WOTD

Ticks All the Boxes

Fandango12 Comments

20E5D511-E2A1-4386-9FCE-F98127A39BAB“I’m really excited to show you this next property,” the broker said. “It’s in the zip code you said you preferred.

“What’s the asking price?” Mickey asked.

“It’s a little above your budget,” the broker said. “They’re asking $1.2 million.”

“A little above?” Mickey said. “That’s malarkey. Four hundred thousand is not a little over budget. It’s a whole lot over budget.”

“But it does tick all your boxes and it’s really quite a unique property,” the broker said. “I’ll even offer to shave a percentage point off of my commission.”

“I appreciate that,” Mickey said, “but I’m going to have to impose upon you the need to not exceed my max amount of $800 thousand and you still need to find me something that ticks all my boxes but doesn’t go over budget.”

“Yes sir,” the broker said, “your wish is my command. Let’s head to the car and I’ll show you a few other properties.” As they were walking to the car, the broker thought about how much she hated her job.

Written for these one-word prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (property, impose), Ragtag Daily Prompt (zip), Word of the Day Challenge (malarkey), Your Daily Word Prompt (unique, percentage), and Scott’s Daily Prompt (command).

#writephoto — Action!

Fandango9 Comments

86A2BB65-75CA-4B6A-BFF5-E4D65D6779F4“Cut!” the director called out. “Janice, come here, my dear,” he said, motioning to the young actress to join him under the stone arch.

“Yes, Hal,” she said in an irritated tone. “What is it now?”

“This is supposed to be a somber moment,” he said. “You’re standing in front of a war memorial to those who died in battle for their country. You lost your fiancé during the war and you’re desolate with grief. This scene, and the soliloquy you deliver in it, is your chance to shine. If you can’t manage that, maybe you don’t belong in this movie, or at least not in the lead role.”

“You’re joking, right?” Janice shot back at Hal. “Isn’t this your first directing job? I’ve been acting since I was a child. I know what I’m doing. You’re job is to orchestrate, to conduct, not to tell the musicians how to play their instruments.”

“Janice,” Hal said, “your ‘instrument’ is seriously out of tune. If you want to keep this role, you need to stop being such a diva and step it up a notch or two. Now get out there in front of the memorial and give it your all or get off the goddam set.”

Janice stomped away and positioned herself in front of the memorial. “Action!” Hal said.

Written for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt and for the following one-word prompts: Word of the Day Challenge (soliloquy), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (belong), Ragtag Daily Prompt (orchestrate), and Scotts Daily Prompt (need).

Glamorous

Fandango8 Comments

48F7B34C-F794-49A0-B5F6-7350F087479A“Oh my God!” Linda shouted from the bathroom.

Eric, who was sitting in the living room, heard his wife cry out and ran to the bathroom to see what was going on. “Linda, are you okay!”

“Does it look like I’m okay?” she screamed, tears streaming down from her eyes. “My skin is on fire. I think I’m having some sort of chemical reaction to this new makeup.”

“Wash you face,” Eric suggested. “Give it a good scrub.”

Linda washed her face and then looked at her reflection in the mirror. “I quit,” she said. “I wanted to look so good for your birthday party tonight, Eric. But my skin looks like I’ve spent the day in a deep freeze in Antarctica, for crissake. Now I’m going to have to wear a bag over my head tonight.”

“Wait a second,” Eric said. He reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out a tube of ointment and squeezed some onto his fingers. “This stuff is like magic. Whenever I get razor burn from shaving, I rub a generous amount of this on my skin and it soothes it. It’s great stuff.”

Eric very gently and tenderly rubbed a thick coating of the ointment onto Linda’s skin, massaging it in as he covered her chin, cheeks, nose, and forehead. “That feels almost cold on my skin,” she said.

“Let it stay on for a minute and then rinse it off,” he instructed.

After a minute, Linda rinsed the ointment off her face. She looked in the mirror, smiled, and then turned to Eric. “Well?”

“Well,” Eric said, hugging her. “You, my beautiful wife, look absolutely glamorous,” he whispered in her ear.

Written for these one-word prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (chemical), Your Daily Word Prompt (quit), Ragtag Daily Prompt (birthday), Word of the Day Challenge (freeze), Scotts Daily Prompt (bag), and Weekly Prompt (glamorous).

Let’s Go to the Video Tape

Fandango6 Comments

A7AF2E70-5A5A-41A0-B0E5-67D130FE7F01When I thought about the word I came up with for my one-word challenge for today, “video,” I was transported back to my distant past, and to the Washington, DC area where I was raised.

Most TV sportscasters back then gave the scores in a listless manner. Being a sportscaster for a local station seemed to be a filler job for on-air personalities awaiting their opportunity to report the “real” news. They were all pretty much singing the same, old, boring tune.

And then, in 1965, something happened that forever changed local sports reporting. The local CBS affiliate hired this young guy named Warner Wolf. He was animated, exciting, and so much fun to watch. He became known for catchphrases like “Boo of the Week,” “Change the Rules,” “Play of the Day” (and week, month, or year), “Give Me a Break,” and my personal favorite, “Let’s Go to the Video Tape.”

Wolf quickly became the top sportscaster in the DC area and I never missed his nightly sports reports. He dominated the sports reporting scene in DC until 1976, when he left for a job with ABC Sports and with the local ABC affiliate in New York City.

Wolf, now 81, is retired, but he left his imprint on sports reporting.

Written for these daily one-word prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (video), Ragtag Daily Prompt (past), Word of the Day Challenge (listless), and Scotts Daily Prompt (tune).

Getting the Job Done

Fandango6 Comments

8BE41860-76AC-412A-B2E0-840798DA1BE4I was the advanced man on the team. My mission was to finesse my way into the inner circle using my unique skill set. I needed to make them feel secure that I wasn’t a threat and knew what I was doing. Then, once having gained their trust, my job would be to ensure there were no ripples of discontent.

It wasn’t easy, because they were a squirrelly bunch. But I had more than a few tricks up my sleeve, so it was just a matter of time before I was ready to contact the rest of my team to come in and finish it. The outcome was always a foregone conclusion, we were that good. Once the mission was accomplished, my new role was to mop things up. I was known as the guy who was the first in and the last out.

I loved owning my own kitchen renovation company.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (advanced), Word of the Day Challenge (finesse), Your Daily Word Prompt (unique), Scotts Daily Prompt (ripples), and Ragtag Daily Prompt (squirrel).