Liz Young's Blog, page 22

TWENTY-SOMETHING

TWENTY-SOMETHING

Dora had built the perfect life.Henry returned each evening from the city to a sparkling home and the smell of something delicious cooking. Dora fitted her translating work seamlessly around school runs, entertained Henry’s clients, and did a fortnightly stint at a charity shop.
Then she found condoms in Henry’s car and her world wobbled. She tried to prop it up with his favourite meals, a different hairstyle and a new negligee, but it was too late.
A twenty-something brunette had blown in like a hurricane, reducing Dora’s carefully constructed edifice to a heap of crumpled wreckage......................................................................................................There have been some strong winds blowing round here recently, though the only damage we suffered was to a tower of runner beans, which are now propped up horizontally on my neighbour's fence. I have spoken to the plants gently in the hope that the shock will not have stunted the growth of their babies. 
Thanks to Rochelle for the photo of her own minor disaster which prompted this week's stories, and for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/

BOYS WILL BE BOYS - a story in 100 words

BOYS WILL BE BOYS
It began with boys climbing the fence and diving into windowless rooms, rat-a-tat-tatting imaginary guns at unseen enemies. Later they sneaked in to smoke, swigging from bottles purloined from parental cupboards. ‘Boys will be boys,’ people said indulgently.
Then Craig hit town, all motorbike, money and black leather. The rampant bougainvillea now hid darker secrets, and an atmosphere of danger seeped from the crumbling plaster along with the smell of pot.
‘The police should have stopped it,’ people said when it was too late – after a local boy was found with a needle dangling from his arm. .....................................................................................................Rochelle is on holiday yet she still remembered to leave us with a photo prompt onher blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  Thanks to Randy Mazie for the photo. One of these days I will work out how NOT to slip into a smaller font after copying Rochelle's blog title! The only alternative I can find is this which is the next size up on my toolbar! Or I could go really large, but that would be ridiculous.Pleae leave a comment before you go :)

FLYING VISIT - 100 word story

FLYING VISIT


Jake dropped the bombshell at suppertime. “Mum’s coming tomorrow for tea.”“Tomorrow?” Alice squeaked, “I’ll never be ready in time!”“Calm down,” Jake laughed, “It’s only a flying visit.”
Alice spent all evening cleaning, and in the morning she put out fresh towels, baked a cake, and weeded the garden. She was exhausted by the time Daphne arrived.
The cake was a success, and all went well until Daphne was leaving.“I’ll just pop to the little girls’ room first,” she trilled, and Alice watched helplessly as her mother-in-law ran a finger along the top of the door.
...............................................................................................I know nothing about seaplanes, apart from the fact that my husband has always wanted to fly in one, so Ted Strutz's photo took me in an entirely different direction. Thanks as always to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog.   https://rochellewisoff.com/2019/07/31/2-august-2019/ted-strutz-plane/


I only just caught the Friday Fictioneers plane myself this week, as I have been away for a few days with my mother, who is 94. She walks so slowly with her two sticks that we hired a mobility scooter, and one afternoon while she had her nap I took it for a spin myself. It was fun, but also an interesting experiment being a person in a wheelchair. Some peole moved politely out of the way, others completely ignored me! This is Mum bowling along Eastbourne seafront in a howling gale.




And for sheer over-the-top ostentatious decor, check out the interior of the Victorian Tea Room on the pier!

CHUFFER TRAIN - a little story in a hundred words

CHUFFER TRAIN The landing craft circled, its cameras focussed on the train below.“A primitive form of transport,” the Commander decided, and sent Phtam to make First Contact.Slightly wobbly on her unfamiliar legs, Phtam walked along the platform and approached the nearest figure. “Good day.”The man didn’t even acknowledge her. She tried each person in turn with no success. A train chuffed into the station but still no-one moved, and when it left, so did Phtam.“They’re all dead,” she reported. “Probably a virulent virus.”The ship left hurriedly – without spotting the sign on a gate --‘Model Village closed today’................................................................................................Apologies to the real people - if they ARE real - on this station, but Sandra Crook's photo reminded me of a model village on the Isle of Wight which I visited recently with my granddaughter.Thanks as ever to https://rochellewisoff.com/ for hosting Friday Fictioneers - if you care to follow the links from her blog you can read other stories prompted by Sandra's photo.PS to Sandra - is that Corfe Castle in the background of your photo?

This is the Isle of Wight model village...

