The Daily Spur

Call In the Experts

Fandango5 Comments

“Nothing takes the place of experience when it come to dealing with a crisis.” Edward said. “There’s always the temptation to search for easy answers, but in order to triumph in the face of a crisis, one needs to be thoughtful, deliberate, and leverage the collective wisdom of experts.”

“You’re absolutely right,” Billy, Edwards younger brother, hardily agreed.

“Good,” Edward said, “So hop on your bike and ride to the fire department and tell them to send out their hook and ladder truck to retrieve our cat, who is stuck up in a tree.A33EDBE7-B8A0-4AFB-811F-AA413AE14D00Written for today’s JusJoJan prompt from Linda G. Hill, where the word, suggested by Dan at No Facilities, is “experience.” Also written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompts (nothing), Fandango’s One-Word Prompt (crisis), Word of the Day (temptation), The Daily Spur (answers), Your Daily Word Prompt (triumph), and Daily Addictions (bike).

It’s Priceless

Fandango14 Comments

FDD8BF0D-F7E0-4B7E-BCF8-57348309E8CE “Hey Sally, do you wanna take a ride in this cherry, 1977 Chevy Caprice Classic I just bought?” Matt yelled to his girlfriend as he pulled the car into her driveway.

“Have you gone completely daffy?” Sally asked. “Why in the world would you go out and buy a 43-year-old junker car?”

A disappointed expression darkened Matt’s face. “Are you kidding me?” he said. “This is a friggin’ Chevrolet Caprice Classic. Look at her, she’s in great shape. This is not just your average car, you know, Sally. The Caprice Classic was the most popular American car in the sixties through the mid seventies.”

Sally rolled her eyes and shook her head. “So how much did you pay for that old piece of shit?” she asked Matt.

“There you go again, Sally, off on some irrelevant tangent,” Matt said. “This car is a  true classic. It’s priceless.”

Written for these daily prompts: Daily Addictions (ride), Your Daily Word Prompt (caprice), Word of the Day Challenge (complete), Ragtag Daily Prompt (daffy), The Daily Spur (average), and Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (tangent).

SoCS — First Three Words

Fandango9 Comments

For today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, Linda G. Hill has upped the ante a bit. She’s asked us to:

  1. Grab the closest book to you when you sit down to write your post.
  2. Open it to a random page.
  3. Locate the first complete sentence on that page.
  4. Use the first three words of that sentence to start your post.
  5. Then take it from there and write whatever comes to mind.

All of my books are on my iPhone’s Kindle app, so I chose fellow blogger Iain Kelly’s book, A Justified State, opened it up to page 81 (in the Kindle version) and the first three words of the first complete sentence were, “She had seen.”3CF7274B-8240-496E-84B6-2C0A92EFA823So let’s see what my stream of consciousness brain can conjure up from those three words along with today’s six daily prompt words, shall we?

She had seen the model wearing her creation many times before, but this time it looked a little different. It was not fitting the way it should have, and the fashion show was scheduled to start in less that two hours.

Carolyn knew it had been a mistake to permit the show coordinator to have access to her creations. The world of haute couture was not just competitive, but cutthroat. She should never have let her guard down like this.

She motioned for the model to come over to her. “There’s something wrong,” she said to the model. “The pants, they don’t fit the way they’re supposed to, the way they did earlier today.” The model — so tall, so thin, so beautiful, so empty — just stood there.

“Is there anything you have to tell me?” Carolyn said to the model, more as a demand than a question. “I hope that you’re not a part of this demonic scheme to ruin me.”

The model started to cry. “I’m so sorry, Carolyn,” she said, “but Felicia gave me five thousand dollars to give her access to this pantsuit. Can you forgive me!”

“That bitch, Felicia, couldn’t design her way out of a wet paper bag,” Carolyn said. “I’m tempted to fire you, Charlotte, but if you’ll accompany me to the police when I report Felicia to the authorities and are willing to corroborate that it was Felicia who paid you off to sabotage my show tonight, I might just keep you on as my top model if you promise to never do anything like this ever again.”

“I promise,” Charlotte said, reaching over and hugging Carolyn.

In addition to today’s Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, this tale was written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (model), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (permit), Daily Addictions (pants), Ragtag Daily Prompt (hope),   Word of the Day Challenge (scheme), and Your Daily Word Prompt (corroborate).

Turning Over a New Leaf

Fandango8 Comments

F4F93C0D-D73F-4F5E-9D3A-67C0E0840601“I’m turning over a new leaf,” Nick announced, “starting tomorrow, anyway.”

“What kind of chicanery is this?” Sarah asked. “You’re almost 18 years old and you won’t even go out and rake the leaves, much less turn over a new one.”

“Hey, why are you always trying to turn the table around on me?” Nick said, a hurt expression on his face. “Do you really think I’m incapable of changing?”

“Don’t sweat it, Nick,” Sarah said. “I’m your mother. I’ve become accustomed to your lazy and garish ways. It’s just that you’re so much like your father and you know what an asshole he turned out to be. So, please, my son, I encourage you to turn over a new leaf. In fact, here’s the rake. Why don’t you start by going into the backyard and turning over a whole bunch of leaves right now instead of waiting until tomorrow?”

“Aw, Mom,” Nick whined, reluctantly grabbing the rake she was holding up.

Written for these daily prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (turning), The Daily Spur (tomorrow), Ragtag Daily Prompt (chicanery), Daily Addictions (table), Fandango’s One-Worr Challenge (sweat), and Hour Daily Word Prompt (garish).

#JusJoJan — The Secret Ingredient

Fandango9 Comments

8ce71ec8-1f40-47a7-a973-1f657ccb84ae.jpeg“Okay,” Danny said. “Tomorrow’s the day, so we need to check to make sure we have everything we need.” Danny glanced at his list. “Jack, did you bring you SodaStream carbonater?”

“Check,” Jack said. “It should work fine to aerate the concoction.”

“Sammy, did you go to the zoo and get the secret ingredient??” Danny asked.

“Check,” Sammy said, laughing. “It was a dirty job but someone had to do it.”

“Okay, good. I’ve got the chocolate, so we’ll meet at my house right after school, mix up a batch, and then bake it for 30 minutes,” Danny said.

“This is going to be scary when give each of the girls a brownie,” Jack said, a wicked grin on his face.

The next day, the boys invited their sisters to taste the brownies they had just baked. They served each girl a large brownie. Jack’s sister said, “Wow, these are surprisingly good.”

“Thanks,” Danny said. “It’s our secret ingredient.”

“These are delicious,” Sammy’s sister said. “What exactly is your secret ingredient?”

“Yes,” Danny’s sister said, “please gratify our curiosity.”

“Take my word for it, girls,” Danny said, while Jack ans Sammy were snickering, “you really don’t want to know.”

Written for Linda G. Hill’s JusJoJan prompt, where the word is “mix.” Also for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (tomorrow), Ragtag Daily Prompt (aerate), Word of the Day Challenge (zoo), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (scary), Daily Addictions (give), and Your Daily Word Prompt (gratify).