Six on the Sixth – May
It’s not the sixth, but this challenge is open all month! Yay!
Adam Ickes provides six prompt words and the goal is to write little six word “stories”. We don’t need to use all the prompt words.
I’ve actually done two this month because in the first one I’ve stretched the rules to breaking point. I’ve used the six words but not in six sentences as such. However, I’ve broken it into six lines of six words each. My second offering is more in keeping with the rules, I think.
To read other people’s submissions, click on Bracken (the little blue froggy). I named him during Friday Fictioneers yesterday and I’m hoping it will catch on, as little blue froggy works so hard to link up our stories and he deserves a name.
The six prompt words Adam has suggested for this month are:
rainbow
flask
war
tiny
insane
pink
Denial
Rainbows danced crazily through his head.
He drank deeply from his flask,
fuelling the war raging within him.
A tiny part of him asked
Am I going insane? The answer,
“Course not, I’m in the pink!”
Okay, the last line was a bit rubbish, but what am I supposed to do with “pink”?
Rainbow
Beautiful bands of crazily coruscating colour.
Flask
Chicken soup, still warm, sustained him.
War
Tinker tailor soldier sailor. All dead.
Tiny
Man mountain. Friends called him Tiny.
Insane
Wibble wibble hatstand flying cows ptang!
Pink
Noooo! My best shirt! Laundry accident.
Counting Sheep
It may not be Friday, but it’s certainly time for Friday Fictioneers! Hosted every week by the talented Rochelle, a whole host of people write a roughly 100 word story in response to a photo, which this week has been contributed by fellow Fictioneerer Sandra Crook.
To read the other stories for this week click on the little blue froggy, whom I have named “Bracken”.
Copyright Sandra Crook
“Look out! Run for your lives and don’t look back!”
“What? Are you not asleep yet? I thought you were counting sheep?”
“Yeah, awesome zombie sheep! They’ve surrounded a car and they’re eating the occupants. There’s blood and body parts everywhere. They’re bleating ‘baa baa baaaarains!’”
“Okay, this isn’t working. Try counting something else.”
“Like what?”
“Something a little more soothing. A little more sedate. Like cows. Try counting cows. I need to sleep myself, I’ve got a meeting tomorrow.”
“Cows it is then.”
Ten minutes later…
“Woah! Run!”
“Ugh. What is it now?!”
“Awesome vampire cows!”
All Screwed Up
It’s time for Adam Ickes’ Storybook Corner! Impressively, I’m not waiting until the counter says “Submissions close in 5 minutes” to submit my entry this month. Here’s the cool badge.
The aim is to write 300-500 words. I’ve gone a bit over 😦 . It’s also a bit of a nutty story as I was feeling in a whimsical mood.
To read the other stories, click on the blue froggy.
The two boys ambled up the street. Davey, at thirteen, was the older of the pair, so he got to carry the air rifle. Bobby, at twelve, could only watch jealously while his friend aimed it here and there, pretending to shoot invisible enemies.
“When we gonna shoot something, Davey?” he asked.
“When we see something worth shooting,” answered his friend. “How about that stop sign?”
“That thing’s never gonna make a dent in that,” muttered Bobby. He turned away to walk back down the street.
“You’re probably right,” said Davey, taking aim at his friend’s retreating behind. “I bet I can bounce a few off your butt, though!”
Davey squeezed the trigger, eliciting a surprised yelp from Bobby, which soon changed to a groan of pain.
“You shot me in the ass! You shot me in the ass!”
Davey stared, horrified, at the growing stain on his friend’s behind.
“I… I… I thought it would just bounce off!” he quavered.
“I can’t believe you shot me in the ass!” moaned Bobby, bouncing around and holding his bum. “Call an ambulance!”
“Let’s not be hasty,” said Davey. “I’m sure it’s not serious.” Davey could see a nasty scolding in his future. He probably wouldn’t be allowed out of his room until he went to university. He explained this to Bobby.
“Your room? YOUR ROOM! I’m gonna tell, and you’re going to jail! You’re gonna be somebody’s bitch!”
As it happened a hiker had seen the whole incident, and seconds later a police van screeched to a stop, disgorging a host of rather scary-looking officers waving automatic weapons.
