Day: July 2, 2020

Tale Weaver — A New Start

Fandango9 Comments

AA6C0F0B-F8C9-43D9-A1D8-93BC714A3775My plan was to go down to Cancun in Mexico, where beautiful young women abound — I’m talking ubiquitous, you know what I mean? — and to carouse around the whole summer. It was going to be grand.

But after just a week in Cancun, I developed a horrible case of flatus. I couldn’t go five minutes without letting go of some really stinky farts. Talk about being mortified. I was totally embarrassed. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how that malady could twist my grand plan around.

I needed to get some advice from a reliable source, so I asked my buddy if he could recommend a good doctor. I needed to get to the bottom of my excessive gas, no pun intended.

So this doc ran a bunch of tests and everything seemed normal. Then he asked me about my diet since I arrived in Cancun. I told him I live mostly on beans and beer. He urged me to cut down on the beans, saying the more beans you eat, the more you fart. Instead, he told me to eat more fish.

Long story short, I took his advice and, within a week of my bean-free diet, my flatus was gone. And now my summer is off to a great new start.

Written for the Tale Weaver prompt from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, where we’re asked to discuss the notion of a “new start.” And for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (ubiquitous), Your Daily Word Prompt (carouse), Ragtag Daily Prompt (flatus),  Word of the Day Challenge (imagination), The Daily Spur (twist), and Jibber Jabber (advice).

#writephoto — Is That OZ?

Fandango23 Comments

5B1DBCB6-5D3C-471E-A1FA-112BA50D9C17Lizzy stopped and let go of her father’s hand. “No, I’m not going.”

“Lizzy, we have to keep moving, sweetheart,” her father said.

“No,” she insisted. “I saw this before. This is the field that Dorothy, Toto, the tin man, the scarecrow, and the lion went into and they all fell asleep for a long, long time. I’m not going in there.”

“Oh Lizzy, that was make believe,” Her father responded. “Besides, that was a field of red poppies. This is a field of purple heather. You have nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure, Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetie, I’m sure,” he said as he grabbed her hand.

Lizzy pointed toward the hills in the distance. “Is that Oz?” she asked.

“No, honey, it’s freedom,” he answered. “Now let’s hurry before the secret police or the state security forces catch up with us.”

Written for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo prompt.

FFfPP — Formerly Known As Lady Liberty

Fandango16 Comments

A8722CFC-1022-4496-8C58-7913A625ACF6“What is that?” Alex’s five-year-old grandson asked him as the tour boat passed the small island with the large statue on it.

“That is Statuya Svobody, Dimitri,” Alex responded.

“What does that mean, grandpa?”Dimitri asked.

“It’s Russian, and loosely translated, it means The Statue of Liberty” Alex said. “That was its name when it was presented as a gift to the United States from France in 1886.”

“Why Russian and not English?” Dimitri asked.

“Back in 2023, the then president of the United States declared himself to be emperor and shredded the American constitution. Three years later he negotiated a deal with the president of the Russian Federation that essentially enabled Russia to annex the United States and our country’s name was changed to the Russian Federation of America, or R.F.A.,” Alex explained.

“Since then, a lot has changed,” Alex continued. “Washington, DC became New Moscow, all of the history books were rewritten, and anyone voicing opposition was subject to imprisonment.”

Dimitri didn’t really understand what his grandfather was talking about and, growing bored, he asked Alex to buy him an ice cream cone.

Alex was relieved. He knew that the penalties for talking to anyone about pre-Federation America were harsh.

(200 words)

Written for Roger Shipp’s Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practitioner. Photo credit: Morguefile.

FOWC with Fandango — Ubiquitous

Fandango18 Comments

FOWCWelcome to July 2, 2020 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 “ubiquitous.”

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.