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Local Indifference
Here is my story for Mondays Finish the Story, a weekly photo prompt by Barbara Beacham in which we also get an opening sentence. We get 150 words not counting the supplied sentence, in bold in my story below, which is called “Local Indifference”.
Dropping her line into Fool’s Lake, she patiently waited for something to bite. The two old men watched her as she fished.
“Only a fool fishes in Fool’s Lake,” said one.
“Aarr,” agreed the other.
Without any warning a huge creature shot out of the water, raking the woman’s belly and clamping its jaws on her head. The two men watched, shaking their heads.
“’Tis a terrible shame,” said the first.
“Aarr,” agreed the other, puffing his pipe as the woman’s headless corpse toppled forward. “‘Tis not safe, Fool’s Lake.”
The first man nodded as they watched the feeding frenzy, small piranha-like creatures tearing into the woman’s entrails as they dribbled into the water.
“Third one this week. It’s loike thar’s an endless supply o’ tourists.”
“Aarr, ‘tis a shame,” agreed the second.
Some time passed as the two puffed their pipes. Then the second man spoke again.
“Oi hear thar’s a whole bus o’ tourists due in tomorra’.”
“Oi heard that too,” agreed the first. “’Twill be a shame.”
“Aarr, a terrible shame.”
Sharing My World 2015 Week 5
Every week Cee over at her photography blog poses four questions for us to answer, so without further ado let us begin.
Do you prefer shopping or going to a park?
Hmm, let me think. What a choice! Let’s take a look at a couple of pictures.
Picture (A).
Picture from dailymail.co.uk
Picture (B).
Ah, the agony of choice. I think I’ll go with Picture (B). The park (this is Trelissick Gardens, in Cornwall). I’ll do my shopping online.
If you were a shoe, what kind would you be and why?
What? A shoe? I wouldn’t want to be a shoe at all. If I had to be a shoe, I’d be a really unfashionable rubbish shoe. Then I could sit all warm and dry on the shoe rack and laugh at all the other shoes as they got dragged through puddles and mud and whatnot.
“Ha ha ha, look at you! All covered with puddles and mud and whatnot!” I’d say.
What’s the story behind a time when you got locked out?
A friend and I were in a little town near Stuttgart for a physics conference and we turned up at a tiny guest house. The only person there when we arrived couldn’t speak German (I think he was maybe Greek) so we went away and came back later when we were informed that the doors were locked at midnight.
Off to the pub we went.
We ran back later and arrived at ten to twelve, only to find the doors locked! We ended up going to the proper hotel our boss was staying at with no coats, no luggage and booking a room there (I had my credit card with me).
The conference desk tried to sort it out the next day, but they couldn’t get any sense out of the people at the guest house either (they got the same non-German-speaking person). So they were on our side. And we got to stay in a decent hotel. Hooray!
Do you prefer eating foods with nuts or no nuts?
No nuts for me, thanks! I’m not allergic or anything, I’m just not a big fan. I’ll eat nuts if they’re heavily encased in chocolate :-).
See you again next week!
Red Sky at Night
Red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning.
Red sky at night, barn on fire at end of village. Form a bucket line.
Paranoid as always, I’ve blanked out my car’s number plate 🙂
The Great Escape
Here is my contribution to Friday Fictioneers. This is a weekly flash fiction challenge hosted by Rochelle in which we write 100-ish words in response to a photo prompt. This week’s photo is of a maze, and was contributed by Melanie Greenwood.
To see the other stories for this week, or to contribute your own, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Melanie Greenwood
No, no, this looks familiar. I’ve been this way before. I must escape. Getting hungry. Tired. Thirsty. This way. No – dead end. Can’t last much longer. Try down here. No! No way though. Please, somebody, help me. I’m going to die in here. I’ll never see my babies again. Please, somebody…
“This is shit. How long’s it been?”
“Three hours. This is the dumbest mouse ever.”
“Maybe it’s just playing dumb like those mice in that Douglas Adams thing. Maybe it’s a hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional being.”
The scientists peered at it for a moment as it wandered around the maze.
“Nope. It’s a dumbass.”
Click here to read about Douglas Adams’ “mice” (links to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Wiki)
Clean Escape
It’s Monday, and therefore time for Mondays Finish the Story, hosted by Barbara Beacham. We get not only a photo but an opening sentence too! We then write our story in around 150 words (not counting the opening sentence).
The supplied sentence is in bold in my story, and to read this week’s other contributions, click on the little blue froggy guy.
Diamond Jack had his hideout next to the Rattle Snake River. Secluded, it was in the perfect location. Diamond Jack turned to his partner in crime.
“I think we got away clean.”
“Reckon we did, Jack,” replied Samson. “That was a close thing.”
Jack nodded and grabbed a beer from the cooler. “Cheers, mate.” Samson reached for his own beer, then froze, listening.
“Jack, you hear that?”
“Shit!” growled Jack, hearing the sound of a vehicle drawing closer. “They found us! How’d they find us?” The pair scrambled around.
“Shut the curtains!” yelled Jack.
“What curtains?” shouted Samson.
Footsteps came closer, closer. The guys jumped behind the table. The door flew open.
“Diamond Jack, you mangy cur!” shrieked a formidable-looking woman. “Come out of there!”
Jack crept out from behind the table.
“If you think I’m putting up with your weird family alone, you’ve got another think coming! Home, NOW! And don’t you stand there sniggering, Samson Beatman! Your wife’s right behind me!”
Sharing My World 2015 Week 4
Here is my post for Share Your World Week 4, hosted by Cee over at her photography blog. Pop over and take a look at her wonderful photos!
Where did you live at age five? Is it the same place or town you live now?
I lived in two (technically three) places at age five. We were living in the little village of Carnon Downs and my parents bought a house in Truro, but it wasn’t quite built yet so we had a rented house in Truro for a few weeks. My brother and I called it “the Little House”.
I’ve lived all over the place since then – South East England, Germany, Ireland, and now I am just a few miles outside of Truro. Back to my roots!
You are invited to a party that will be attended by many fascinating people you never met. Would you attend this party if you were to go by yourself?
I wonder who has described these people as “fascinating”? If these “fascinating” people are going to regale me with stories of the great artists and composers of the past five centuries I think I’ll pass. If, on the other hand, they wish to compare similarities and inconsistencies between various series of Star Trek, I’m in! Because they’ll likely be as socially hopeless as I am.
An original Klingon
Next Gen mutated Klingon
Judging by these pictures, the new Klingons aren’t as happy as the original ones.
Did you grow up in a small or big town? Did you like it?
My “formative” years were spent in Truro, Cornwall’s only city! I guess the population is somewhere around 20,000. So I guess that counts as a small town?
Did I like it? Yeah, it was fine :-). I’ve lived in a few villages, which I prefer. The village I live in now is a couple of thousand I suppose. A new housing estate has just been built so that will swell numbers a bit. We have a pub, a post office and a little shop.
When I first moved in I noticed quiet. I could hear the birds and there was no distant road noise. Also, people passing by wished me “good morning”. I’m happy here :-).
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Lots of things! Sometimes a spy :-). After watching Wimbledon I wanted to be a tennis player. During the FA Cup I wanted to be a football player (that’s soccer, not American football). After our annual summer trip to visit Granny in Scotland, I wanted to be a train driver.
Obviously I never wanted to work in IT as a kid, since the entire world contained about 2 computers so there weren’t many jobs in that area.
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I totally didn't win!
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