“Armed police! Drop the gun! On the ground, now!”
Davey dropped the gun and fell to the ground, shaking. Bobby continued to bounce around, holding his wound.
“He shot me in the ass! He shot me in the ass!”
“Calm down, son,” said the officer in charge. “It doesn’t look too bad.” He looked up. “Wait a second. Have you boys been shooting at the stop sign? Look at those dents!”
“No sir, it wasn’t us,” moaned Davey miserably.
“Armed police, shut up, stay on the ground!” came the reply.
“This is very serious, lads. Those signs are expensive. They belong to The Council. Your parents pay for those signs. We pay for those signs. Taxes.”
Several of the officers, thinking of their wallets, nodded in agreement and gripped their guns more tightly.
“But he shot me in the ass!” screamed Bobby.
“Shut up about your ass, son!” yelled the officer in charge. “Your ass will heal! That sign will need to be replaced. That’ll cost!”
They handcuffed Davey and bundled him into the back of the van, citing “one road sign, public property, destruction of”. The van roared off.
“But what about my ass?” mumbled Bobby, tears trickling down his cheeks, blood trickling down his other cheeks.
All alone, and feeling pretty sorry for himself, he made his painful way home.
“Officer-in-charge” was commended for his valour and is currently serving as head of the prestigious “Street-Sign Crime” unit out of Scotland Yard.
Bobby developed an ass infection and had to have one ass cheek amputated. He’s currently living in Droitwich with his old mum.
Davey was sent down for twenty to life. He became somebody’s bitch.
Sharing My World Week 18
Here I am to Share My World once again, brought to us by Cee over at Cee’s Photography Blog. So without further ado, I’ll jump right in!
What object do you always have with you when travelling and why?
The quick and easy answer is “a credit card”. That way, if I’ve forgotten anything I can buy it. Not that I’m rolling in money and can just replace everything, but I can stretch to that forgotten toothbrush.
I’ll also make sure I have my Kindle, camera and so on – the usual things – but after a credit card the most important thing is my phone. My phone lets me read my Kindle library (in case I forgot my Kindle), I can work out where I am with the GPS, Google local services, check to see how much money I have left, take pictures and if all else fails, actually phone someone!
What subject would you like to study in depth, if given the time to do so?
That’s a tricky one. I’ve sometimes thought about psychology or sociology. Or maybe economics. That sounds really boring and it might have numbers in it but it might be nice to see what’s going on and how the entire world’s economies fell to bits.
I think I’d rather know a bit about everything than everything about one thing. That sounds like a good way to earn a living by winning pub quizzes.
Which would you prefer: a wild, turbulent life filled with joy, sorrow, passion, and adventure–intoxicating successes and stunning setbacks; or a contented bordering on happy, secure, predictable life surrounded by friends and family without such wide swings of fortune and mood?
It’s the quiet life for me! I like everything planned out and stable. No sudden surprises for me, thanks!
What are your favourite spices?
Tricky one this! I need to find something that is undeniably a spice.
Parsley, rosemary, thyme?
Herbs. No wiggle room here. Denied!
Pepper?
Apparently a condiment. Possibly also a spice. I’m not taking the chance. Denied!
Curry powder then. You can’t go wrong with curry powder.
This is a blend of spices, not a spice. Denied!
Garlic? I love garlic!
It’s a species of the onion genus, and onion is not a spice. I think that dried garlic powder is a spice, so I’ll take a chance. That’s one!
Chilli powder.
Ground dried chillies. Definitely a spice. Yay!
So after all that we have garlic powder and chilli powder.
See you next week when I will be sharing my world once again!
Baby Steps
It’s time for my Friday Fictioneers entry once again!
Friday Fictioneers involves writing a roughly 100 word story in response to a photo prompt, which this week has been provided by B. W. Beacham. It is hosted as always by the lovely and talented Rochelle.
You can read all the other contributions by clicking or tapping the little blue froggy (before you tap, ensure you have a touch screen, otherwise click 🙂 ).
