Day: February 5, 2022

The Set Up

Fandango22 Comments

As soon at Todd got wind that a warrant for his arrest had been issued, he started packing his bag. In the meantime, unaware of what Todd was doing, his wife had thrown the plastic tablecloth on the picnic table in their backyard and put a large bowl of freshly picked strawberries out for her kids to eat. She called out to her kids to partake of the juicy strawberries when Todd came to the backdoor holding his suitcase.

Meredith looked up and smiled at her husband, but then she noticed the suitcase. “Are you going somewhere?” she asked.

“Listen carefully,” Todd said. “I’m in trouble and I’ve got to go away for a while.”

“Why?” Meredith asked. “What kind of trouble? What have you done.”

“I’ve been set up and I need some time to figure out how to mitigate the damage before I get arrested.”

“Arrested?” Meredith said, unable to hide her visceral reaction to what he had said. “Jesus, Todd, what have you done?”

“That’s just it, Mer,” Todd said. “I haven’t done anything wrong. But my boss, Tom, has apparently been embezzling company funds and an outside auditor caught the discrepancies. And now it looks like he is trying to frame me for it. That son a bitch threw me under the bus and now the cops are coming to arrest me.”

“Oh my God, Todd,” a shocked Meredith exclaimed. “Where are you going and how long will you be gone?”

“I’m going to head north toward Canada,” he said. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. I’ll need to figure out a way to clear my name.” He walked up to his wife and hugged her. “Don’t worry, I’ll be okay. Tell the kids I love them.” With that, he picked up his suitcase and left.

Once Todd had pulled out of the driveway, Meredith picked up the phone and made a call. “He just left, darling,” she said to the person she called. “Your scheme worked perfectly. He’s gone, said he was heading north toward Canada. I’m going to call the police and give them a description of the car and the plate number. They should pick him up before he leaves the state. “I can’t wait to see you tonight, Tom.”

******

Todd was in his car heading south to his boss’ house. He pulled a gun from the car’s glove box. “You’re first, Tom,” he said to himself. “And once you’re out of the way, I’m going to take care of that two-timing bitch of a wife.” A wicked smile crossed Todd’s face.

Written for these daily prompts: E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (warrant), Ragtag Daily Prompt (tablecloth), My Vivid Blog (strawberry), Your Daily Word Prompt (mitigate), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (visceral), and The Daily Spur (north).

Weekend Quickie — February ‘22

Fandango20 Comments

Rory is at it again with his Weekend Quickie questions. Let’s see what he’s asking this time.

Do you slurp or spoon eat your noodles?

Are we talking about ramen noodles? Egg noodles? Spaghetti noodles? I think, for the most part, I eat them with a fork or, if Asian-type noodles, with chopsticks.

Is inspiration enough on its own to achieve more success in life?

Inspiration is great, but once inspired, it takes hard work and perseverance to achieve success.

What’s the worst a violent sneeze could do to you at the wrong time?

I imagine that experiencing a violent sneeze at the exact time as you’re having an orgasm could ruin the moment, especially if that violent sneeze explodes all over your partner’s face.

What do you find yourself thinking about the most currently?

Unfortunately, I can’t take my mind off of the shitshow that is happening in the United States, politically, culturally, societally, and environmentally right now. It’s eating away at me.

Do you think it is essential to love yourself and if so/not – why?

I do think you need to feel good about yourself. Doing so gives you more self-confidence, a feeling of self-worth, and in general, a more positive outlook on life. That said, you can’t take it to extremes to the point of only being able to love yourself, which would be indicative of a narcissistic personality disorder. And that’s not good at all.

What would happen to your world today if you travelled back on your timeline and changed an aspect of your life from yesterday?

Never disobey the Prime Directive! Never!

Are you a skim reader and if so why?

It depends on what I’m reading. I may skim a newspaper or magazine article for the salient points. if I’m reading a book, be it a novel or non-fiction, if I find myself skimming, it probably means I’m not enthralled with the book and may decide to stop reading it. When it comes to blog posts, I will admit that if the post is a lengthy one, say approaching 800 or more words, it has to be really, really engaging for me not to start skimming. Sorry, but I just have a relatively short attention span, which is why my average post is only around 250 words. Please don’t hate me if you write really long posts.

Weekend Writing Prompt — I’m So Confused

Fandango7 Comments

Is it a coincidence?
Could it be anything other than that?
It is a bit perplexing.
Perhaps even baffling.
Doesn’t it seem a bit strange?
When Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt
And the Word of the Day Challenge
Both have me flummoxed.

(Exactly 42 words)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “flummox.”

And for the Word of the Day Challenge, where the word is also “flummox.”

SoCS — About Pages

Fandango16 Comments

For this week’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill as given us the word “page.” I’ve decided to focus on two things I believe every blog should have: an About page and a Contact page.

Let’s talk about what pages in WordPress are. They’re not posts, which appear on your blog in reverse chronological order, newest posts first. Pages, on the other hand, are for non-chronological and more static content, such as “About” or “Contact” pages. They reside outside of the normal blog chronology and are typically used to present timeless but relevant information about yourself or your site.

I have an About page and a Contact page on my blog.

These pages appear in a drop-down box in mobile view
Or in a row at the top of my blog in desktop view.

Pages are very easy to set up in WordPress. I will provide screenshots from my iPhone, but it works pretty much the same way from a desktop or laptop.

First, go to your My Site page and look for “Pages.”

Click or tap on “Pages.” If you already have pages on your site, it will show you what those pages are. My blog has two pages.

If you don’t already have pages, you can create a new one and you’ll be shown a menu of the different types of pages you can set up with some examples.

Again, it’s no more complicated than publishing a post, but the About page (here’s mine) tells your readers a little about yourself and your blog. The Contact page (here’s mine) tells your readers how to get in touch with you privately via your WordPress email address.

As I said, every blog should have these two pages. In fact, if I visit your site and if it does not have at least an About page, I will most like not follow your blog. So, if your blog does not have those two pages, I urge you to take a few minutes to create them and add them to your blog.

You’re welcome.

FOWC with Fandango — Visceral

Fandango19 Comments
FOWC

It’s February 5, 2022. Welcome 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 “visceral.”

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.