What do you See? Jan/08/2019 – The Library

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Michael

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It was all about the books until the globe starting acting up.

What was it about the globe that it felt it needed to steal the limelight in this way?

And you could hardly say it was subtle.

Spinning, emitting a light like no other and the screaming, well I have to say it was overwhelming and cleared the library in seconds flat.

What started as an ordinary day, no expectations beyond the borrowing of a few books and the return of a few others had escalated into something never before seen nor anticipated in the library.

As it was the library was very old, so old some books had gathered the dust of the last millennia and were beginning to question their place.

Libraries are very select places run by Librarians who themselves are very selective about what sits on their shelves and who borrows them. The Librarian in question, one Phillipa Ivredit was beside herself when the trouble began. Usually, any disturbance could be quelled by a flash of her eyes in the direction of the culprit. But on this day with the globe spinning like there was no tomorrow, and there wasn’t, she was powerless to do anything which left her standing in the middle of the library wringing her hands and looking right and left as if at any moment some idea might leap into her mind and save the situation.

Miss Ivredit for the first time as Head Librarian, found herself vacating the Library in opening hours. She felt a failure, the library was her pride and joy, and now it was disintegrating before her eyes into a raucous rabble.

She stood outside trying to be brave in the face of an unprecedented disturbance. Clasping her hands, she prayed the trouble would stop, and she could go back to her job and the library return to some normalcy.

Then the noise stopped, the lights ceased flashing, and as she poked her head inside the front doors, she could see the library had reverted to its usual peaceful, orderly self.

She gingerly re-entered her domain and gathered up the globe and took it to the basement where the tired old books were kept and where from now on the globe was to be stored inside a locked cabinet.

Miss Ivredit was not having any truck with a misbehaving globe ever again. This was her library, and her library was orderly and Dewey Decimaled within an inch of its life.

 

 

Written for: https://helenevaillant.com/2019/01/08/what-do-you-see-jan-08-2019/

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The Ministry of the Unique* Part 2

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Michael

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Master James O’Dowd received a memo from the Ministry of the Unique to attend a meeting at 9.07am the following morning at their office in 37.5A Sourgrapes Lane.

It was signed by Alfred Hawers, Esquire, Minister of the Unique.

There was a small footnote: “Take the 8.23 train to Grapeyard Station and follow your nose.”

He looked up Grapeyard Station and found it was at the end of the southern line. As for Sourgrapes Lane, there was no record of it on Google maps so he concluded there must be some truth in following his nose.

With so little information at his disposal, he readied himself the next morning by putting on his only suit and heading off to the train station, a paper bag in his back pack containing a sandwich which he decided he’d need when he had his lunch break.

What the Ministry of the Unique did he had no idea but was eager to discover.

By the time the train arrived at Grapeyard Station he was the last passenger, and the guard was surprised when the train stopped, and he alighted.

There was only one exit from the station and then only one path to follow. About fifty metres along the pathway he came to a sign.

FOLLOW YOUR NOSE, you are now on SOURGRAPES LANE.

He did so, and a little way, further along, came to another sign: FOLLOW YOUR NOSE – SOURGRAPES LANE – MINISTRY OF THE UNIQUE AHEAD.

Around a bend in the road he came to another sign:

THE MINISTRY OF THE UNIQUE. TURN ROUND THREE TIMES IN AN ANTI_CLOCKWISE FASHION and STEP FORWARD.

He did so and to his surprise there appeared a small letterbox in front of him: 37.5A SOURGRAPES LANE.

A path led from the letterbox off towards his right, and an arrow on the pathway indicated the rather obvious direction.

Nothing unique so far he thought though the letterbox did worry him, as he was sure it wasn’t there before he turned round.

The pathway wound up a steep hill, and he was puffing by the time he reached what he thought was the top.

He heard a voice say: “Not very fit is he?”

Then another voice: “No shame the younger generation are so unfit.”

Looking around he saw only a tree and a small rose bush beside the path. The voices seemed to be coming from them.

“You’d best push on,” said the first voice, “the Minister doesn’t like being kept waiting.”

“No point getting off on the wrong foot,” said the second voice.

“Hustle, hustle,” they chorused at him.

So Master James O’Dowd did just that and saw that the path continued up a little way further where a door appeared to be.

The door was further off than he anticipated and he was considerably more puffed by the time he reached it.

“They said he was a puffer,” a voice announced.

“Nothing unique about him,” chortled another voice and the two voices laughed together.