MARVIN'S EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE - a story in 100 words

MARVIN’S EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE
Marvin was waiting for his brother to help move his stall, so when the Thing landed he was alone.“Who are you?” it demanded.“Don’t you mean, ’Take me to your Leader’?” Marvin replied.“That is so last millennium.”Marvin tipped his hat. “Marvin Brown, purveyor of pretzels and chilli chicken dogs. You look a bit undernourished.”The Thing sniffed with a nose the size of a small car and covered its face. “Don’t think I’ll risk it, thanks,” it said, and shot back up into the night sky.“Bloody aliens don’t know what’s good for them,” said Marvin.......................................................................................A ten minute, one hundred word story for a very odd photo prompt - my first thought was, who would actually PUT something so weird in the middle of a town? My granddaughter would be scared silly. Thanks to Roger Bultot for the photo and to Rochelle for running the weekly show that is Friday Fictioneers. Click on the link to read what other writers thought of the photo - https://rochellewisoff.com/

DINNER - a story for Friday Fictioneers in 100 words

DINNER People were enjoying a peaceful dinner when the power failed, plunging the restaurant into darkness.In the ensuing confusion tables were overturned, glasses smashed, and then the screaming started. One after another the voices rose to a crescendo ... and stopped. Then there was another sound, like a child slurping thick milkshake through a straw, but amplified a hundred-fold. After a few moments there was nothing but silence.When the police arrived, three strange tubes were disappearing into the ground, smeared with gore, and the floor of the restaurant was a foul, pulpy mess..........................................................................................................................
Not the most pleasant way to make my reappearance after a few weeks absent, but those waving arms look menacing to me! Two weeks ago I was in Northern Ireland visiting my elder daughter and her husband and drinking Guinness. And last week I was painting my bedroom and my desk was inaccessible!

DELAYED - a story in a hundred words

DELAYED
When my flight is seriously delayed, I phone Ellie.She’s furious. “How could you? We’re meeting the vicar tomorrow!”Her shrill voice carries to the woman beside me, who smiles sympathetically. “My boyfriend has to attend a business dinner alone – he thinks I’ve done it deliberately.”The airline offers hotel rooms and we share dinner – I haven’t talked to Ellie for that long, ever.We meet again at breakfast, share a cab back to the airport, and part on a promise – once the decks are cleared we’ll meet again.We have so much more to say...............................................................................Rochelle is the indefatigable woman who runs this weekly beanfeast and you can find her on  https://rochellewisoff.com/   if you follow the froggy link you can read scores of other stories prompted by her photograph.I have been busy painting the door frames on my landing. It's a small cottage and the three doorframes, which comprise three sides of a square, have only an inch of wall between them. This makes positioning the drip sheet easy, but it's also easy to step back and smudge the paint, and oh! the repetetiveness of the task! Only the light shining on wet paint tells me where I've been and which is still waiting to be done.Writing and gardening have filled my spare time :)
PS - I may be AWOL next week - we are off to Lisnaskea in Northern Ireland to visit my daughter.

VISITING MABEL - a story in a hundred words

VISITING MABEL
“You’ve got a visitor, Nan,” Sandra said brightly.“That’s nice, dear. The kettle’s boiling, I’ll make tea.”Aileen looked around. A cushion-filled armchair, an iron warming on the antique range, a chenille cloth hiding the table-legs. Sixty years out of date, certainly, but nothing to suggest the old lady was losing the plot.
Mabel put a cup by Aileen’s elbow and offered a tin of biscuits.“Don’t take the Bourbons – I’m saving those for Gerald.”She touched the sepia photograph that held pride of place on the mantelpiece.“His letter from the front last week said he’d be home soon.”..............................................................People have different ways of coping with grief - who's to say Mabel's way is wrong? Dementia also manifests itself in many different ways, and losing forty years is possibly one of the easiest for the sufferer.Thanks to Rochelle -  https://rochellewisoff.com/ - for hosting Friday Fictioneers every week, even when she's off on a jaunt, and to Valerie J Barrett for the atmospheric photograph.

SHUTTERS - a story in exactly one hundred words

SHUTTERS
All visitors see are the bright paintwork, the pots of cheerful geraniums leading up to the front door. Nobody notices the shutters down here, the shrubs blocking the steps in case anyone becomes curious.Two years I have spent here – I mark the days on the wall behind the sofa, hidden from sight.They tell everyone I died and left them the house. She wants to make it true, but my pathetic son hasn’t the stomach for it.She will try one day soon. She imagines I am helpless, but even a wooden spoon can be sharpened to a point.........................................................Thanks as always to https://rochellewisoff.com/  for hosting our weekly jaunt into a flash fiction fantasy world. Follow the link from Rochelle's blog to read scores of other stories, all prompted by Ceayr's photo of a house that doesn't have the dark story I have attributed to it - or maybe it does?

WHEN MATT AND TRACEY WERE MARRIED

WHEN MATT AND TRACEY WERE MARRIED
Matt and Tracey’s wedding was perfect. Her Dad mellowed from ‘Don’t bring that hippie round my house’ to ‘He’s a son-in-law to be proud of’.His mother, who had threatened not to come, was splendid in pink with a huge hat.His brother’s speech managed – just – not to offend Grandma, the cake was delicious, and her sister caught the bouquet.They jetted off to the Maldives in a daze of happiness.
The glow lasted till the third day. The islands were so low in the fabulous azure sea that the only way Matt could get a signal was by climbing a tree............................................................................I wrote today's story in ten minutes, and it came in at exactly 100 words, so I hope it passes muster! Thanks to Rochelle for hosting our group of writers and to Susan Eames for the photograph - I am sure a mobile signal was the last thing on her mind when she took it! Sorry, Susan :(