Day: January 11, 2022

The Wanderer

Fandango22 Comments

What can I get you two?” the bartender asked as the two men sat down at the bar.

“Two Buds,” Hank said.

“No, I’ll have a cosmopolitan,” Daniel said.

“A cosmopolitan?” Hank said, a surprised look on his face. “Since when do you drink those?”

“It was Suzanne’s favorite drink. I refused to even try it when we were together. Too girly I told her. But now that we’re no longer a couple, I thought I’d give it a try.” As the bartender set the drinks down, Daniel took a sip of the cosmopolitan. “Hmm, not too bad,” he said.

“So what are you going to do now that your divorce is final?” Hank asked Daniel. “Are you going to stick around here or are you going to delay making any decisions until you can figure out how to get your act together?”

“What do you mean by that, Hank?” Daniel asked. “I’ve got my act together. I’m going to follow my instincts, wherever they lead me.”

“You mean those same peripatetic instincts that led to Suzanne filing for divorce? Those instincts?”

“Look, Hank,” Daniel said, “You know that my marriage was a total clusterfuck. She was possessive and jealous and I needed my space to do my thing.”

“And your ‘thing’ was to cheat on her with every girl in town and to wander around aimlessly with no goals?” Hank said. “Daniel, this is your life. You’ve made a mess of it so far, but it’s not too late to start fresh. To turn over a new leaf.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Daniel said. He took another sip of the cosmopolitan. “Damn, this cosmo is really good.”

Written for these daily prompts: JusJoJan (cosmopolitan), The Daily Spur (divorce), Ragtag Daily Prompt (delay), My Vivid Blog (instincts), Word of the Day Challenge (peripatetic), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (cluster), and Scott’s Daily Prompt (this is your life).

5 Things I Don’t Want to See in 2022

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Dr. Tanya asks us to list 5 things we don’t want to see in 2022.

1. I don’t want to see Donald Trump get away with having almost destroyed the American democracy.

What I do want to see is Donald Trump being arrested, tried, convicted, and incarcerated. Along with all of the others who schemed, planned, and participated (and are still participating) in the Big Lie and the attempt to overturn the election of Joe Biden in 2021.

2. I don’t want to see Republicans taking back control of Congress in the midterm elections in November.

What I do want to see is American voters recognizing that, should Republicans gain control of Congress, that could be the last nail in the coffin of our democracy.

3. I don’t want to see COVID-19 and its variants continue to plague humanity.

What I do want to see is people willing to get vaccinated and to mask up so that we might finally put this pandemic behind us.

4. I don’t want to see continued complacency around climate change.

What I do want to see are definitive actions by governments around the world to abate the devastation that continuing on the path we’re on with respect to climate change will lead to.

5. I don’t want to see a decision by the Supreme Court that would, for all intents and purposes, overturn Roe v Wade and make abortions illegal in the United States.

What I do want to see is a recognition that women have equal rights, especially when it comes to managing their own reproductive health, and that the ultimate decision a woman makes about her pregnancy is a personal and private one.

Truthful Tuesday — Frank’s Back

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Frank, aka PCGuy, is back from a brief hiatus and has published his latest Truthful Tuesday post. For his return to this prompt, Frank simply wants to know…

What was your favorite part of this holiday season?

I think I’m going to hold a record for the shortest posted response to a Truthful Tuesday prompt. My favorite part of the holiday season is that it’s over. Goodbye until November 2022.

Fandango’s Story Starter #28

Fandango11 Comments

It’s time for my weekly Story Starter prompt. Here’s how it works. Every Tuesday morning (my time), I’m going to give you an incomplete “teaser” sentence and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that partial sentence. It doesn’t have to be the first sentence in your story, and you don’t even have to use it in your post at all if you don’t want to. The purpose of the teaser is simply to spark your imagination and to get your storytelling juices flowing.

This week’s Story Starter teaser is:

When Frank turned the TV that night and saw the lead story on the late news, he knew that…

If you care to write and post a story built from this teaser, be sure to link back to this post and to tag your post with #FSS. I would also encourage you to read and enjoy what your fellow bloggers do with their stories.

And most of all, have fun.

FOWC with Fandango — Cluster

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FOWC

Welcome to January 11, 2022 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 “cluster.”

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.