Day: May 13, 2021

Pillow Talk

Fandango9 Comments

“How did you sleep last night?” Frank’s wife asked him when he walked into the kitchen.

“I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow,” Frank replied. “But I had a really strange dream.”

“Are you going to share it with me?” Diane asked.

“Well, I was alone in the desert and my throat was parched and I felt like I was dying of thirst,” Frank said, “when I spotted a large, purple plume of smoke on the horizon. I used what little strength I had left to climb to the zenith of a hill, hoping to find an oasis or something, but instead I saw you, standing in our kitchen making a salad. You were slicing some radishes and I ran down to where you were standing and said, ‘What are you doing? I hate radishes.’ You looked at me and said, ‘Duly noted’ and continued to slice the radishes and toss them into the salad.”

“Oh, poor Frank,” Diane said, a sarcastic look on her face, “that wasn’t a dream, that must have been a nightmare because I wouldn’t dream of adding radishes to your salad. Even though I love radishes in my salads.”

Written for Jim Adams’ Thursday Inspiration prompt, where the theme is “pillow.” Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (share), Word of the Day Challenge (thirst), Ragtag Daily Prompt (plume), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (zenith), MMA Storytime (salad), and Your Daily Word Prompt (duly).

zenith share duly plume thirst salad

WDYS — The Text Message

Fandango14 Comments

The Chief of Detectives motioned to Detective Fred Morrisey to step into his office. “A friend of mine said that there’s something strange going on at a house on his block. I gave him your number and told him to text you the address,” the Chief said. “Look into it for me, Morrisey, will you? Thanks.”

A few minutes later, a rather cryptic text message appeared on Morrisey’s phone. It read, “Go to 28-5 Carriage Way, head to the back of the property to the old wooden gate, and text me back when you get there.”

Detective Morrisey went to the address noted in the text message and responded that he was at the designated location. “There is a key to the gate’s padlock hidden below the ivy on the left.” Morrisey searched for and quickly found the key, opened up and removed the padlock, and swung open the gate. He peered inside, but nothing seemed unusual.

“What is the issue? What am I looking for?” Morrisey texted back.

“Go through the gate toward the back of the house,” was the response. Morrisey didn’t like playing games and would have texted back telling the guy to fuck off, but it was his boss who asked him to investigate. So he slowly walked past the gate toward the back of the old stone house. As he approached it, he tried to look through one of the windows, but they all had their curtains drawn tight.

“I’m at the back door, but I don’t see or hear anything going on inside. What exactly is the issue at this place that prompted you to call it in?” Morrisey texted.

“Did you try the door?” the texter asked.

Morrisey wasn’t sure if he should enter the house without a search warrant even if the door was unlocked. “There’s no probable cause,” he texted back. “I can’t go in without a warrant.”

“I’m telling you that something strange is going on inside,” the text Morrisey received said, “and the Chief of Detectives said he’d send someone over. DO YOUR DAMN JOB!”

Morrisey drew his service revolver, took a deep breath, and slowly turned the door’s handle. It wasn’t locked. He pushed the door open and stepped inside. As soon as he did, the room’s lights were switched on, temporarily blinding Morrisey.

“Surprise!” he heard a chorus of voices yell out in unison. Morrisey then heard the Chief of Detectives say, “Congratulations, Fred, on five years of service on the detectives’ squad. We’re all here to celebrate that milestone with you.” He walked over to the shocked detective, put his arm around Morrisey’s shoulder, and said, “Now holster your weapon before someone gets fucking shot.”

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? prompt. Photo credit: Victoria Strukovskaya @ Unsplash.

FOWC with Fandango — Zenith

Fandango19 Comments

FOWCWelcome to May 13, 2021 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 “zenith.”

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.