Three Things Challenge, 13 July 2018

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Michael

3tc

Today’s things are: haunted, pen, superstition

My teacher Miss Teresa was not happy with me. She said I was falling behind in my work and as it was Friday 13th, well yesterday in my world, I had best lift my game. She said superstition was real, and I’d best make a better effort to address the words for today. She made me stand on my head in the corner and made all the other kids sprinkle me with salt to ward off the evil spirits and in particular Bad Roger whose ghost haunted our classroom on every Friday 13th.

So I took up my pen and wrote:

Dear Bad Roger, please don’t haunt my teacher, she is a nice lady, most days, and is doing her best. It is not her fault we are all ignoramuses, but we do try, hard as that may be to believe. She is a superstition person, I am currently covered in salt, and she has threatened to make me eat her magic potion of curdled lambs brain in rhubarb wine. Though I do fear she has cast a spell on my pen as I am writing more than I normally might.

Yours sincerely…

 

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/07/13/three-things-challenge-13-july-2018/

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Three Things Challenge, 12 July 2018

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Michael

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tapestry, comedy, Big Apple

My teacher, Miss Teresa, seemed to think that the first lesson of the day should contain some element of comedy. That is, comedy, which in her head was hilarious but in ours was more tragedy.

She loved starting the day sounding lively, happy and enthusiastic, which didn’t help us kids who consigned ourselves to another day of sitting in the hot classroom listening to her drone on about one thing and another.

Today she had a tapestry to show us. Not any tapestry she informed us but one with history. That was her cue to get into drone mode, and off she went and out the door went our minds.

For reasons unknown my mind went to the big apple, I had in my bag. Recess was a good hour away, but I knew the apple was there, it was a big apple, and it would be delicious.

I woke to Miss Teresa saying something about the Big Apple, and I suddenly wondered how she knew I had it in my bag.

 

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/07/12/three-things-challenge-12-july-2018/

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Thursday photo prompt: Wishes #writephoto

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Michael

wishing-tree

He’d run out of wishes, the last one had disappeared into a field of indifference.

The scene in front of him was one of desolation save for the riot of colour symbolising the many hopes of folk more optimistic than him.

What was the point he asked himself, it’s a game, a torment we subject ourselves to when a moment of clarity would reveal the pointlessness of it all?

He could see in the distance a man struggling with a cart. It appeared to be loaded with his worldly possessions, the weight obvious, but he laboured his eyes focused on some imaginary nirvana.

On another road a woman hurried along, she clutched a baby in her arms, holding it tightly she constantly looked back signalling a pursuer, was not far behind and she sought refuge urgently.

Both characters merged on a crossroad and as he watched neither seemed to get any closer to their destination.

Had they exhausted hope as well he wondered?

He looked again at the tree, now dangling in the sunlight, each colour splashing his sight with a futile dream.

He wondered if he should rain on their parade and tell them.

Best not he thought, let them discover their own impotence.

 

Written for: https://scvincent.com/2018/07/12/thursday-photo-prompt-wishes-writephoto/

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Tale Weaver/ Fairy Tale # 179 – Voyage of Discovery – 12/7/18 – A Life Voyage

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Michael

The_Mayflower_at_sea

Image: The Mayflower – Google images (Labelled for reuse)

A voyage of discovery is like a life led. It’s easy to describe it in this way when you understand so much of your life has been lived in your head, a bit like a fantasy voyage in itself.

When a child I did childish things, my view of the world was restricted to my immediate environment. To know otherwise I scoured the library, found new worlds, different perspectives and grew as a person.

Education was for me a great voyage into the unknown. Literature, in particular, opened my eyes to a world I knew little about. At the end of Primary school, I was given a small novel, ‘A High Wind in Jamaica’ which I read and which did wonders for me wanting to read more and more.

Later after school, I journeyed to further study and eventually to a small school up the end of the valley from home where I began a ‘voyage’ through education.

It was far more than standing in front of a classroom, it was about learning about people, all sorts make up this world, and I think I rubbed shoulders with most of them.

We all at some stage seek out a partner, and that excursion is fraught with dangers, the rocky shoals of life unexpectedly appearing and you finding yourself in peril have to navigate your way clear of the dangers in front of you.

Relationships are about learning the other person. Being aware they exist in your life, that they have wants and needs as well as your own. Sailors will talk about knowing your ship, the ins and outs of them, recognising and accepting their unique foibles. Well, a journey through marriage is not much different. That is not to say it is all rough sailing, on the contrary, there are times when it is clear sailing and times when you find yourself in the doldrums.

Over the years you sometimes come to the realisation that you have been at sea for far too long with the one person. It’s understanding the time has come to part company, though one would try not to completely scuttle everything.

At every moment, if you are aware, you are learning. That is what life’s journey is about, a learning that at times may be steep, with you frantically rigging the sails to accommodate your understanding of the current situation.

No matter how you look at it, the journey, the voyage, must be about taking care of you. Essential because you need to wake tomorrow and once again take the tiller firmly in hand and guide yourself through whatever journey confronts you. Though one hopes as one ages, the voyage is more plain sailing than not.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/07/12/tale-weaver-fairy-tale-179-voyage-of-discovery-12-7-18/

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Three Things Challenge, 11 July 2018

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Michael

3tc

Today’s things are: admire, loyal, fireplace

Today in class our teacher, Miss Teresa, in a moment of sheer genius, or you might say extreme fatigue asked us to write a story using three words that appear to be unrelated. Our task was to compose a piece in which we demonstrated the relationship between the words.

