Day: February 12, 2022

The Death of a Salesman

Fandango13 Comments

“Thank you for inviting me into your beautiful home,” the salesman said. “I can see that you made a substantial investment when you purchased this home and there is no better way to protect your investment than to purchase a home security system from Acme Alarms. Our systems are the most highly rated on the market. They leverage inventive, state of the art technologies, including facial recognition, and they can be managed right from your smartphone.”

“That sounds good,” Jeff said, “but what does it cost?”

“I see, Jeff,” the salesman said, “that you’re the kind of person who likes to cut to the chase. Well, my friend, what is the cost of peace of mind? How much is it worth to you and your lovely wife and sweet, sweet children, to remove the angst of living in area where the ramifications of a serious home invasion could be catastrophic?”

Carolyn squeezed her husband’s hand. “You’re causing my angst to skyrocket right now,” she said to the salesman. “Are you saying we don’t live in a safe area? One of the reasons we bought this house is because it’s located in a highly desirable part of town and it’s supposed to be a very safe neighborhood.”

“You’re right on both counts, dear lady,” the salesman said, without missing a beat. “But do savvy criminals break into homes in the poorer sections of town where there’s nothing worth stealing? No, of course not. They target the more affluent neighborhoods, like yours. In the long run, the cost of protecting your home verses the cost of the loss of property and even lives, is at the very least, neutral. Now is not the time for you to veer off course and to stray from the reality of the need for protection. Now how about we all share a big hug?”

Jeff and Carolyn stood up, pointed to their front door, and, in unison, said, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

Written for these daily prompts: Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge (security,) My Vivid Blog (inventive), Word of the Day Challenge (angst), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (ramifications), The Daily Spur (serious), E.M.’s Random Prompt (neutral), Your Daily Word Prompt (veer), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (hug).

Weekend Writing Prompt — This, That, and the Other

Fandango22 Comments

My blog is “This, That, and the Other”
It has no niche
It has no theme
I write about whatever strikes my fancy
Depending on my mood
Maybe some flash fiction
Or a whine
Or a rant
Perhaps serious
Perhaps humorous
Perhaps ludicrous
If that makes me sound capricious
Maybe I am
Maybe I’m not

(Exactly 55 words)

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

Also for Scott’s Daily Prompt, where the prompt is “All about you” and he asks us to explain why you chose your blog’s title and what it means to us.

SoCS — Fame and Fortune

Fandango18 Comments

Fame and fortune had always eluded Thomas. Not that he ever tried very hard for either. In fact, just the opposite. He was never one to court fame. He diligently tried to avoid stepping into the spotlight. And having done so probably accounted for his lack of having acquired anything even closely resembling a fortune.

But Thomas was living comfortably enough to meet his needs and then some. He wasn’t struggling to put a roof over his head, food on the table, and clothes on his back. In the grand scheme of things, he was relatively contented.

One day, on a whim, while picking up a pint of ice cream at a convenience store, Thomas purchased a lottery ticket. He didn’t even chose his own numbers. He bought one of those “quick-pics” tickets where the computer chooses the numbers for you. He put his lottery ticket in his wallet and didn’t give it another thought.

A few days later he heard on the news that a winning ticket had been sold at a convenience store in his city. It was big news locally because the jackpot was fifty million. It turned out that the winning ticket had been purchased the same convenience store at which Thomas bought his. Lucky guy, Thomas thought, but then promptly forgot about it.

Three weeks later Thomas read that no one had yet claimed the prize. He decided, just for grins, to pull his lottery ticket out of his wallet and check the numbers. And when he did, Thomas was dumbfounded. He took the ticket, ran to the convenience store, bought another pint of ice cream, and handed his lottery ticket to the guy at the counter, saying, “I think I have a winner.”

Thomas’ life instantly changed. He now had his fortune and when it was revealed that he was the “mystery winner” of the $50 million dollar lottery, he also had his fame.

Word on the street was that Thomas went on a buying spree. He bought a big, fancy house, expensive cars, and fast women. Or maybe it was fast cars and expensive women. Either way, the money he’d won was flowing loose and fast. Friends and relatives he never knew he had were hitting him up for money or offering him surefire investment opportunities.

He started gambling and soon the money began to run low, but he continued living high on the hog. Eventually, his gambling took its toll and Thomas lost his big, fancy house, his fast cars, and he was shunned by expensive women.

A few years later, the body of a destitute man was found by the authorities. The man was ultimately identitied as Thomas, the lucky guy who bought the winning lottery ticket at a local convenience store. There was a note tucked into one of his pants pockets when they found the body. It read, “Fame and fortune aren’t what they’re cracked up to be.”

Written for Linda G. Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, where Linda has given us the word “fortune” with instructions to use it any way we’d like.

FOWC with Fandango — Ramifications

Fandango18 Comments
FOWC

It’s February 12, 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 “ramifications.”

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.