Day: December 16, 2021

Thursday Twofer

Fandango10 Comments

There are two prompts today that seemed to fit together like a hand in a glove. One prompt, Throwback Thursday is from Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude. The two alternate hosting the prompt. The idea is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie chose the topic of “friendship.” Maggie wants to know…

Who was the earliest friend you remember?

My parents had just moved us to Silver Spring, Maryland from Newark, New Jersey. I was five years old and going into first grade. Dennis was one of the first kids I met at school and he lived a few blocks from where I lived. He and I became fast friends.

What drew you to this person?

He knew his way around the block and around the school, so he could show me the ropes. And he liked the same things I liked.

What kinds of things did you do together.

We hung out, played games, and had fun. Hell, we were only five years old!

Did you have pen pals?

I used to keep in touch with long-distant friends via the exchange of letters, but these days it’s primarily via emails and text messages.

Have you maintained long-term friendships from childhood.

Only one, actually. We have moved so often in my adult life that I’ve lost touch with most of my childhood friends.

Did you have autograph books?

Nope.

How about high school yearbooks signed by friends?

Yes, I still have my high school yearbook signed by friends from back then, although I can’t recall the last time I looked at it.

What kinds of things may have made you sever friendships?

As I said, we’ve moved around a lot over the years, so after a while, life, time, and distance just got in the way of keeping the friendships going.

Are you a friend collector – the more the better – or are you content with the intimacy of a few close friends?

The latter. I have a relatively small circle of close friends.

How does your personality (shy or outgoing) affect the friendships you develop?

At this stage of my life, my age is what affects new friendships, so other than casual friendships with my neighbors, I haven’t made many new friends lately.

What is the quality you desire in a friend?

Knowing that this friend “has my back.”

Now that I’ve answered Maggie’s question on friendships, let’s move on to the other prompt, which is the Thursday Inspiration prompt from Jim Adams. Jim’s prompt usually focuses on music, and today he gave us the song “Holding Out for A Hero,” by Bonnie Tyler. But he also said we could respond to his prompt by using the word “need.” I, of course, thought what goes together better than “need” and “friendship.” And in response to Jim’s prompt, I’m giving you this classic song from Carole King, “You’ve Got a Friend.”

#WDYS — A New Normal

Fandango11 Comments

Most people were frighten. They didn’t know what it was, how it got there, or who put it there. All they knew was that it wasn’t there when they went to bed that night, but it was there when they woke up the next morning. And that it was huge.

Was it good? Was it evil? No one seemed to have a definitive answer. Some feared that it was an avenging angel sent to Earth by God to make humanity pay for its sins and evil ways. Some agreed that the angel was sent by God, but that its purpose was to guard over and protect the people.

Many took the sudden appearance of the angel as marking the beginning of the End Times and that the angel was going to escort the devout believers, both living and dead, in their ascension into heaven and deliver them unto Jesus Christ at the Second Coming. These people were rejoicing.

There were those who ascribed the giant as some sort of manifestation due to a form of mass hallucinations, possibly engineered by agents of a foreign nation in order to bring about a panic and to cause our society to crumble. Still others claimed that the giant angel was an extraterrestrial being sent to enslave the human race.

Days went by and the giant angel, as if made of stone, did not move. The authorities had no answers and the people continued to speculate over what it was and what it meant. But regardless of what they believed the angel to be, they all seemed to agree that life as they knew it was would never be the same.

The only difference was that some looked upon the angel as hopeful, a harbinger of a new, better existence, and to them it was a good thing. They believed the angel was something to be worshipped. And some looked at it as a foreshadowing of a new dark age filled with doom and gloom, which was a bad thing, and that the only course of action was to destroy the thing.

As was typical of human beings, the divide between the factions grew wider and precipitated bitter fighting. After a while, though people got used to the giant angel standing over them. And life eventually started to return to “a new normal,” nearly as it was before the angel mysteriously appeared. Yet the rivalries persisted and even intensified.

And from an immeasurable distance, two entities, one thought to represent good and one thought to represent evil, gazed upon what had happened since they introduced the angel to their playground. One said to the other, “I told you that everything would change.” The other replied, “But the reality is that nothing has changed.”

And they were both right.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? prompt. Image credit: Kellepics @ Pixabay.

FOWC with Fandango — Bring

Fandango15 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to December 16, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “bring.”

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.