Day: April 3, 2024

JSW Writing Prompt — A Plan

Fandango6 Comments

“Have you thought about how we’re going to pull off this caper?” Gabe asked.

“I have plan.”

“Is it a good plan?”

“I have a plan!”

“That’s what I thought, Jerry, and that’s just not good enough,” Gabe said. “If you think I’m going to put my ass on the line for another one of your seat-of-the-pants operations, you’ve got another think coming.”

“Oh for crissake, Gabe, what’s happened to you?” Jerry said. “You used to get off on these little capers of ours. You used to say it got your adrenaline going. And you know my track record. Have we ever got caught?”

“Yeah, ‘used to’ are the operative words, Jerry,” Gabe said. “What happened to me? I got old. I don’t need to run around participating in your crazy shenanigans. Playing with my grandkids is all the adrenaline rush I need anymore. And need I remind you that we almost got caught on your last hair-brained caper idea.”

“Okay, fine,” Jerry said. “Give me until tomorrow to come with a good plan.”

Written for the JSW Writing Prompt from Athling2001 at A Writer’s Life.

Answer Me This — Extraterrestrial Life and Birth Order

Fandango4 Comments

Suze, over at Obsolete Childhood has introduced a new prompt called “Answer Me This.” Suze says it’s “an alternative daily prompt” to the WordPress Daily Prompt, which she characterized as “ones that totally sucks and are focused upon the young people here.”

Anyway, her prompt question today is this:

Do you believe in life on other planets?

With the truly unimaginable vastness of the universe, I absolutely do believe in the likelihood that life exists on other planets. The question omitted the word “intelligent” when asking about life on other planets. I don’t if Suze intentionally left out that word, but it’s understandable if she did. After all, how does one define intelligent life? The way things are going on this planet, I’m questioning whether or not intelligent life exists on Earth!

Since I missed Suze’s April 2nd Answer Me This question, I’m going to append my answer here. Yesterday, Suze asked…

Does birth order affect people’s personalities?

Im not sure I’m the best person to answer this question. I’m the baby of my family, the third born with two older sisters. One was 15 years older than me and one was nine years older, so I was raised as much by my older sisters as by my parents. In fact, my oldest sister used to wheel me around our neighborhood in a baby carriage telling everyone that I was her baby.

Bottom line, I was a spoiled child, but did being the third of three affect my personality? I have no way of knowing that.

My wife and I had two children, a girl and a boy with a little more than 2 1/2 years between them. They have markedly different personalities, but if their birth order were reversed, would their personalities be any different. I plead the Fifth.

With my grandkids, one of whom will turn four next month and other who turned two in October, I noticed a huge difference in the way they have been raised. With kid number one, they were religiously following all of the new parenting rules, closely monitoring everything he did, and scheduling his young life like clockwork. With kid number two, they’ve been much more laissez-faire.

The older child, the boy, seems more tentative, less adventurous, and more timid than his younger sister. She seems almost fearless compared to her older brother. Will this early difference in their personalities continue into adulthood? I don’t know. And given my age, I probably won’t be around long enough to find out.

MFFFC — “Casting!”

Fandango5 Comments

“Cut!” Cameron yelled. “Where the hell is my casting director? Finn, goddammit, where are you?

“I’m here, boss,” Mali said after dashing over to where the irate director was standing.

“Get that tuxedo cat out of the boat and get me another cat to play Jack, Mali. Preferably one who doesn’t look like a villain who is getting ready to throw Rose overboard. Jack is supposed to be madly in love with Rose, not preparing to toss her to the sharks. And that orange tabby couldn’t be more bored looking. She is supposed to be thrilled, not half asleep! This is a catastrophe.”

“Okay, James, I’ve got a whole pet shop’s worth of cats backstage,” Mali said. “I’ll find a less sinister-looking Tuxedo to play Jack in this scene and I’ll give the tabby some catnip. That should make her more dreamy. Give me ten minutes, James.”

The director yelled out, “Take fifteen, everyone.”

Written for Melissa’s Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge. Image credit: iridi on iStock.

One-Liner Wednesday — Brainwashed

Fandango15 Comments

Trump didn’t actually say that. At least People Magazine claims he didn’t say that. But if he had said it back in 1998, he would have been incredibly prescient. Why?

Because according to a recent poll taken by The New York Times/Siena College…

100% of Republicans who consume Fox News and other conservative media intend to support Donald Trump in November, compared with “only” 79% of Republicans who get information primarily from CNN and other mainstream media sources.

Further, just 7% of Republican Fox News and conservative media consumers say Trump committed serious federal crimes.

So, it turns out that in 2024, Republicans do, in fact, believe anything on Fox News. And, yes, Trump does lie continuously, and they still eat it up.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt.

A2Z Challenge — The Letter C

Fandango28 Comments

I am unofficially participating in this year’s A to Z Challenge. My theme this year is girlfriends.

C is for Carolyn B.

I was late for my urban planning class and was running up the stairwell of the building when I almost crashed into a girl who was in the same class but seemed totally unfazed about being late. I later learned that this girl, who was also working on a master’s degree in healthcare administration, came from a wealthy family with strong political ties and foreign service experience in the diplomatic corps. She was worldly, wicked smart, and very pretty. What she ever saw in me I’ll never know.

We soon became friends, often going out for dinner or drinks after the late afternoon class. After about a month of being friends, she invited me over to her place for dinner. She lived in a beautiful home in Potomac, Maryland that her parents, who were overseas at the time, used when they were not working at some embassy somewhere around the globe, so Carolyn, an only child, had the entire house to herself most of the time.

She cooked me a delicious meal and then we had some wine and shared a joint and that was the night our relationship transitioned from being friends to being lovers. Carolyn was high maintenance and our on-again, off-again relationship lasted about two years. I remember the lyrics to the song “Over My Head” by Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie describing it perfectly.

You can take me to paradise
And then again you can be as cold ice
I'm over my head (over my head)
Oh, but it sure feels nice

You can take me anytime you like
I'll be around if you think you might love me, baby (over my head)
And hold me tight

Your mood is like a circus wheel
You're changing all the time
Sometimes I can't help but feel
That I'm wasting all of my time

(Over my head)

Your mood is like a circus wheel
You're changing all the time
Sometimes I can't help but feel
That I'm wasting all of my time

I think I'm looking on the dark side
But everyday you hurt my pride
I'm over my head (over my head)
Oh, but it sure feels nice
I'm over my head (over my head)
But it sure feels nice
I'm over my head (over my head)
But it sure feels nice

Previous 2024 A2Z posts: A B