James was becoming quite disorientated by the voices, as he couldn’t discern from where they were coming. Looking about all he could see was the door standing there as if expecting him. On the door was a large brass knocker with a sign attached: MINISTRY OF THE UNIQUE, KNOCK THREE TIMES ONLY.

With curiosity by now beginning to overwhelm him, he knocked three times and waited.

He heard the shuffling of feet, the muffled whispering of voices and the unlocking of locks. As each lock was released there came the sound of someone struggling to carry out the necessary unlocking. A lot of huffing and puffing was coming from behind the door coupled with exclamations of relief as each lock gave way to whatever pressure was being exerted on it.

“That should do it,” came a voice from behind the door and with that the door moved slightly, creaking and groaning as if not having been opened for some time it was doing all it could to resist having to do so.

“Come on,” said the voice, “you put up a fight every time we do this.”

“Cause I’m unique,” came a voice that could only have come from the door, “ why else would I be here? You wouldn’t like me to be like every other door would you?”

“Of course not, just a tad more co-operative would be nice,” said the first voice now considerably more puffed.

“Its another boy,” announced the door, “ been a while since there was a boy at my door. Enter at your own peril,” cried the door finally giving way and opening up.

Inside the door, James could observe a huge hallway stretching down to a tiny dot in the far distance. A small man in a top hat poked his head around the door and looked at the still bewildered James.

“Come in boy,” he said waving James inside.

James stepped far enough inside for the door to close, and the small man stepped up to him looked him up and down and asked, “Just whom might you be?”

“James O’Dowd,” announced James.

“Did you get a memo and did you bring it with you?”

“No,” stammered James not realising he was meant to.

“No matter, I always ask that in case the next boy did bring the memo. If they did, that would be a unique thing, but as you didn’t, you’re no different to anyone else.”

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know I was supposed to.”

“Not a worry, now follow me. It’s 9.06 we’ve a minute to spare.”

With that, the small man walked off down the hallway with James trying his best to keep up.

 

*The Ministry of the Unique was first mentioned in the below tale:

#JusJoJan 2019 Daily Prompt – Jan. 6th – Master

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Sunday Writing Prompt “5 by 5” – The Arrival of Evelyn Ruddy

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Michael

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Choose:

A piece of furniture – a cabinet

A colour – ash grey

A scent – eucalyptus

A shape – an hourglass

An item carried – a photograph.

Evelyn Ruddy was the newest resident of Grimace Street, and as new residents were a rare thing in modern times, her arrival raised a lot of curiosity among the other residents.

Miss Marble, the witch at 46 Grimace Street, was as curious as everyone else even though it had been she who had orchestrated Evelyn’s arrival at 14 Grimace Street, a small two-bedroom house surrounded by what was once a very productive market garden.

Her neighbours watched her arrival as neighbours do, watching from behind drawn curtains and communicating with each other over the telephone as the to items being delivered to her door.

There was an ornate cabinet, ash grey in colour, which suggested the cabinet was of an age, as it had to look of something Evelyn had had for some time.

Miss Marble had sat on her veranda and watched from a distance the truck arrive with Evelyn’s things and even though she was away from Evelyn’s house she picked up the distinct aroma of eucalyptus. Miss Marble was into smells. Smell told you a lot about a person, and she liked that Evelyn Ruddy had a eucalyptus scent about her.

Evelyn, of course, was not aware of the goings on around her as she was focused on moving her stuff into her new place. She had liked the look and feel of Grimace Street the first time she had visited and was ever so pleased to learn of her success in buying no 14.

It was noted by her neighbours that her hourglass figure betrayed her as a woman of middle age and immediately raised the question in all who observed her as to what had occurred in her life that led her to join the Grimace Street neighbourhood.

It was all too much for Miss Marble’s long time neighbour, Mansur Stigglefod who ventured down the street to greet her newest neighbour. The two women met at Evelyn’s front gate as Evelyn was carrying a box of miscellaneous pieces and having extended to Evelyn her hand in welcome and friendship proceeded to engage Evelyn in conversation.

Evelyn was grateful for the warm welcome and showed Mansur a photograph she carried in her wallet of her two grandchildren whom she hoped would come to visit her sooner rather than later.

Mansur also gave Evelyn a written invitation for her to attend morning tea the next day with Miss Marble whom she explained was the long-term resident of the street and who was extremely interested in lives of each and every resident.

Miss Marble watched all this from a distance and felt a surge of excitement at the prospect of having Evelyn Ruddy for morning tea, as there was so much about the new woman that excited her.

 

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2019/01/06/sunday-writing-prompt-5-by-5/

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#JusJoJan 2019 Daily Prompt – Jan. 7th – Memento

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Michael

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Memento

I don’t have many mementos of 1975 my first year of teaching.

