Reena’s Exploration Challenge #150 – Illusions

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Michael

Everyone in the street is doing their bit. At least I think they are.

We are all staying at home. We are limiting our going out to the necessary times, and when we do, we say we are wearing our masks to protect each other and ourselves.

Though the other day I ventured to the shopping centre to go to the supermarket and thinking I needed to be doing to right thing in wearing a mask as the people in charge of everyday life were now telling us, mask-wearing was considered a necessary step. But I seemed to be the lone wearer.

Maybe I thought I heard about the mask-wearing as not many people in the shopping centre were wearing them.

Now admittedly masks are not the most comfortable of things to wear, but I thought in light of public safety we should all be doing our bit.

And then I got to thinking that most of us consider the terrible things in life as happening to other people. Yes, the virus is real, but it doesn’t infect people like us so we feel we can go about our daily lives with some sense of illusionary immunity.

But I read an article written by an ICU nurse about what happens when you get so ill you end up on a ventilator and that knowledge scared the life out of me. 

So despite what I see going on around me, I’ve embraced the ‘illusion’ of safety first, for my sake and yours.

Written for: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2020/08/27/reenas-exploration-challenge-150/

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Tale Weaver – #290 – Campfire – 27th August – The New Fire Pit

Posted on August 27, 2020 by Michael

With the installation of the fire pit in the back yard, the opportunity to sit around it and enjoy the atmosphere created was something we had all looked forward to.

Along with the tidying up of the yard and the cleaning out of the timber under the shed, we had a ready supply of material to burn.

Our first occasion was at family dinner night. The fire was stoked up; we began the ritual of the moving chairs as the fire began we drew close and as it took light and burned with greater ferocity we moved back to save our bits being scorched.

There followed a series of nights where sitting around our version of a campfire was a much-anticipated way of winding down and sharing a drink or two before dinner.

The fire pit had been installed over a base that was worked on for several hours. Our original plan had been to use a piece of sandstone that had been lying under the house for as long as I could remember as a sort of centrepiece.

The problem soon arose that the bricks we were using and the sandstone block clashed in a geometrical way. Bricks are squarer, and the sandstone block was not so the chief engineer and bricklayer abandoned the sandstone block, as it just wouldn’t fit. So despite our disappointment, the base we constructed is solid and practical to purpose.

We look forward to many more evenings around the campfire, the weather at present is cool at night and so very conducive to campfires and romantic gestures.

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/08/27/tale-weaver-290-campfire-27th-august

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Sunday Writing Prompt –23rd August – Choosing your Context – Supermarket

Posted on August 23, 2020 by Michael

The strangest thing happened as I went into the supermarket.

Past me ran a man in mask pursued by a woman in a flowing gold sequined cape brandishing a pack of frozen peas and screaming: “You just wait till I catch you, I’ll give something to think about.”

They disappeared around the frozen food section but I was on a mission to get my weekly shopping done and was not going to be distracted by such obvious illusions.

As I approached the tin food section a man jumped out of a large tin of baked beans and said: “Psst!, Pssts! Wanna buy a magic bean?”

I politely said no and he sank back down into the can muttering: “You’ll be sorry.”

I told myself to stay focused as the shopping centre was famous for the gimmicks it employed to sell and make you buy what you might not normally purchase.

In the cleaning section I was sure a broom spoke to me, followed by a convincing mop detailing the virtues of having one such mop in your kitchen. “I’ll clean your floors two and half times faster than ever before,” it claimed, as it swished its self in front of me.”

Again, I ignored it as I had my eyes set on the liquid drain cleaner.

Finally, with my list checked off and no more interruptions I made my way to the checkout by way of the chocolate section. Here I was confronted by a woman wearing nothing more than a smile and a bar of chocolate. “Hey sweetie, you could do with some sweetening up, don’t you think? I’ve got just the chocolate to turn your day and night around. Calms your day, fires up your night. It’s the latest thing to give you the lift your heart desires.”

She thrust herself forward and into my hand a bar of the chocolate, “Just try it sweetheart, you’ll be craving more and more.” No, I thought I had enough to deal with in life and extra up and go at night might not be all I desire. Or would it, I thought for a second and then dismissed the idea.

The checkout girl was attractive and pleasant, tallied up my order and took my money, flicking her tongue in a very seductive way, as she handed back my change and which I found quite unnerving after being in the chocolate aisle.

