Essence of Life – Friday Fictioneers 2 February 2018

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Essence of Life

It’s autumn, the smell of wood smoke permeates the air. Oh how I love this time of year.

The tail end of the earth’s energy feels like a rush, a speeding up. The urgency to prepare for winter courses through my veins.

Excitement is building.

We have bottled fruit, tinctured herbs, gathered nuts, frozen vegetables and buried the tubers, away from harsh frosts and hungry foragers.

Now the last of the chores is almost complete.

Chop wood.

This year we have had to say goodbye to our ancient apple tree.

I shall cherish your essence as you keep me warm.

Friday Fictioneers

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The Visit – Friday Fictioneers 26 January 2018

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

The Visit

The college’s field study group was ready and eager for their monthly mission. This time they were headed for the hills and a village on the brink of desolation but for the few inhabitants whose hapless enthusiasm for restoration had earned them the label Kooks Gang.

“Hey, that looks so weird. The building looks old and dead and that car looks so out of place, new and fresh.”

“Yea, this really is a creepy place.”

“Ok team, listen up! For this month’s project, we’re here to study contrast, in this case,  the contrasting effects of the old and the new.”

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Fair Grounds and Friendship – Friday Fictioneers 19 January 2018

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Fair Grounds and Friendship

“No way! I am not going on that!”

“You agreed!”

“I most certainly did not!”

“Yes, you did. You don’t renege on a bet.“

“Remember, what we agreed? If you won, we’d have afternoon tea by the river. If I won, we’d visit the travelling fair and sit under one of those nice umbrellas. You lost.”

“And you said we’d sit under a nice umbrella. You didn’t say anything about it moving. And anyway, that’s not a proper umbrella.”

“Don’t split hairs!”

“Split hairs?! I think you’ve shredded them!”

“Come on, let’s not fight, it could be fun.”

Friday Fictioneers

The Web of Life – Friday Fictioneers 12 January 2018

PHOTO PROMPT © Victor and Sarah Potter

The web of Life

“Wow, spy that web. Beautiful.”

“We’re all connected you know…”

“…It’s impossible for us not to be…”

“…We just think we’re not connected.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I sense it.”

“Right? That’s a great help!”

“Just because we don’t visually see anything in the space between objects doesn’t mean it’s empty.”

“Take wi-fi for instance, you cannot see the waves transmitting, but you know they exist because your portable devices wouldn’t work without them.”

“Well, we’re the same. Portable antennae, each emitting our own frequencies.

“Creating our web, each of us the centre of our own world?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Friday Fictioneers

Dream Dreamer – Friday Fictioneers 5 January 2018

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

Dream Dreamer

Drifting back to consciousness, opening her eyes,
fear shot through her being.
Where the hell am I?
Must be dreaming.
Blinking rapidly to erase the vision, she re-opened her eyes…
…No! Still the same!
Reaching out with trepidation, she touched the white net-like objects,
her hand slipping right through them.
“Weird” she whimpered.
Feels familiar… yet foreign.
Why?
Always asking why! How about I just sit here, watch a while.
Somehow she felt connected to the fibres.
This is too Star Trek for comfort.
Neurons! They’re my neuron pathways!
“Mum!” “Wake up!”
Startled, opening her eyes.
“Must’ve been lucid dreaming.”

Friday Fictioneers

Wheel Legacy – Friday Fictioneers 29 December 2017

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Wheel Legacy

“Wheels! What d’ya think?”
“Hmmm? Different.”
“It’s that alright!”
“He left this for me…
…with a note – he’d a great sense of humour.”

For Ellie
Wheel always remember
Times that we spent
In deep contemplation
Of so much dissent
Around we would go
Full circle sometimes
Always the same answer
Want peace?
Quiet the mind.
There’s always a circle
A beginning and an end
Forever they’re fused
So nothing to mend
There’s always some movement
Nothing stands still
Just embrace any contrast
No need for strong will.
Be the axle my friend and just observe the wheel.

“When’s his funeral?”

Friday Fictioneers

Two Friends A-Musing – Friday Fictioneers 22 December 2017

PHOTO PROMPT © Björn Rudberg

 

Two Friends A-Musing…

“Do you believe in parallel universes?”

“I don’t discount anything; just because I’m not aware of it doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t there.”

“Hell, that’s a concept I can’t get my head around. What planet you on?”

“Same as you, I think,” she laughed.

“If everything we focus on becomes manifest in our universe, eventually, as we have a time buffer…” she mused.

“…imagine a parallel universe where the manifestation was instant.”

“Every time I said ‘hat’s off to them’ …”

“I’d have a pile of hats big enough to set up shop,” she giggled.

“But shops would be obsolete.”

Friday Fictioneers

Symbology – Friday Fictioneers 15 December 2017

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

Symbology

He shuffled in, dragging a massive orb atop a rusty pole.

Surreptitiously, we eyed one another. A sense of unease rippled through the room.

He settled in his seat, both hands grasping the pole. Its weight, top heavy, swayed slightly.

Unease was building into discomfort as he sat, silent, observing everyone.

I glanced for the door… would I be first to leave?

He cleared his throat,

“Welcome.”

“I sense your tension… your unease.”

Our breath, audible in unison.

Discarding the orb, he stretched, sighed loudly, and began…

“How much lighter now… without the weight… of Our World… on our shoulders…”

Friday Fictioneers

Guilty Pleasure – Friday Fictioneers 8 December 2017

PHOTO PROMPT Dale Rogerson

Guilty Pleasure
The silence was tangible. Painful.
Every now and then a rustle of movement was heard, a creak of footwear, a stifled cough.
Charlie tried to swallow quietly, his heart shouted his guilty presence.
“I’m quite prepared to stand here all day!” the Master threatened.
Ted slowly turned, glowering at Charlie.
“Which bright spark of a budding scientist is responsible for the nature artwork in the school yard?”
Supressed laughter disturbed the silence as Charlie’s pores opened – glistening, exposing his fear.
”Well?!” the Master hollered.
Shaking, Charlie slowly raised his hand.
“Please Sir, it’s a Christmas tree!”
Detonation! Laughter Boomed!

Friday Fictioneers

Bothy Blues – Friday Fictioneers 1 December 2017

PHOTO PROMPT © What’s His Name

Friday Fictioneers

Bothy Blues

“Is ee ’avin a laf?”

“Ee sed quaint!”

“Quaint?!”

“Drop the ‘qu’. It ‘aint’!

“It ain’t rustic.”

“It ain’t quaint.”

“It ain’t even ‘abitable!”

“An as for ‘spectacular views’!”

“I want ’em throu’ a bloody window!”

“Not an ‘ole in’t wall.”

“An ee wants money for that?!”

“A’d want payin’ to stay eer!”

“Bloody crook ee is!”

“Maybe we could get him to put a door on it,” Mable offered meekly, hoping to dampen his ire.

“What?” he roared.

“’To Let’! Should’ve read ‘Toilet’!”

“Hell! Maybe it did?!”

“Let’s go… we need to find a bed for the night.”