Day: July 28, 2020

#writephoto — The Uprising

Fandango14 Comments

BE13989E-F468-40E6-8373-38E094EA27DCStorm clouds began to hover over the land. They grew thicker with each passing day and soon the world, as far as the eye could see, was enshrouded in darkness. But while the sun and the stars had disappeared from the sky, the clouds brought with them no life-sustaining rain. Soon the land began to become parched and what had once been green fields began to turn a dry, rust color.

With so little water available for the livestock, many of the animals humans used for food began to die off. And with nothing left for irrigation, most of the crops began to fail. Faced with starvation, the people became desperate. In their need to find sustenance where little existed, they turned to violence. The darkness was slowly replacing civilized society with lawlessness.

And then a man stepped into the breach. He preached that he, alone, could fix things; that only he could restore law and order to an out-of-control society. He said he was going to clear the clouds and make our lands and our lives great again. He took on god-like qualities as he promised to bring about a new beginning for everyone. And the people believed him. They cheered and embraced him. They allowed him to do his bidding virtually unchecked, believing that he was the answer to all of their prayers.

But he was the answers to the prayers of only the wealthy, of his friends and his family, and of those who needed the least, rather than of those who needed the most. By the time the people realized what he was doing, it was too late. Those with the most had enslaved those with the least.

Until the uprising.

Written for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt. Photo credit: Sue Vincent.

Truthful Tuesday — Coffee and Tea

Fandango24 Comments

E14D5C78-0C96-49DB-BDA9-38CCE034EEABPCGuy, over at Thoughts and Theories, has started a new prompt that he calls Truthful Tuesday. In case you don’t know it, he, along with his alternate-weeks host, Di, over at Pensitivity101, host a different prompt, Fibbing Friday. I don’t participate in that prompt because, quite bluntly, I think it’s silly. No offense, Di and PCGuy, but I just don’t see the point of posting made up answers to questions. So I pass on Fibbing Friday each week.

But PCGuy’s new prompt is all about being truthful instead of fibbing. In fact, he says that, unlike Fibbing Friday, where you’re supposed to answer each question with a fib, for Truthful Tuesday, we are told that honest answers are required.

So, being the honest guy that I am, I have decided to give Truthful Tuesday a try. Are you ready to rumble?

Do you prefer coffee or tea? (You must pick at least one, even if neither are your favorite beverage.)

I am a coffee drinker. I am not a fan of tea at all. Well, at least not hot tea in a cup. I will, upon occasion, drink iced tea.

Considering your previous choice, do you prefer it hot or iced?

It must be steaming hot.

How do you take it (cream, sugar, honey, black, etc.)?

Black with one packet of Splenda (artificial sweetener) added.

What is your earliest memory of drinking coffee?

I didn’t drink coffee in high school or college, which is where most of the people I know became hooked on caffeine in order to help them stay up and study for exams and/or write papers. I started drinking coffee when I went to basic training in the army after graduating from college. It became a lifetime habit with me.

What is your earliest memory of drinking tea?

One of the reasons I don’t drink hot tea is because I associate it with illness. Whenever I was sick, be it a head cold, a stomach ache, or whatever, my mother would fix me a cup of hot tea with a teaspoon of honey in it and make me drink it all up. It was, she said, a miracle cure for whatever ails you. I don’t know if it did any good, but it turned me off to drinking hot tea for the rest of my life.

Okay, so maybe participating in Fibbing Friday will be a bit more entertaining for you to read. I re-read this post and it’s really quite boring. Perhaps what it needs is a cup of hot tea with a spoonful of honey to make it all better.

MLMM Photo Challenge — Detective Story

Fandango18 Comments

04154B14-3D3E-432C-88F0-71654019DBB1The two detectives, Fred Morrisey and Ron Hayden, rushed to the scene at Ocean Beach as soon as they got the call. “The vic must have still been alive when he was buried under the sand,” Morrisey surmised as he looked down at the hand sticking up out of the moist sand.

“What a gruesome way to go,” Hayden said, as he was furiously taking notes. “Could it have been a prank gone bad?” he asked.

“I doubt it,” Morrisey said. “If this was an accident, there would be footprints in the sand, but whoever did this meticulously smoothed over the sand to cover their tracks. This was no accident.”

“Oh shit!” Hayden exclaimed. “My damn pen is leaking and now my fingers are all inky.”

“Go wash your hands off,” Morrisey said. “I’ll go talk to the ME and tell him he’s clear to get the forensics team to start digging the body out of the sand.” Morrisey walked over to where the medical examiner was waiting in the shade under the pergola for the detectives to finish their initial inspection.

“Doc, you gotta get your guys out there quickly,” Morrisey said to the ME. “The tide is starting to come in and we don’t want a rogue wave to destroy the crime scene before you can ascertain the time and cause of death.”

“We’ll get right on it, Fred” the ME said. “I’ll call you when I have anything to report.”

“Be sure to check under each fingernail to see if you can get any DNA,” Morrisey said.

“Thanks for the time savings tip, detective,” the ME said icily. “If I find anything other than sand, you’ll be the first to know.

Written for the Photo Challenge from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. Photo credit: David Altmejd. Also for the following daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (inky), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (pergola), Jibber Jabber (wave), Your Daily Word Prompt (ascertain), Ragtag Daily Prompt (fingernail), and The Daily Spur (savings).

FOWC with Fandango — Pergola

Fandango25 Comments

FOWCWelcome to July 28, 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 “pergola.”

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. Please 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.