Cheryl Burman's Blog: Blog posts for readers and writers, page 26

Flag Louring Yesterday: use these three words

We buried him yesterday under a louring sky, the vicar saying the service over his coffin as we lowered him into the earth.

The tears were because we will miss his humour, his energy, his sense of fun. His silly hats. Mostly, we’ll miss his exaggerated tales of his war, the adventures told with comedy which made us laugh. He loved to talk about it, all his long life. How he was dropped into enemy lines in France and – according to him – he pretty much won the war single-handed, through a ser...

Girl in road with globe: picture prompt

Lulu held the open map on her lap, studying it carefully although by now she could have drawn it in her sleep. Come the day she would sleep. It illustrated to possible lifts that she was a serious traveller. The small white suitcase gave those same possible lifts the reassurance she was no vagabond. They had no need to know it was empty. Lulu had no need to wash or change her clothes.

Lulu also wanted to make extremely clear her destination. Hence the globe which sat on the case, visible fro...

The boy squinted at the house

The boy squinted at the house. Tall, built of weathered stone with ancient stone windows filled with puckered glass. Four wide steps led to a heavy front door with a great brass knocker which caught the moonlight filtering through the surrounding trees. Little windows dotted  the long grey roof. He narrowed his eyes further. It was hard to tell in the shadows, but it seemed these windows had bars, giving him the impression of a row of large bird cages.

‘Here’s your case.’ The lady who had br...

Sand castle in giant hand: pic prompt

The sand castle took him all day to build. Other kids splashed in the shallows, dived beneath the waves, dug holes in the sand and buried their siblings up to their necks. Joshua ignored them, his concentration fierce.

His mum interrupted twice. Once to lather him with more SPF50, the second time to encourage him to eat something. Josh resented both. He wasn’t hungry. From time to time he drank from his warm water bottle, which seemed to satisfy his mother.

‘I have to get it done today,’...

The Goodbye Kids Debbie Iancu-Haddad

Moral dilemmas abound

Jorden can never measure up to his Earther leader father’s high standards. He’s pretty much given up. Until a bold Earther plan gives him the chance to save planet Earth and finally match his mother’s heroic sacrifice in the cause. He’s likely to die, but that’s what being a hero is about. What he didn’t figure on, is falling in love.

Haley lives on a space station watching travellers arrive and depart again for New Horizons – a new world financed by The Conglomerate...

It might be for the best

‘I hate that saying.’ Maddie crossed her arms and glared at her mother. ‘It might be for the best,’ she mimicked.

‘Well, it might be,’ her mother retorted. ‘You’re only 17 for goodness sake. You have your whole life in front of you.’

Maddie rolled her 17 year old eyes. ‘I’m nearly an ADULT, Mum! I have to start living my life on my own terms.’

‘Mother knows best.’ Her mother kept her tart tone, as if the certainty of the saying would convince Maddie in itself

‘Not in this case, you don’t.’...

Lazy Alone Different: use these three words

Freddy hated being different. It was bad enough having the only white skin among them all – skin which actually gleamed with a pale luminescence to make sure he was really seen – but his long nose, too, was unlike anyone else’s. His hair was blue, straight, falling in curls – curls! – to his hips. He wished it was brown like the others, and not so, well, pretty!

He supposed he could try and find someone to help him do something about it, although what they could do, he had no idea. Besides, while...

She wishes she had waited

‘A new future,’ he told her. ‘Together forever.’ He laid a gentle hand on her stomach. ‘The three of us.’

It was more than she hoped for, more than she expected. A husband, a child, a new start in a new land. A past gladly left behind.

‘We catch the dawn ferry,’ he said.

She packs a small bag. ‘We’ll buy everything we need when we reach our new home,’ he said. She slips from the house in the pre-dawn shadows, keeping to the lawn so her sandaled feet make no noise on the gravelled drive. Her he...

London road picture prompt

A rainy London day and the taxis are busy, not one to spare for him. He doesn’t care. The weather suits his mood. Cold, gloom-laden. At 4.30, it’s the butt end of the work day for most. Normally he’d have several hours to go.

Not tonight. Tonight his back is to the City. His step is determined as he walks away, gaze firmly forward.

Let go, that is, fired. Not competitive enough. Not bringing the money in. No ‘fire in his belly’.

A £500k mortgage. Two kids at private school. Pony lessons,...

My world is halved

‘These damn citizens.’ I pause in filling the amphora with the newly pressed olive oil, holding the pouring jug in one hand, keeping the amphora still with two, and wiping my sweating forehead with my fourth.

‘What now, mother-in-law?’ Helen pauses too, her hands floury from kneading bread dough. One of her faces glances at me, while the other concentrates on the bread.

‘I know we elected them, but they have no more sense than goats,’ I say. I upend the jug and shake out the last drops of the gold...