John wrote: The fireplace was lit each day out of admiration and loyalty to his ancestors whom he had traced back to Neanderthal times.

Julie wrote: I love to sit by the fireplace and admire my Barbie dolls. Princess Barbie I am most loyal to ‘cause she makes me feel sexy.

Tony wrote, despite struggling with writing: Terry admired his cousin Ralph, he was loyal to his family down to the toes on his feet and didn’t blink as be burned the bodies of those he slew in the old fireplace.

Needless to say, Miss Teresa was most impressed.

 

 

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/07/11/three-things-challenge-11-july-2018/

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In Other Words, wallowing…

Posted on July 12, 2018 by Michael

in-other-words1

See the pigs as they wallow in the mud and slime.

They exult in the filth they lie in.

There is truth in the saying to wallow in the mud.

You are impervious to those around you.

Those who wallow in the cleanliness of life, the purity of thought, the grotesque nature of man.

 

Written for: https://patriciasplace.me/2018/07/11/in-other-words-wallowing/

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Photo Challenge #221 – Indifference Reigns

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Michael

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Image credit Mattias Milos via Unsplash

 

Do you think you can step through?

Forty years of confinement is no small potatoes.

 

A bell rings:

You awake, get up, toilet, dress, stand to attention.

Awaiting permission to move, to think, to live.

 

You’re used to the four walls

You know how to obey orders without thinking.

 

A bell rings:

Doors open, you join the line, single file

The kitchen is alive, pans clash, indifference reigns.

 

Can you step through, do you think?

There’s a world without order out there.

 

A bell rings:

Line up at the food counter, accept what you are given

Sit at the same table you have for forty years.

 

How will cope with choices, making decisions?

A life of obedience, of sameness, ties you down.

 

A bell rings:

You depart for your room, morning ablutions done

Preparations for same shit different day.

 

You’d look lovely in a floral dress, flowers suit you

Be a change you think from the drab green.

 

A bell rings:

You file out to the laundry, wash the crap from the desperate

Scrub the tears and solitude from every green garment.

 

You smile, and your face lights up

How have you hidden it all these years?

 

A bell rings:

The day ends, you repeat the same actions

Walk the same steps, indifference thrives.

 

Do you think you can step out?

Make a change, or is it too late?

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2018/07/10/photo-challenge-221/

 

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FLASH FICTION FOR THE PURPOSEFUL PRACTITIONER- 2018 WEEK #28

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Michael

flight-airport-airplane-plane-34631-pixel-photo

Image: flight-airport-airplane-plane-34631 pixel photo

It was the last day of our holiday. We needed to be packed and out the door early to catch our flight home.

Joyce, my aged companion, was not happy. The holiday in Morgue had exceeded all her expectations, and she felt there was more to see if only we had the time.

The night before she had poured over her photos reminiscing over this place and that recalling the numerous adventures we’d had.

So on the day of our departure, she was a reluctant participant delaying her final packing until the last minute.

I kept saying she had best hurry, as we didn’t want to arrive and find we’d missed our flight.

She dragged her feet the entire time, and when we eventually made it into the taxi to the airport I was concerned there might be heavy traffic.

As it turned out, we were delayed, and at the airport, we made a frantic rush to the check-in counter only to discover our flight was closed.

Joyce not to be put off quickly organised another flight. She had a way of getting her way with most people, booking clerks in particular.

 

Written for: https://flashfictionforthepracticalpractitioner.wordpress.com/2018/07/11/flash-fiction-for-the-purposeful-practitioner-2018-week-28/

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Three Things Challenge, 10 July 2018

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Michael

3tc

Today’s things are: monkey, April, brick

April down under is Autumn, when some trees turn a riot of colour and shed their leaves all over the ground.

For people in brick houses, it’s a time for preparing for the coming winter. It’s a serious business as the temps can drop to near zero in some places and if unlucky you may even experience a frost, heaven forbid, I’m still awaiting one where I live and its well into July now.

So it is not a time for monkeying around. The winter clothing has to be organised, the shorts and thongs put away, the jumpers found in the bottom of the storage box from last winter are checked to see if they have acquired any moth holes and given a good airing in anticipation of the first cold day soon to arrive.

It’s a busy time where being as thick as a brick will leave you cold and shivery.

 

Written for” https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2018/07/10/three-things-challenge-10-july-2018/

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Twittering Tales #92 – 10 July 2018

Posted on July 10, 2018 by Michael

borkum-3417900_1280

Image: Photo by katermikesch at Pixabay.com

It’s me han’bag love, I left in the tent,
The change tent?
Yeah, the striped one.
But they’re all striped.
It was the one near the steps, facing the sand.
They’re all facing the sand. Was it red or blue striped?
Blue! Then again, it might have been red.
Oh dear, another fine mess.

Written for: https://katmyrman.com/2018/07/09/twittering-tales-92-10-july-2018/

 

 

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