Day: January 12, 2022

#WDYS — Howling at the Moon

Fandango23 Comments

She was always a bit of a strange girl. It was in her essence, I guess. It’s what made her who she was.

I remember when she was a little girl, she would sneak out of house in the evenings and would go out to the field behind our property, shake her fist and howl, like a wolf, at the full moon. My wife would hear the wolf’s call, peek out from behind the kitchen curtains, and tell me she was at it again. I would go out to the field, fetch her, and bring her back into house.

I asked her why she did that whenever the moon was full, but she said that she didn’t know why. She said she felt some sort of compelling attachment to it, like how the moon’s gravitational pull would cause the tides to rise and fall. I suggested to her that perhaps she might want to study astronomy, so she could learn all about the moon. And about the sun, the planets, and the stars. She liked the idea.

She put her mind to learning everything she could about the moon and space. And without too much exertion, she earned her PhD and became a highly regarded astrophysicist.

And now, she is in training to be the first female to be included on the crew for the next moon landing. We are so proud of her and of how we were able to channel our discovery of her strong attraction to the moon to productive purposes.

She never lost her lifelong attraction to the moon, but at least she no longer goes out and howls at it when it’s full. But knowing her, when she lands on it and takes her first moon walk, she may start howling on the moon.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See? Prompt. Photo credit: LuizClas @ Pexels. Also for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (essence), Ragtag Daily Prompt (curtains), My Vivid Blog (again), The Daily Spur (attachment), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (exertion), and Word of the Day Challenge (discovery).

Simply 6 Minutes — The Haunting

Fandango15 Comments

Why do you haunt me?
I see your face everywhere I go
In the clouds above
In puddles on the ground
In the branches of leafless trees
Reflected in the windows of homes I pass

I see your face in the sunrise
I see it in the sunset
At night when I close my eyes
And in the morning when I first wake up
I can’t undo what I’ve done to you
I can’t bring you back to life

But I can’t live with you haunting me
Seeing your face everywhere I go
The only way to escape the agony
Of these unbearable feelings of guilt
And to stop these visions of your face
Before me from every place I go

Is to join you, wherever you are
Because you are everywhere I am

(134 words)

Written for Christine Bialczak’s Simply 6 Minutes prompt

Fandango’s Provocative Question #152

Fandango36 Comments
FPQ

Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

I remember when I was still working, one of the most frequent questions I would be asked by people I met was, “What do you do for a living?” They wanted to know what my job was, how I earned my money in order to feed, clothe, and shelter myself and my family. I’m not sure if the question was a way for the questioner to assess my social status or what, but I thought it would be rude to say, “That’s none of your damn business.” So if I knew I was unlikely to ever again see the person who asked, I would often make up an unusual answer just to watch his or her reaction.

Anyway, my provocative question for you this week is this:

What do you do for a living? If you are retired, what did you do before you retired? If you’re currently unemployed, what did you do before becoming unemployed?

And since I have no way to verify, you may, like I used to do, make up an answer.

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ 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. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Essence

Fandango22 Comments
FOWC

Welcome to January 12, 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 “essence.”

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.