A lot of memories, a few photos of classes and kids I can’t remember the names of.

It was the year I was married though that was not such a good thing to remember.

But I do have a leather wallet made for me by a student. I do remember my surprise and feeling very flattered when I received it.

The student in question was a farm girl and invited me and others out to her property to see the workings. It was a sheep and wheat farm and we got to see sheep being worked and she taught me to ride a horse and to this day I remember the rash I acquired on the insides of my thighs from sitting in the saddle.

The wallet I still have and I often wonder what became of the girl who way back then thought enough of me to invite me, a city boy, out onto her farm.

There’s always a story behind a memento you hang onto to.

 

Written for: https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/07/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-7th/

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#JusJoJan 2019 Daily Prompt – Jan. 6th – Master

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Michael

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Master

The letter arrived addressed to Master James O’Dowd, and it was odd, as I hadn’t been addressed in that way since I was a boy.

I checked the postmark, and it was stamped a few days earlier, which dismissed my first thought of it being a letter that had been floating around the postal service for that last thirty years.

Upon opening it, I found a single page of handwritten script.

 

Dear Master James,

It has come to our attention at the Ministry of the Unique, that you are now qualified to join our ranks as Junior Minister, Second Class.

Please confirm by return mail your intention to take up this position. A refusal may mean future offers may not be made.

Yours sincerely

Alfred Hawers

Minister of the Unique, Esquire.

 

Bewildered I looked at the letter and never having heard of the Ministry of the Unique I went to Google but found nothing.

Thinking it was a hoax of some kind I put the letter aside but over the next few days I was drawn back to it and studied the wording more carefully. I’d never thought of myself a unique, in fact, I prided myself in the knowledge I was the most ordinary of men.

There was no address other than the return envelope I found behind the original letter.

It read:

Ministry of the Unique

Post Office Box 34sed56

Capital City.

 

Out of curiosity, I responded in the affirmative. A week later another letter arrived informing me I had been accepted into the Ministry and to await further instructions.

So now I wait, the days are passing, and I wonder what might be in store for me, Master James O’Dowd.

 

Written for: https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/06/jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-6th/

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Finish the Story, 2019, #2

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Michael

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The Final Hunt

Anne and Gladys waved as the men left for their hunt. When they were out of sight, they both laughed knowing full well that none would have the heart to really shoot anything. They liked a boy’s day out as much as they liked a girl’s day in.

“So,” Fred said as they passed the gate into his family’s hunting grounds. “What do you think the girls are up to today?”

Alec laughed. “Talking about us, what else.”

Sam nodded. “Yep.”

As they walked through the fields into the tree line, the dogs’ ears’ picked up. Boy whimpered and cowered close to Fred’s legs Toby’s fur stood on edge as he stared into the woods and growled.

“Easy there,” Alec said, trying to calm him.

Sam kneeled and unzipped his gun as quietly as possible. Suddenly, both dogs were on alert as a …

Morpethroad wrote:

small, bespectacled man stepped through the bushes. The dogs were going berserk by now straining at their leashes. It was clear the dogs sensed a danger the men did not see.

The man walking towards them was squinting as he approached as he had the sun in his eyes.

“Good afternoon,” he said as he drew near, “your dogs won’t bite will they? I do have a fear of them.”

Sam stood with his gun in his hands unsure of what he was seeing and hearing. The place they were in was a piece of rugged bushland, no one lived there because it was the family’s hunting grounds and it was considered unsafe to even camp on the land for any reason at all.

Fred was trying his best to hold onto his dog, and Alec held firm on Toby’s collar. Once the small man came within a few feet of the hunting party, they could see…

 

I nominate Di at https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/ to take it from here.

 

Written for: https://thehauntedwordsmith.wordpress.com/2019/01/05/finish-the-story-2019-2/

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SoCS & #JusJoJan 2019 Daily Prompt – Jan. 5th – “sap/sep/sip/sop/sup.”

Posted on January 5, 2019 by Michael

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“sap/sep/sip/sop/sup.”

 

“You stupid sap,” said the frog to my left. I’d been sitting on the lily pad in a state of bewilderment when I heard the voice.

“You fell for the helpless old lady did you?”

“Yes,” I croaked

“And it turned out to be your mother-in-law?”

“Yes,” I replied feeling more forlorn than ever.

“You’ll get used to it here though it’s the flies that are an acquired taste. But it’s a matter of a fly or starvation.”

My mind went back in time. It was pleasing on the one hand that I did remember. What I remembered was not so pleasant.