Copyright B. W. Beacham
Little Mikey reached past the detritus in the lake and fished out another trout. He watched it struggle for a while, then carefully taped its gills shut. He replaced it in the water and watched avidly until it stopped moving. Smiling, he placed it carefully next to his previous experiments.
“Still with the fish. At his age I’d already decimated the neighbourhood pet population and was ready to start on the neighbours,” said Meg, sitting nearby with her husband.
“Let him progress at his own rate,” replied Clive. “We’ll find him a cat for his birthday. Baby steps, love. Baby steps.”
Weekly Photo Challenge: Spring
This week’s Daily Post photo challenge is all about Spring. Not the boingy kind, but the season.
I have some flowers coming up in my garden. It’s quite exciting – I only bought the house a couple of months ago so I didn’t plant them and I don’t know what’s going to appear next!
Here is a picture of bluebells, according to my parents. I admit that they are bell-shaped, though more purple than blue, I would say. They also reckon that the little white flowers are garlic. Possibly the previous owner was worried about vampires.
Obviously I have some weed-removal yet to do, but I had to check with my parents first as I tend to remove the flowers and leave the weeds, left to my own devices.
Bluebells and weeds and stuff
Close-up of the bluebells
I have no idea of what these things on the stalks on the right of the picture are.
Little white things on stalks
Sharing My World Week 17
It’s time to Share My World again! There will be a new set of questions tomorrow – this week is a bit confusing as tomorrow is the first of two May holidays in the UK and I was thinking it was Saturday again today.
But it’s not. It’s Sunday. I might wash the car and do some gardening. “Low maintenance garden” my ass. There may be no grass but there’s weeds.
The questions, which I shall attempt to answer, are provided every week by Cee.
What are some words that just make you smile?
“Dastardly”. That’s a negative word but it sounds funny. That always makes me smile.
“Asshat”. That makes me smile too. It’s not actually a word though, apparently 😦
A dastardly character involved in some asshattery
(Image source and copyright information wikipedia)
When you lose electricity in a storm, do you light the candles or turn on the flashlight? How many of each do you own?
Even in the horrific storms this last winter I didn’t lose power. I was living in a town, so all telephone and electricity cables are underground. There was some lightning once or twice, but I guess it didn’t hit any electricity substations. Some homes in Cornwall did lose power, though.
However, if this should happen I have a couple of torches (=flashlights) around the place. I need to buy some candles (for nice mood lighting as well as emergencies) but I haven’t got around to it yet.
What is the longest book you ever read?
The type of book I read doesn’t tend to be particularly long. I’ve read David Eddings’ “Belgariad” and “Mallorean” may times, but that’s two sets of five books each, though all the same characters. “Lord of the Rings” is three books but that was quite long.
The book which seemed the longest was an exam text I had to read at school – “Sansibar oder der letzte Grund” by Alfred Andersch. It wasn’t really all that long but it was full of difficult words and I found it pretty boring. I preferred the other two books – they were plays, which meant dialogue, which meant more words I actually knew. There’s a big difference between speaking another language and reading a novel.
So you win a pet monkey at a fair, but this isn’t just any old monkey. It can do one trick for you whenever you want from getting a pop out of the fridge to washing your hair. What would be the trick?
Many of the posts I’ve read for this week would have the monkey doing housework. According to the covenant on my house I’m not allowed to keep chickens or pigs (there goes my dream of a chicken coop and pig farm combo in the back garden) but it doesn’t specifically mention monkeys.
Therefore I would open a monkey sanctuary so that all these hard-working housework monkeys can get one weekend off a month from their duties.
It would be run by Marcel because he looks like a sensible sort of monkey.
(Image source Friends Wiki)
See you again next week!
Melted
It’s time for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle! My more-or-less 100 words this week have been inspired by a photo contributed by Renee Heath.
It’s a fantastic photo, full of demonic promise. However, I have resisted the temptation to ooze living wax down some poor sod’s throat and have had a shoddy stab at The Romance. I haven’t tried The Romance before and it feels a bit flat, possibly due to a lack of blood and other-wordly creatures. However, it’s good to push one’s boundaries every once in a while.
I’ll see if I can kill off twice as many characters next week to make up for it.
To read other stories for this week, click on the little blue froggy!
