying,” I decided to give it a shot.

And yes, I realize that it’s no longer Tuesday, but I’ve often been accused of coming up a day late and a dollar short, so what else is new?

Anyway, because the topic has to do with flying, I was reminded of a recurring dream I have with some regularity.9E841586-FDE2-4C91-9ACF-2087F06B0AEEIn this recurring dream, I can fly. The dream is the same every time that I have it. I start walking, lift my arms toward the sky, and suddenly I’m heading up into the air, as if I’m willing myself to defy gravity. I am floating above the ground, rising up above the trees, sailing among the clouds, and looking down at the landscape below. It’s exhilarating to be free from the tethers that bind me to the earth below.

I have no idea how I gained this incredible ability to fly, and in the context of my dream, there’s no explanation for it. There are times, though, when I’m up there savoring the experience, I become troubled by what might happen if this amazing gift of flight were to leave as suddenly and mysteriously as it appeared.

But it never does, at least not until I wake up. And when I do wake up and realize that I am, in fact, grounded, I am saddened that it was but a dream.

Oh wait. Was I supposed to write a fictional tale, a short story, for this prompt? Well, if so, in my defense, I would argue that, while having had this recurring dream is real, dreams are, by definition, fiction, since what happens in dreams is not reality. But then that begs the question: should I tag this post as “Flash Fiction” or as “Life”? Oh, I know. I have a catch-all category I call “Whatever.” Yeah, that’s the ticket. Whatever.