I’d answered a knock on the door, and upon opening it, I found a little old lady, bent over and looking down at the floor. She was clearly a septuagenarian, the badge on her brown cardigan said so.

She said she had the elixir of life and I had been chosen as the only recipient in my street.

It made sense to me, as I was about to be married to the love of my life and my health was not all it could have been.

She said all I needed was a sip each morning and teaspoon at supper time and I’d never look back.

And she was correct. I sipped, and I supped, and I even sopped it with a piece of bread and look at me now, unable to look back unless I turn around and on a lily pad that can be dangerous.

I awoke one morning sitting on my pillow unable to understand what had happened when she re-appeared in my room, and I realised it was my future mother-in-law who took hold on me and dumped me here.

She said, ”Now you’ll never get your hands on my daughter, you useless piece of pond scum. So here I am, pond scum in every way.”

“Don’t worry,” said the sympathetic frog, “I had the same thing said to me when I tried to marry her daughter and come September it will be three years a frog.”

“I feel so wretched, is this all there is now?”

“No the flies come round about midday, but you must be careful to stay on your lily pad and not get too close to the edge, the cats can be very dextrous.”

“Goodness,” I heard my mouth say as my tongue instinctively shot out to grab a passing fly, and my taste buds reacted violently.

 

Written for: https://lindaghill.com/2019/01/04/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2019-daily-prompt-jan-5th/

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Reena’s Exploration Challenge #68 – Normal

Posted on January 5, 2019 by Michael

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What is normal was the question?

Each ‘expert’ offered his or her explanation

One, which of course suited themselves.

“It’s all to do with context,” said another,

“It depends upon the place and time in which you live.

My normal is not yours, and you’d be right to say so

But we get hung up on thinking we are so.”

“Normal is all about being who you are,

Where constancy is the order of the day.

It’s different for the lunatic, as compared to the brain surgeon.”

The ‘experts’ listened and nodded approval

For them, normalcy was within their own particular space.

But when the man from the far side of the room

Spoke about not wanting a normal life

They understood he wanted to challenge and explore his world,

Not accept complacency or a set order

But to challenge himself

And find new ‘normals’, one’s he might take on or discard.

“My normal is fluid,” he said, “I like the notion of slipping from one to another.”

“I find it useful to think without my pants,” he said removing his trousers and revealing a sparkling pair of striped briefs.

The looks of horror on the faces of the others told what they thought of his ‘normal’, but at the same time, they could see where he was coming from.

 

Written for: https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2019/01/03/reenas-exploration-challenge-68/

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Thursday photo prompt: Renewal #writephoto

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Michael

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With the season of renewal sweeping down on the bushland, the process swung quickly into action.

It was a time for shedding the old, intense preening and looking forward to all the season brought them.

Every creature looked forward to it, it was akin to a rebirth, shaking off the old and taking on the new and all the possibilities that came with that.

Even the sky they reasoned saw a form of rebirth, there was a freshness in the air as if the stale old air of the previous season was now being cleansed and washed away.

The rains that came regenerated the bush, new growth sprouted forth, the animals who had sheltered from the cold and the heat poked their heads out to take in the air that like themselves had regenerated in such a way for them to feel rejuvenated.

It only took a few days but soon the bush as a flurry of activity as the females of each species selected a mate, and within a day or so felt to stirring within them of new life. Food which had become scares reappeared in bountiful amounts and stocks were taken for the next period when there may not be plenty.

The cycle of renewal began, welcomed by all forms of flora and fauna, life flourished, new life appeared, generations multiplied and all was as it should be.

 

Written for: https://scvincent.com/2019/01/03/thursday-photo-prompt-renewal-writephoto/

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JOELLE’S TALES: FIRST THURSDAY OF THE MONTH #TMAT120 #WRITING #PROMPT FOR JANUARY 2019

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Michael

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Today’s prompt is:  Tell me about your 1st and 2nd favourite movies.  

Being a closet romantic I have to say if watching movies over and over is a guide then ‘Love Actually’ and ‘Notting Hill’ would be up there as my favourites.

I don’t have any idea how many times I’ve watched them, but they would get a showing when I was feeling down, and the world was against me.

Apart from the entertainment factor, the music in both films is great, and if I turned up the volume, I did feel better if not teary.

The pursuit of love is something we all engage in and as much of my life was lived in a fantasy, it isn’t hard to see why these two films would feature in my top 2.

 

Written for: https://rantingalong.blog/2019/01/03/joelles-tales-first-thursday-of-the-month-tmat120-writing-prompt-for-january-2019/

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