I was thinking I needed to be away from this place and promising myself I’d go to another supermarket next week.

Just then as I was pushing my cart out of the door the masked man re-appeared running harder than before. The girl in the gold sequined cape was not far behind and launched a Number three chicken at him narrowly missing him and me.

I hurried to my car, packed in my purchased and made a quick exit. As I turned onto the highway a voice behind me sent shivers down my back.

The Baked Bean man was in the back seat: “Keep driving,” he said: “I think we can give them the slip.”

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/sunday-writing-prompt-23rd-august-choosing-your-context/

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What do you see # 43- 17 August 2020 – Love Notes

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Michael

They were spread around the house as well as on the kitchen noticeboard.

They had an amazing relationship that never grew old in their professions of love for each other.

You’d find notes stuck on cupboards, on wardrobes, on the bathroom mirror and even one in the shower covered in plastic to keep it dry.

It was the saddest of occasions when the time came to clean up the house after the wife finally died.

She’d left the notes where he and she had left them, as memory of the wonderful life they had lived.

Written for: https://lifeafter50forwomen.com/2020/08/17/what-do-you-see-43-17-august-2020/

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Tale Weaver – #289 – Masks – 20th August The Thin Eye Mask

Posted on August 20, 2020 by Michael

There was something different about the thin eye mask I found in the attic. I felt drawn to it.

I held it in my hands and when I put it up against my eyes the mask fixed itself to my head.

Instantaneously I was transformed and transferred to a place I didn’t know.

I was standing in a dirty alleyway, around me were people going about their business buying and selling, yelling and shouting, mugging and being villainous.

I watched as an old lady struggled along the alley only to be pushed over by a man in a black hood. He leapt onto her and began digging around on her person before holding up a sack I assumed was money.

Suddenly I felt myself being propelled forward, I grabbed the villain, hurled him away from the old lady not realizing the strength I undoubtedly had. He hit the wall and then screamed at me: “Not you??? Get away devil this is no place for you.”

My response was to lift him from the ground and throw him very unceremoniously across the alley where he then lay motionless on the ground.

Around me were gasps of wonder and thanks. I was blown away by what I had done and felt I had to get out of there.

I pulled at the mask but it was refusing to budge. I could feel panic setting in as I thought what would I do if the thing was there permanently.

Then I prized it off and within the instant I was back in the attic, breathing heavily with the mask still in my hand.

This was an experience I wasn’t sure I wanted to repeat as I thought of myself as a person slow to anger and a pacifist at heart. The violence the mask generated in me was terrifying.

I placed the mask in a box and sealed it up. As the attic had belonged to a deceased uncle I returned it to its hiding place determined to find out all I could about this particular uncle.

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/08/20/tale-weaver-289-masks-20th-august/

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100 Word Wednesday: 162 – Country Kids in the City.

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Michael
Image by Bikurgurl 100 Word Wednesday: Week 162

You could always tell a country kid from a city kid as the country kids tended to walk around the city with their heads permanently bent looking up.

Most of us country kids lived in places where a three-storey place was considered huge.

It was a real treat for us to get in the lift and ride to the top of the tallest building.

My mate Manny was afraid of heights and on the day, we rode to the top he agreed to come with us but upon arrival sat against the wall and refused to look at the view.

Written for: https://bikurgurl.com/2020/08/19/100-word-wednesday-162/

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Crimson’s Creative Challenge #93 – The Café Sumptuous.

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Michael

You could never say that Crisp, my aged companion, was a person who was backward in coming forward. She spoke her mind and her acerbic wit was something you had to understand and not be easily offended by.

We had followed explicit instructions to the Café Sumptuous, an alleged gourmet experience, and found ourselves in a dark and dingy alleyway.

“Wouldn’t want to meet a stranger here on a dark night,” said Crisp,” My person could be violated if I wasn’t careful.” These words she said with the curled lip she displayed when she wasn’t impressed with anything or anyone.

“Come on,” I said, “pretend I’m your knight in shining armour, here to protect your most precious person.”

Crisp was hesitant, but taking my arm and ignoring the shadowy figures around us walked calmly to the Café door.

Written for: https://crispinakemp.com/2020/08/19/crimsons-creative-challenge-93/

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Crimson’s Creative Challenge #92 – Crisp and the Sea.

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Michael

 Crisp, my aged companion, had a thing about boats, the sea and water.

She didn’t like any of them and in no particular order.

