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The Interrogation

Fandango10 Comments

DB9380F7-F0D3-4829-A5CB-F35A31CE1BC0 “We’ve got you dead to rights,” the first detective said.

“So you might as well confess because we’ve got the goods on you, pal,” the second detective added.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Why am I here? What are you accusing me of.”

“Oh, playing it coy, are you?” detective one said. “We got a search warrant and found the body in your basement.”

“The body?” I asked. “What body? And what’s the deal with a search warrant?”

“We got a call from your neighbor and she said she saw you drag a body into your house last night,” detective two said.

“You mean old Mrs. Higgenbotham?” I asked. “First of all, she’s blind as a bat. Second of all….”

“We saw the damn body, pal,” detective one interrupted.

“The guy’s face was a mess and you put a plastic bag over his head,” detective two said. “Probably death by asphyxiation.”

I couldn’t help myself. I started laughing. “Listen, my job is to design window displays for the local department store. What I dragged into my house last night was a plaster mannequin that I need to repair. 7F070DE8-E3F2-42C5-BE08-B5C3D0E8E8DBDetective one’s cellphone rang. “It’s the medical examiner,” he said to detective two. Then, talking into the phone, he said, “Yes, Doc, I see. Yes, I’m sorry for wasting your time, Doc.”

Then he looked at me and said, “You’re free to go.”

Written for today’s Sunday Photo Fiction prompt from Donna McNicol (photo credit: MicheleBlanche) and for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie’s Sunday Writing Prompt.

Time To Soar

Fandango10 Comments

69EBF9D7-327F-4928-B234-9CB937CA8831“So how are you feeling now that the divorce is final?” Claire asked her best friend over coffee at the local Starbucks.

“Oh my God, Claire,” Diana responded. “I feel like a tremendous weight has been lifted off of me. I feel so light that if a strong breeze came along, it would lift me up and I’d fly through the air.”

“That’s great, Diana,” Claire said. “After all you’ve been through, you deserve happiness.”

Diana sighed and her eyes glassed over. “Claire, what’s going to happen to me now?” Diana said. “I’m floating, but where is that breeze going to take me? Where am I going to land? What am I going to do?”

“You’re a strong woman and I’ve no doubt that you’ll land on your feet,” Claire said, trying to reassure her friend.

“I hope you’re right, but I’m so used to being Steve’s wife and it’s been so long since I’ve been on my own,” Diana said. “I’m not used to flying solo.”

“Listen, Diana,” Claire said. “You know what they say about fight or flight? Well, my friend, you won the fight. Now it’s time for you to take flight. It’s time for you to soar.”

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: Javier Ideami

From Here to Eternity

Fandango10 Comments

EternityFor this week’s Tale Weaver prompt from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie, we are asked to “consider the concept of eternity. It doesn’t always refer to the next life. Sometimes waiting for the doctor can seem like an eternity…so any long wait can leave us frustrated and thinking we’ll never get seen to.”

Alrighty then. Let me be upfront about the fact that I don’t believe in the notion of an afterlife and spending an eternity in “heaven” if you led a “good” life or in “hell” if you led a “bad” life. I believe that good or bad, life is finite and when it’s over, it’s over, like when the fat lady sings. Although, to be honest, I have no idea what that colloquialism about the fat lady singing is really meant to convey.The fat lady sings

Anyway, my point is that, as far as sentient life is concerned, eternity is bullshit. That said, as the prompt pointed out, sometimes having to wait a long time for something you want or need can seem like an eternity.

And I can attest that, even though it’s been only around three years since Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, albeit with three million fewer votes than his opponent, it sure seems like an eternity to me.

The Sky Is Falling

Fandango9 Comments

Falling lights“Oh my God,” Sara said, sitting next to Todd on the sandy lake shore and looking up at the night sky. “I hate to sound like Chicken Little, but I think the sky is falling.”

“The only thing that’s falling,” Todd said, “is me for you.”

“Seriously, Todd,” Sara said, “I don’t know if you’re trying to butter me up, but I’m freaking out right now. Look at those lights or whatever they are. They seem to be dripping down from the sky. What is this?”

“This is love, Sara,” Todd said, “and all I can see right now is the reflection of my feelings for you in the deep blue pool of your eyes.”

“Todd, shut up. Now is not the time,” Sara said. “I don’t think you see the gravity of our situation. Something incredibly weird is happening here. I think we need to get out of here now!” Sara stood up, but Todd grabbed her hand to stop her from leaving.

“Go?” Todd said. “No way, Sara. All I can feel at this very moment is this electric current running through my body as we sit here together on the shore looking out on the glass-like surface of the lake and the exquisite light show in the sky above us. It makes me feel so heady.”

“Are you kidding me?” Sara said. “We don’t have time for me to list for you how inappropriate you’re being under the circumstances. Don’t you see what’s happening?”

“What’s happening is….”

Todd was interrupted by the sound of the huge extraterrestrial vehicle coming down from the night sky and alighting on the lake waters, churning them up enough to engulf the young couple.

Written for this week’s Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: Google Images. Also for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (butter), Daily Addictions (pool), The Daily Spur (current), Word of the Day Challenge (glass), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (heady), and Your Daily Word Prompt (list).

Walk Away Renee

Fandango12 Comments

At first I wasn’t going to respond to Jim Adam’s Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Music Challenge this week. Jim gave us the song “Walk Like an Egyptian” by the Bangles and tasked us “to focus on this song and use it for inspiration in any form of creative expression…that you can share with the writing community.

But Jim is my blogging buddy, and I wanted to show my support. So rather than focusing on walking like an Egyptian, I decided to focus on the word “walk” and to come up with a song using that word that I liked. And I settled on the song “Walk Away Renee,” written by Bob Calilli, Mike Brown, and Tony Sansone, and recorded by the group, The Left Banke.

And when I see the sign that points one way
The lot we used to pass by every day

Just walk away Renee
You won’t see me follow you back home
The empty sidewalks on my block are not the same
You’re not to blame

From deep inside the tears that I’m forced to cry
From deep inside the pain that I chose to hide

Just walk away Renee
You won’t see me follow you back home
Now as the rain beats down upon my weary eyes
For me it cries

Just walk away Renee
You won’t see me follow you back home
Now as the rain beats down upon my weary eyes
For me it cries

Your name and mine inside a heart upon a wall
Still finds a way to haunt me, though they’re so small

Just walk away Renee
You won’t see me follow you back home
The empty sidewalks on my block are not the same
You’re not to blame

As a bonus, here’s the “walk this way” scene from my favorite movie, “Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein.”