Photo Challenge

MLMM Photo Challenge — Twin Win

Fandango12 Comments

My gut ached, my heart was broken in two, and tears were streaming down my cheeks. I ran to my car, got in it, turned the engine on, and just started heading for the open road. I didn’t care where I was going, I just needed to get there fast.

I found myself on the open road, wide, flat plains on either side and mountains in the far distance. I saw that my gas tank was on full and I decided to drive until I ran out gas, and that is where I’d make my new home. That would be where I’d steel my heart so I could never again be hurt like Patrice hurt me.

We were together for two years, Patrice and I, engaged for the last year. We were supposed to get married next month, for crissake. Then she texts me this morning, telling me that she’s in love with her twin sister’s husband and that they’ve run off together. And now she’s ghosting me. I don’t deserve this.

My cellphone rang and thinking that it must be Patrice to beg me to forgive her, I answered. “Patrice,” I said when I answered the phone, but it was Paula, Patrice’s twin. The two of them were identical in appearance, but they couldn’t be more different in dispositions. Patrice was assertive, aggressive, confident, and self-assured. Paula was sweet, reserved, shy, and self-deprecating.

“Nathan,” Paula said, “I’m so, so sorry, but I’m guessing that you know by now that my sister has run off with my husband.”

“Yes, I know, Paula. Did you know they were going to do this?”

“I knew that Richard was attracted to Patrice,” Paula said. “I mean who wouldn’t be? She’s such a dynamo, especially compared to me. But when he told me earlier today that he loved her and was going to leave me, I was in shock. I don’t know what came over me, but I blurted out that I loved you, Nathan.”

I slowed down the car and pulled to the side of the road. “You love me?” I asked.

“I do, Nathan,” Paula said. “Richard is a narcissistic bastard who only thinks about himself, but you, Nathan, are a genuine, sincere, caring gentleman. I often wished that Richard was more like you.”

“Patrice could be a hard-nosed bitch at times and I often thought about how nice it would be if she were more like you, Paula,” Nathan said. “Maybe Richard and Patrice deserve each other.”

“And maybe you and I deserve each other, Nathan.”

Nathan turned the car around and headed home.

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: Sarah Whiley.

Birds of a Feather

Fandango8 Comments

“As soon as I saw that ample bill of yours I was smitten,” Paul said. “And when I thought about how cuddly your tail feathers must be, I knew it had to meet you. I admit that I was reticent to introduce myself to you, Paula, because I was worried about the heartache your rejection would cause me. But when you seemed willing to accept my affection for you, euphoria replaced reticence. Will you please accept this diamond-colored feather as a symbol of my love for you? I’d be the happiest pelican on the planet.”

“Paul, you are so sweet. Of course I will my darling,” Paula said.

“I can’t wait to watch you deliver our baby chicks you’ll carry with your bill,” Paul said, attempting to snuggle with Paula.

“Wait, what did you say?” Paula said backing away from Paul. “Deliver baby chicks? Oh my god, Paul! You think I’m a freakin’ stork, don’t you? Forget you, Paul!”

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: Sarah Whiley.

Also for the Five Word Weekly Challenge, where the words are cuddly, diamond, euphoria, heartache, and reticent.

MLMM Photo Challenge — Get Me Outta Here

Fandango2 Comments

“Camelmaster, Camelmaster!” Rufus squealed, “You’ve got to move me out from behind Idris here. I don’t know what you’re feeding him lately or what he is picking up along the trail, but oh my god, Camelmaster, all day long and all night long, for that matter, he’s letting go with the smelliest farts ever.

“Camelmaster, I’ve always been cooperative, you know that, right? Well, I’m sorry, but I really can’t take it anymore. Put him at the end, or at least put me in front of him. Otherwise, you’re going to have to move on without me. I’m not going anywhere where I need to walk being him. I’d rather be left out here in the hot desert sun to die. Do you hear me Camelmaster?”

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: Sarah Whiley.

MLMM Photo Challenge — Ants

Fandango7 Comments

“Look at all of the ants, Momma,” Dennis called out to his mother.

“Ants,” Doris responded. “How many? What kind of ants?”

“I dunno. Lots. And they’re colorful.”

Colorful ants? Doris thought for herself as she went into the laundry room and picked up a can of Raid. She headed over where Dennis was standing, expecting find a red ant infestation. But when she got to the windowsill that Dennis was standing in front of, there were no ants, colorful or not, in sight.

“Honey, I don’t see any ants,” Doris said. “So where are all these ants you said you saw?”

“Down there,” Dennis said, pointing out the window and down at the street eight stories below them.

“You mean all those people in the intersection crossing the street?” Doris asked. “They’re not ants, sweetie.”

“I know that, Momma,” Dennis said. “I’m not stupid. But if you look down and squint your eyes, they look like a bunch of colorful ants carrying things back to their nest.”

Doris squinted her eyes and looked out the window. “You’re right, honey, they do look like colorful ants from up here.” Then, smiling, she headed back to the laundry room and returned the can of Raid to the cabinet.

Written for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: Fahrul Azmi via Unsplash.

MLMM Photo Challenge — A Moment of Intimacy

Fandango8 Comments

WARNING: Adult content

April lived across the street from me and we’d been close friends since her family and my family had moved into the suburban development about five years earlier. She was almost a year older than me and, at 16, she was undergoing a change from a girl to a woman, a change that did not go unnoticed by me.

Her parents had a cottage in the country that they’d go to for a week at a time three or four times each summer and for one trip they invited me to come along. The cottage was near a river and her father would take us out on a boat and we’d go swimming and fishing during the days. It was nice and a great change from my typical summer days back in suburbia.

One night while we were at the cottage, April asked her parents if it was okay if she and I went to the river bank and had a picnic dinner. Her mother packed us a picnic basket with sandwiches, some fruit, and two cookies. April grabbed the basket and I carried a small blanket to spread out on the grass.

When we got near the river, I spread out the blanket and we ate our sandwiches while talking to each other about our lives, our likes, and our dreams. As dusk was approaching, April reached out and grabbed my hands and squeezed hard. She looked at me with a mixture of excitement and mischief.

Then she jumped up and said, “Let’s go skinny dipping!” and before I could react, she took off her tank top, shorts, and panties. Suddenly I was starring at this girl/woman standing right in front of me with her budding breasts and patch of light, puffy pubic hair between her legs. “Your turn,” she declared.

I took off my t-shirt and stated to remove my shorts when I stopped. She asked me why I hadn’t yet removed my shorts and underpants and I explained that I was embarrassed. I didn’t tell her why, but she knew, probably from the bulge in my pants. “That’s okay,” she said. “I’m going to jump in the water and when you’re ready, you can join me. I promise I won’t look.”

As soon as I saw her in the water facing away from me, I remove my shorts and underpants, ran to the water, and jumped in. April swam over to where I was standing in waist-high water and pressed her naked body into mine. The sensation of the water and her bare skin against mine sent shivers up and down my spine. I felt both a sense of vulnerability and electricity. April pressed tighter against me, pushing into my hardness, and said, “Yes, this is more like it.”

We frolicked in the water for a few more minutes before getting out and making our way back to the blanket. April admitted that she had never before seen or touched a naked boy. I admitted the same with respect to being with a naked girl.

We remained naked lying on the blanket for another half hour or so, exploring each other’s body before getting dressed and heading back to the cottage. As we dressed, a secret smile graced April’s lips. We both knew that we had shared something extraordinary and memorable.

Strangely, after that amazing night of discovery, April and I never shared another moment of intimacy between us, much to my disappointment.

Written for the Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Photo Challenge. Photo credit: no attribution.