Day: November 22, 2022

Heaven Forbid

Fandango10 Comments

“My boyfriend, Richard, is an English lit major with a focus on romanticism,” Andrea said. “You should read some of the sonnets he writes for me. He’s so romantic.”

“My boyfriend, David, is working on an advanced degree in economics, “ Brenda said. “He’s so smart and he’s really going to go places.

“Well Richard,” Andrea said, “has been offered a fellowship at the University to teach a poetry course starting in the fall. He’s leaning toward accepting it.”

“David has a job lined up with a big Wall Street firm,” Brenda said. “He’s going earn the big bucks and we’ll be able to afford a large, fancy house with a grand fountain in the front.”

“OMG, girlfriend,” Andrea said. “Finance? Economics? That sounds so humdrum. Wake me when you’re done talking about your boyfriend.”

“Trust me, girlfriend,” Brenda said, mimicking Andrea, “you’re going to be living on food stamps if you stick with sonnet-man. Poets just don’t make any money.

“Trust you?” Andrea laughed. “As if you’re the trustworthy type. You just want to break me and Richard up because he’s such a romantic and your David is the cold, calculating type. Literally, he’s a numbers man and Richard is all heart.”

“Well, girl, neither of us can know the future,” Brenda said. “Let’s make a pact to get together in twenty years from now. Maybe you’ll be married to the next Robert Frost and I’ll be married to the next Warren Buffett.”

Andrea burst out laughing, “OMG, heaven forbid!”

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (sonnet), The Daily Spur (economic), Word of the Day Challenge (leaning), Fandango’s One Word Challenge (fountain), Your Daily Word Prompt (humdrum), and My Vivid Blog (trustworthy).

Five Word Weekly Challenge — Like Two Ships In the Night

Fandango7 Comments

“Okay, he might be a slight bit pretentious, but, otherwise, he seems like a pleasant man,” she said

“The guy is a carnivore, like a T-Rex. If you let him, he’ll tear you limb from limb and eat you alive,” he said.

“Oh, I think you’re exaggerating,” she said. “Yes, he’s assertive, and maybe a little aggressive, but he’s really a great guy. When we met it was like two ships meeting in the night. So romantic.”

“I think you’re turning a blind eye to this guy,” he said. “My only advice to you is to watch yourself before that bastard sinks your ship and you drown.”

Written for Greg’s Five Word Weekly Challenge, where the words are: carnivore | pretentious | slight | ship | blind

JSW Challenge — Problem Solved

Fandango24 Comments

“Dad, look what you did,” Jonathan said. “You’ve ruined everything. Mom would never have let this happen.”

“Well, your mom left us when she ran off with her boss,” Andy said. “So it’s just you and me kid. I can fix this.”

“How can you fix this, Dad?” Jonathan asked. “These were for my class at school. You ruined everything!”

“I will slather them with a thick coat of icing,” Andy said. “They’ll look delicious.”

“Dad, they’re burnt cupcakes!” Jonathan whined. “This is a disaster.”

“It’s okay, Jonathan,” Andy said. “I’ll drive you to school tomorrow and on the way we’ll stop at the bakery in town and I’ll pick up a dozen of their freshly baked cupcakes. Problem solved. Done and done.”

“Fine,” Jonathan said. Then he started to cry. “Why did she go away, Dad? Was it my fault?”

“No, Jonathan,” Andy said, hugging his son. “It had nothing to do with you. I promise you, the two of us are going to be okay. Your mother leaving us is not a fate worse than death. We’re going to get through this together.”

Jonathan smiled up at his father. “Based upon what you did to these cupcakes, Dad, we’re not off to a great start,” he said.

Written for the JSW (Just Start Writing) prompt from Athling2001 at A Writer’s Life. This week’s challenge is a dialogue prompt using the two phrases highlighted above in red. Photo credit: Micheal Axelsen at Flickr.com.

Truthful Tuesday — The Assassination of JFK

Fandango13 Comments

Di, of Pensitivity101, is our host for Truthful Tuesday. Di points out that on this day in 1963, John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Her question to us is:

Can you remember what you were doing or where you were when this happened?

Yes, my memory of that day is clear as a bell. I was a junior in high school at the time. It was on a Friday at around 1:30 in the afternoon, Eastern Time, when I heard the announcement from the principal over the PA system that the president had been shot.

I was in the gym, along with maybe half a dozen other students, decorating it for a Thanksgiving dance scheduled for that night.

I was standing near the top of a ladder hanging some Thanksgiving-appropriate decorations from the scaffolding along the gym’s ceiling. I was stunned when I heard the announcement. My spotter, the guy who was holding the ladder steady for me, had a large grin on his face and said, “Wicked.”

With tears in my eyes, I scampered down the ladder and, even though he was a friend of mine and could probably beat the snot out of me if he set his mind to it, I punched him in the face. He didn’t hit me back.

All that could be heard throughout the school, once it was confirmed that the president was dead, were the sounds of students and teacher crying and sniffling.

We had to wait around for the buses to take us home, but no one said a word and the silence was eerie. Our world, the world of high school students — and of all Americans — changed forever 59 years ago today.

Fandango’s Story Starter #73

Fandango15 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 a “teaser” sentence and your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a story (prose or poetry) around that 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:

Karen went ballistic when she found out that her husband, Kenneth, had gambled away their entire life’s savings.

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.