[Edit: I would like to thank Judah First and Sustainabilitea for helping me out in the second sentence of the “winter” passage – I just couldn’t find the right word!]
Copyright Renee Heath
As the wind whistled through the trees and shook tiles from the roofs he gave her his best line. She blew past him and was gone.
Snow lay thick on the ground when he invited her to share mulled wine. Her frosty mien belied the interest in her eyes.
When the first flowers appeared and the apple trees blossomed he enticed her to coffee. Hope grew within him.
In the warmth of a summer evening they shared a meal. He opened his heart to her and in the flickering light of the candles she melted.
Sharing My World Week 16
It’s Share Your World time again. That seems to have come around pretty quickly! I don’t know where the week has gone. Share Your World is hosted by Cee in which she poses questions about ourselves.
How many places have you lived? You can share the number of physical residences and/or the number of cities.
I was thinking that I’ve lived in loads of places, but on reading some other people’s answers, I really haven’t in comparison, and it was mostly moving around while at university, because that’s what students have to do!
- Carnon Downs, Cornwall, UK until age 5 (I don’t remember much about this place)
- Truro, Cornwall, UK until age 18
- Here begin the “University Years” – Guildford, Surrey, UK
- University accommodation (first year)
- Guildford town (second year)
- Stuttgart, Germany (third year – unleashed loose in the world!)
- University accommodation (final year)
- Guildford town (the PhD years)
- Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK (post-doc year one)
- Liss, Hampshire, UK (post-doc year two) (end of the “University Years”)
- Cork, County Cork, Ireland (three years)
- Cobh, County Cork, Ireland (one year)
- Truro, Cornwall, UK (three years)
- Elsewhere in Truro, Cornwall, UK (two years)
- Redruth, Cornwall, UK (five and a half years)
- Grampound Road, Cornwall, UK (two months so far)
One of the places I lived in at university accommodation was floor three in Bourne House. Sometimes when the phone in the kitchen rang we would all sing “Bourne Three” (“Born Free”). Ha ha ha.
What type of music relaxes you the most?
That depends on my mood. Something like Enya would do the trick. Anything except classical. Classical music winds me up big time. It makes me feel like I’m in a lift (elevator) or a restaurant. I keep expecting the doors to ding open on the sports equipment floor, or someone to come over and ask me if my food is to my liking.
If you could instantly become fluent in another language, what would that language be and why?
Didn’t I already more or less answer this one, and went for Klingon? I’ll choose something else, then. I’ll go for “American”. That way I won’t have to keep looking stuff up. Especially food. I spent years thinking “zucchini” was some sort of exotic meal, when in reality it’s just a courgette. What the hell is “falafel” or this “bear claw” thing people on US dramas keep eating? It would be nice to have this information at my fingertips!
If you could fly or breathe under water what would you prefer?
I would prefer to fly! As Abba said in the song “Eagle”:
“And I dream I’m an eagle
And I dream I can spread my wings
Flying high, high, I’m a bird in the sky
I’m an eagle that rides on the breeze
High, high, what a feeling to fly
Over mountains and forests and seas
And to go anywhere that I please”
That’s all for this week! Bonus question? What bonus question?
Going Solo
A bit later than usual this week, but here is my submission for Friday Fictioneers. Hosted by Rochelle, the goal is to write roughly 100 words in response to a photo which this week has been contributed by regular Fictioneerer Björn Rudberg. To see all of this week’s contributions, click the little blue froggy.
Copyright Björn Rudberg
World-renowned guitarists and best friends Frank Marks and Barry Strykes, 10 year anniversary tour here tonight. One night only! Sold out!
*****
Frank
Look at him sitting there with his stupid oversized banjo. Ten years I’ve had to listen to his amateurish plucking. Let’s see how well he strums after his brakes fail and he goes over the cliff. I’m going solo!
*****
Barry
A whole decade of sitting here covering his asinine mistakes. He missed that chord, the talentless little shit. Let’s see how well he strums when the strychnine in his nightcap rips him apart. I’m going solo!
Click for a random post!
Woohoo!
I totally didn't win!
Share Your World
Friday Fictioneers
