Day: December 5, 2019

A “Pop” of Sunshine

Fandango20 Comments

2776DDDC-AD23-4862-A1E8-744BFF5BFA04Rory, A Guy Called Bloke, tagged me to pick up the gauntlet in the “Pop of Positivity” prompt that is the brainchild of Beckie at Beckie’s Mental Mess.

Beckie explains that “Pop of Positivity” is based on one simple thing: life doesn’t have to suck all the time. Let’s face it, she says, there’s a helluva lot of negativity in the real world, and it’s pretty hard to escape it. The Pop of Positivity is a way to brighten up everyone’s day. Take some time away from thinking about the negative and switch gears to think of the positive. Perhaps, we can all share some smiles along the way too, Beckie suggests.

So, having been tagged by Rory, I am now supposed to select any way fit to share this positivity, like a quote, an affirmation, a music video, etc., as long it sticks to the theme.

So, to celebrate I’m going to post The Beatles song, “Good Day Sunshine.”

And as a bonus, how about another Beatles’ song, “Here Comes the Sun”?

I think I’m now supposed to tag three other bloggers to spread some sunshine. But instead, I’m going to tag anyone who wants to shine some sunlight and pop some positivity.

Go for it!

Life in the Burbs

Fandango9 Comments

6FE3ACD6-5987-4868-90F0-FC77F2D452FF“Does my nose deceive me or has Henry started up that damn barbecue grill of his?” Bill groused to his wife. “Ever since he bought that jodhoeing monstrosity of a grill, he’s out there night after night, as soon as it turns twilight, grilling steaks and chops and chicken and whatever else he can burn to a crisp. And he invites all of his loud, obnoxious friends over. He’s so ostentatious.”

“Oh my God, Bill,” his wife Maggie said, “don’t soil your trousers over this. I told you that if we moved to the burbs, you’d be dealing with this sort of thing. I wanted to move further out to the countryside, but you wanted to move into a new housing development, the perfect microcosm of suburbia, with cookie cutter houses and noisy, nosy neighbors surrounding you.”

Bill shook his head. “It just pisses me off that he’s always out there barbecuing and that I can’t even relax in my own backyard.”

“Yeah, right,” Maggie said. “Admit it, Bill, what you’re really pissed about is that he hasn’t invited you over.”

“Yeah, he’s a jodhoeingly rude son of a bitch, ain’t he?” Bill said.

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie’s Tale Weaver prompt, where the theme is Making Sense of Nonsense and the nonsense word is “jodhoeing.” Also for these daily prompts: Daily Addictions (nose), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (barbecue), Word of the Day Challenge (twilight), Your Daily Word Prompt (ostentatious), The Daily Spur (soil), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (microcosm).549DE9C0-FD45-4797-B7E1-375992907A74

The Girl and the Model House

Fandango21 Comments

Girl holding a model houseShe stood on the near bank of the canal, a blank expression on her face. In her hands, she held a scale model of house similar to those on the opposite bank of the canal. When asked about it by various passersby, she said nothing and continued staring ahead, expressionless.

As twilight approached, the lights behind the windows of the model house came on. Still, the young woman remained motionless and by that time, a small crowd, curious about what she was doing, gathered around her. A few more people inquired, but she remained silent.

It was almost 8 pm and dark when a police officer approached the young woman, now surrounded by more than 100 townspeople. The policeman, standing directly in front of her, said, “Young lady, you’ve gathered quite a crowd around you, but no one seems to know what it is you’re doing out here. Can you please enlighten me?”

The young woman looked at the officer. She bent over and set the model house on the ground. She stood back up and started to tell her story, speaking in a hushed voice so that only the officer could hear her.

“My name is Anna,” she said. “I am seventeen and have lived in the next town over for the past thirteen years. This,” she said, pointing to the model house she had just set down, “is a model of the house I lived in. I was taken from my first home by a man and woman when I was around four. They said that they were my uncle and aunt and took me in, claiming that my parents had tragically died in a car accident.”

Anna continued, “At first I was very grateful. They took very good care of me. They taught me to read and write and gave me religious training. But I was not allowed to leave the house alone, which I thought was strange. But I accepted it because they fed me, clothed me, and cared about me.”

Anna stopped for a moment, sighed deeply, and then gathered herself. “But when I was about twelve, as I grew from a little girl into womanhood, everything changed. The couple started to do things to me. Sexual things. They told me that this was how parents and children show how much they love one another. I knew it wasn’t right, at least it didn’t feel right, but I didn’t know what to do.”

The officer looked perplexed. “I’m sorry about what they did to you, but I’m not sure I understand what it is you’re doing here and what this is.” He pointed to the model house.

“I had to get away from my uncle and aunt and I tried to plan my escape. But they found out about my plan, and locked me in a room in the house. They came in my room to bring me food and to make me do sexual things with them. When I was alone, I put together this model house and was going to use it to show the police what my house looked like if I ever escaped. It took me almost a year to make it.”

“So you ultimately did escape,” the officer said. “Where are your uncle and aunt now? Can you take me to their house? I can arrest them.”

“There’s no need for that,” Anna said. “They’re gone.”

“Where did they go?”

Anna reached into a dress pocket, pulled out a book of matches, struck one, and dropped it on the model house she had made. When the match hit it, it quickly burst into flames. “They’re in there,” she said, pointing at the model. “What I just did to this, I did to their actual house this morning, before they woke up. They can’t hurt me anymore.”

Written for this week’s Photo Challenge from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. Photo credit: Oleg Oprisco.

FOWC with Fandango — Barbecue

Fandango23 Comments

FOWCWelcome to December 5, 2019 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 “barbecue.”

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.

The issue with pingbacks not showing up seems to have been resolved, but you might check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

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