“What are you staring at?”
Tallulah did not move.
“Earth to Tallulah!” Maritza hissed. This professor had antennae in the back of his head, and she did not wish to flunk. Again. Also, if Tallulah had the audacity to skip class, and for vacation, no less, the least she could do is entertain her bored-to-death friend.
“It’s endless,” Tallulah whispered. Her eyes appeared locked onto the cafe’s table.
Maritza shuddered. “What exactly did you order?” Tallulah was so maddeningly naive that who knows what ‘house special’ she might agree to try.
“The universe,” Tallulah breathed. “The lights in the deep.”
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Photo prompt: © Fleur Lind
Na'ama Yehuda 
What an inventive use of the prompt. I loved this
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😀 Thanks, Neil!
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Brilliantly written AND I LOVE the name Tallulah! I named my service dog Tallulah 🥰. It means “leaping water”. I have a cool post on my blog about why I named her that with an incredible story about how she came to be. Back to your story though, I love the breathlessness of this and the descriptive writing. 💪
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Thank you! I have a friend who’s parrot is called Tallulah! 🙂 I will read the post you mentioned later, how fun!
Glad you liked the story. 🙂 Isn’t that photo prompt evocative? I love how images can take us different places.
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Yes I love that pictures can take our mind places!
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And words, of course, too. Human minds are amazing. 🙂
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Absolutely! And I really love that your friend named her parrot Tallulah because it’s a super cool name
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😀
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Also if you didn’t know this already, Tallulah gorge is an actual place in North Georgia. It has a whopping 1000+ steps straight down (and straight up) into a gorge that features 5 spectacular waterfalls. I’ve hiked it TWICE. Tallulah is also an Indian name and the reason why they named the gorge “Leaping water” is because they sent their best warriors to cross it but the water lept up and took their lives. If you’ve never seen the falls, 100% look it up on google! It’s an amazing place with a swinging rope bridge that’s terrifying 🤪
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OOOOOOOOOh! I think I’d heard of it but not much more. Thank you for the information! Living in a walkup building, I can manage steps (didn’t QUITE try 1000, but a very long time ago I lived in a fourth floor apartment at a building at the top of the hill accessible by 100 steps just to reach the building … So … who knows, eh? 😉 I will look it up now! Swinging bridge, eh? hmmm … I’m intrigued … 😀
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Yes!! It’s STUNNING. It’s especially beautiful in autumn and less heat makes it easier to climb (which I highly recommend). I once saw a woman pass out and hit her head on the metal steps, they had to life-flight her to a hospital. It’s not for the faint of heart
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Hm … hitting my head on the railing and being airlifted is not part of MY plan. So, I’ll just have to climb it the regular way … 😉
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There is no other way to get down to the falls 🤪. It’s just smarter to go when it’s not as hot. The steps will humble you no matter how fit you think you are 😬.
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oh, I’m humble to begin with … My little body is good at keeping me in check … 😉 I don’t know if I CAN do this, but I sure know I WANNA do this. 🙂
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You 100% should! I highly recommend it. It’s an amazing place and you’ll find so much reward in tackling the steps. 💪
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Jello legs guaranteed, it seems … 😀 My sister just climbed up the mountains in Peru to Machu Picchu and other amazing places (and did it in altitudes that would have my heart go hide in my knees) … So ambition is apparently familial. Stubbornness, too … 😉 I’ll most certainly check out the possibilities of Tallulah Gorge! (bucket list it is).
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Ohhhh that sounds AMAZING! I’d have to work up to that LOL. Tallulah Gorge is available 100%. Especially if it’s not 91 degrees out. North Georgia in general is amazing and if you haven’t been up this way… I have a whole list of incredible places you could hit if you decide to vacation in the fall.
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😀 Thanks! May well take you up on it when opportunities firm up!
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It’s not 1000 steps both ways. it’s 1000 steps down and 1000 steps straight up.
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Yep, I figured that if you go down them steps, you gonna then go up them steps … 😉
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Perhaps those photos might inspire your next tale 🥰🤗
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So glad you like the photo prompt. I have emailed the manager of the pub to tell him of all the stories being written about that table!
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LOL! That’s fab!
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I probably should not have read this fabulous piece (having not written mine and not wanting to be influenced – though still unure if I even will!). I love this.
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I’m glad you did read it AND I totally can relate to (normally) not reading others’ pieces before I wrote mine. Still … I’m always always ALWAYS glad when you read my stuff, no matter when. 🙂 Delighted you liked!
I was thinking of the recent release of the images from goodness-where-and-when galaxies and … well … the rest just pulled me into the void … 😉
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Yes, I know you don’t (normally) read others’ before you write. And I try to always read your stuff 😉
Yes. When I looked at the FF pic I thought of getting lost in there, too… so now I have to think. Or not. 😉
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Hmmm…. ya know, I don’t have a monopoly on losing oneself in the void … 😉 Just saying …
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Hahaha! No, I know. But I did participate three weeks in a row… whoa!
And I wrote something else earlier and you know me, I don’t usually do two posts in the same day 😉
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Well, I like you just the way you are, so … you do you! 🙂
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So… I had half an hour to kill and wrote me a FF!! Now, I just have to do my linky links and post… living on the edge, Na’ama!
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You wild woman, you! 🙂
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I know, right?
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😀 It takes one to know one … (humbly signed, your NYNF)
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Of course! 😉
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🙂
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She’s seeing a lot in that glass, but now that you mention it and I look at the picture again… Well done!
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Thanks, Iain! I don’t think she was looking at the glass … but I think perhaps what was IN that glass might have impacted her universal perception … 😉 And, I admit that the recent NASA releases of those images from gabizillion years and fabizillion light years away (whatever THOSE mean) also played into this piece …
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They were incredible images 🙂
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Incredible is a good word for it. I certainly felt incredulous as well as amazed, gobsmacked, confused, in awe, and … well … confounded … These are numbers and concepts beyond my comprehension … 😀
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I like it, the universe and your take on the prompt, but I do not have the right words for either
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I hear ya!
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Sounds like a good trip.
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I sure hope so!!! Whatever fuels it … 😉
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I like where the picture took you, delightfully different.
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Thanks, Keith! Especially from the ‘delightfully different pro’!
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The professor with the antennae at the back of his head might like the idea of Tallulah going philosophical even when skipping class. And thank you for making me unsee what Dale made me see.
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yes, I think the professor may approve, sort of … And LOL! I know, I cannot unsee it yet … Thanks to Dale … LOL
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The mood in this piece is amazing. You’ve said a great deal in so few words.
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Thank you, Linda! It is a pretty strange photo, isn’t it? 🙂 I’m glad that the mood was communicated! 🙂
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I’ve given an explanation of the photo at the bottom of my story, Getting a Sign…that should explain the weirdness lol
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🙂 On my way!!!! 🙂
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you did it again. it’s amazing what you can write in 100 words. well done.
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Thank you! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed it! That photo could go so many ways!!!!
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Well done, Na’ama. I can see this conversation taking place. Wonderful take.
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Yay, Bill! Glad it felt ‘real’! 🙂
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🙂
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🙂
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She has indeed gone into the void! I wonder what will arrive…
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Ha! who knows! 🙂
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Very interesting take on this prompt!
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Thank you! (Martha or Fleur? Which you prefer? I’m not sure from the blog and wanna get it right) It was a very interesting photo! 🙂
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