It was from an incident as a child when her father took her fishing, and she managed to fall overboard.

They were fishing off the coast, a wave came by, the boat lurched, and Crisp went over.

She was already terrified of the sea, and now she was in the sea, her terror intensified.

She feared a shark attack.

There was a real prospect of her being bait, and she was not at all happy. After being plucked from the water, she sat huddled in the bottom of the boat refusing to participate any longer.

The memory stayed with her, and she recounted the incident as we looked at the old boat on its moorings.

“Let’s have fish and chips for lunch,” she said as we walked off.

Written for: https://crispinakemp.com/2020/08/12/crimsons-creative-challenge-92/

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Tale Weaver – #288 – Fairy Tale – The Unpleasant Fairy – August 13th – George

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Michael

George was a most unpleasant fairy. Fate had dealt her a dreadful blow. She had been lumbered with a name she hated and was forever jealous of every other fairy she knew. It was no doubt why she was unpleasant to each and every one she came across.

Around her were fairies with names like Willow Stream Wonder, Starlight Brook Feather and her ‘best ‘friend, if you could call someone named, Cauliflower Peasblossom Sun a ‘best ‘friend.

It was all her mother’s fault, or more as her mother, Arthur, pointed out, a family tradition of being different to everyone else.

Her Grandmother had been Humph Broom Hildasome and her Grandfather Dum De Dum Hero.

George’s father, Dur Dur Derrio was as unpleasant as they come and it was not surprising growing up in such a household had created George in their likeness.

Her unpleasantness had begun in childhood when sent to Fairy School and her teacher, Miss Eloquent Poem Nettle, had tried her best to get George to play with the other Fairy children. George always wanted to go first, would cry when she didn’t get her own way and played far too aggressively for the other Fairies.

Letters were sent home and met with deaf ears as George’s parents wouldn’t hear a bad word said about their daughter.

As a result, she never received an invitation to the numerous birthday parties held among her classmates and this only added to her unpleasantness.

Her parents grew more and more proud of their unpleasant daughter and began the search for a suitable life partner for her. It wasn’t easy as most fairies were peaceful, fun-loving and contented beings.

But they did find one in Dirge Dreadful Dogface, a thoroughly disagreeable fairy who lived on the edge of town with his equally disagreeable family.

George was over the moon at the prospect of marrying and a lavish wedding was planned with only family attending as none of the invitees bothered to reply.

George and Dirge stood at the alter as the Reverend Fairy Good News asked if anyone saw impediment to George and Dirge becoming fairy and wife.

There was a chorus of objections followed by an equally loud chorus of “let them get on with it, it’s the best either of them can hope for, let’s hope its years of unpleasantness” all followed by three cheers for the parents having rid themselves of their unpleasant offspring.

George and Dirge loved being married. They were at each other’s throats day and night and within a year a new Unpleasant Fairy arrived named, Ugly Gross Lightning.

It was a great cause for celebration, George was showered with gifts, each more unpleasant than the last. She loved the whole occasion, and found a sense of belonging in the fairy world.

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/08/13/tale-weaver-288-fairy-tale-the-unpleasant-fairy-august-13th/

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Sunday Writing Prompt –9th August – Choosing your Context – Chucklesome

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Michael

He noted the situation had become grim/concerning/chucklesome.

 He had spent the last half hour arguing the point, which by now had become obscured in the miasma of words being uttered by our old friend Crust.

Crust whose name was Eleanor Louise Epicton but had always been known as Crust.

She had a crusty personality, quick to criticise and always with an opinion more often than not contrary to everyone else’s.

In so many ways we felt Crust just liked to argue and she was good at it, no matter how wrong or ludicrous her words were she was always loath to admit fault or heaven forbid that she might be wrong.

Listening to her he couldn’t help but feel the situation had become chucklesome. She was making no sense, he knew she knew she wasn’t as well but was continuing in her argument that black could be white and or up could be down.

There was no doubt she had a wonderful grasp of language and could twist and beguile you in ways you never anticipated.

It wasn’t uncommon to get so exasperated by her that you wanted to resort to a few well known expletives and leave her to it but just as your own exasperation levels were being exceeded there’s be this look on her face betraying her joy at what she had just put you through. More often than not she would say something to mediate the situation and admit the silliness of her argument but at the same time acknowledge she had led you a merry chase.

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/08/09/sunday-writing-prompt-9th-august-choosing-your-context/

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