Joyful Decisions
So many to choose from! Where to begin? This one, or that? I’ll have to check them all out. I love spending a day at the library.
Monkey Man hosts the 160 Character Challenge. See what you can write in 160 characters or less, spaces included.
Framed Portrait
Jack: Gin, let’s surprise Jill by hanging her favorite picture for her. Where should I hang it?
Jack: Wait! Stop! Oh no!
Jack: Honest, Darling. It’s not my fault.
Today’s theme is framed
The rules for Photohunt can be found here.
Be sure to visit the home page.
Suzie’s House 179: A Boy’s Opinion
“It’s not my fault,” Gene growled as he followed Ben and into Ben’s room. “I never told her to do it.”
Lisa let the two boys charge ahead. They were so full of testosterone it was better to just get out of their way. She waited for Tracy to pass through, too, because walking in front of Tracy tended to be an iffy proposition. It meant she went unnoticed as she entered the room, which suited her just fine.
“Well someone must have, because I can’t see my mom coming up with the idea of adopting you on her own.” Ben wind-milled his hands in frustration.
“I swear, I never said a thing.”
“It’s true,” Tracy said with an eager nod. “I’d have noticed if he had.”
The Spirit of It
“Eight words, Nancy. I only went eight words over the limit.”
“But the limit is 55. The point is, you went over.”
“No one but you cares!”
“Well, YOU should care. Doesn’t it bother you to cheat?”
“It isn’t cheating, really. It’s just a guideline. Who is counting?”
“I counted. Why didn’t you?”
“I did. Then I forgave myself.”
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
13 Words (It’s a Secret)
1. Did
2. you
3. notice
4. that
5. I
6. am
7. not
8. here
9. right
10. now?
11. I’m
12. in
13. Wisconsin
I’m be much more proactive about visiting your blogs when I get back to my desktop.
Ah Maria, What Does it Mean to Be Untouchable
As my readers may recall, Marie Antoinette’s finally speaking to Madame Dubarry was hardly the end of her troubles. A baby was still years away and Marie had begun to acquire the very unfortunate habit of publicly displaying contempt for her husband. The girl never learned. Said Joseph after the 1777 visit to Paris, “She does not love him in the least.”
I say “The 1777 visit” because it was the big one that finally put some, ahem, firmness, into Marie’s husband’s resolve to father a child on the woman who, at this point, probably actively hated him. No one knows what Joseph said to these young persons, it was a very private conversation. Afterward in letters and in conversation, Joseph alluded to the subject of his little speech.
Joseph being Joseph, he was no doubt blunt to the point of being mean. Perhaps that’s what the boy needed, because the deed was done not long after and Marie Antoinette found herself pregnant.
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For Your Own Good
Go away! Go! Don’t come back around with your smiles and open hand. I’ll only ruin them. Can’t you tell I’m diseased? Achoo!
Monkey Man hosts the 160 Character Challenge. See what you can write in 160 characters or less, spaces included.
House Shopping
Jill: So what do you think, Jack? Should we buy this house? It has a great entry, and two stories, a huge kitchen and utility room, four bedrooms with cedar lining in the walk in closet of the master bedroom, two bathrooms and the living room is enormous. Is that a fireplace? I like the place. How about you?
Jack: (silence for a long time)
Jill: I know, it’s too big for us, but the benefits are too numerous to count.
Jack: Numerous? I’ll tell you what’s numerous; the number of people who will give up and go away before we can reach the front door to answer it.
Jill: Sigh. All right. Maybe I can find something closer to our size.
Today’s theme is numerous
The rules for Photohunt can be found here.
Be sure to visit the home page.
Suzie’s House 178: Adoption
“Tracy, I found your ring.” Mrs. H walked into the room without knocking.
Seemed like she’d done a lot more of that since Tracy started hanging out with him in his room, but Gene couldn’t really say anything because he knew he was lucky to have a room at all. It’s not like they were really going to do anything in Mrs. H’s house.
Tracy crawled off the bed where she’d been curled up next to him and took the ring.
After Glow
She loves it when he rolls off and falls asleep. It’s a rare moment when his overwhelming vitality banks and she gets to see something no one else does; her man vulnerable. She plays with his chest hair, then looks in his face, looking for her angel. He sighs, smiles, and opens one eye just enough to wink.
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
13 Settings in Photo Form
Setting can have such an impact on a story. The way a scene involving a couple walking hand in hand reads when they are on the beach is radically different than when they are struggling over sand dunes. Sometimes I find it a challenge to keep a setting in mind. That’s when pictures come in handy. Can you imagine how different a scene might play out in each of these settings?
Ah Maria, It’s a Royal Dressing Down
So many people became embroyled in the stalemate between Marie Antoinette and the King’s mistress, Madame Dubarry – starting with the king’s daughters and ending with, of course, Mom; Maria Theressa of Austria.
Marie Antoinette’s continued slighting of Madame Dubarry had finally been pushed to it’s logical, or perhaps I should say illogical conclusion. France and Austria were facing the possibility of war. This was not Marie’s fault alone. Brother Joseph’s connivance in the partition of Poland was the event that was causing the most strain between the two countries., but his little sister’s unbelievably gauche behavior was not putting King Louis in a good mood. Add to this the undeniable strain between Marie and her husband, the fact that not only were there no babies forthcoming but the young couple didn’t even seem to be trying to make them, what was up with that?
The only person in all of Europe who really could speak to Marie, to tell her what she needed to to be told, was mom. Mom didn’t like this because she was more than aware that she was going to order her daughter to be nice to a whore, but, that’s life. Sometimes you have to find a way to get your gay husband to impregnate you, sometimes you have to kiss and make up to your father-in-laws favorite A-number one “girlfriend.”
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