“You must rock them or they’ll never hatch.”
Emilio sighed. His arms ached. This wasn’t what he had in mind when he’d traded a cushy private school spot for an ATM position.
Early mornings, late-night assignments, mediocre food, bedbugs. A ton of work, literally. Zero glamor.
He’d quit but this would give his parents the last laugh.
“Apprentice-To-Magi?” they’d chortled when he told them he’d signed on. “Muddy misery and miserly masters. You wouldn’t last a week!”
He grit his teeth, planted his feet, and rocked, singing under his breath, as he’d been instructed: “Rock-a-bye-rocks, in a crib box …”
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Photo by the lovely Dale Rogerson
Na'ama Yehuda 
A challenge, prove your parents are wrong. Will he make it?
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Who knows … though I DO wonder what hatches outta them rocks. Dragons, mayhap?
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Sounds like he’s being hazed
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Or … this is how rock eggs need to be handled in order for them to hatch into … say, dragons or griffins or … 😉
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Oh, mysterious. What waits to hatch? He needs to stick it out and see! Magical tale. I love it!
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It is a little tricky to know with rocks, but I am fairly sure that the Magi knows what will hatch from these specific ones. Will he tell his budding (and slightly disillusioned) helper? Who knows … Perhaps he will, perhaps he’ll let them have the joy of discovery when the rock rocking time is done … 😉
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A guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do! Sometimes the way to the top is more mountainous than others… Rock away, young man…
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Indeed! Sometimes it takes a bunch of elbow grease to get traction (and I just cracked myself up with this image of contradicting metaphors…). 😀 Rock on! (Loved the photo, by the way!) xx
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That it does! (You are a funny bunny!) and roll… Glad you loved xoxo
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Sometimes words are (almost) too much fun! 🙂 And, anyway, I gotta live up to the NYNF thing, eh? 😉
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Most times!! That you do, that you do 💞
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😀 your NYNF
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I think he’s in for a tough time
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Me think you is right! … (and, I suspect, the Magi knows that the mettle of a good Magi needs testing, for there are oft less-than-delightful tasks to be done, and one must be ready to do both gloom and glamor. 🙂
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Yeah, it’s a test for him.
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As is life, in general, sometimes, me think …
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Very right.
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When they hatch he’ll be busy raising all their little stones!
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Indeed, Stonettes and Rockettes can be notoriously diva’ish… 😀
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After reading your story, these totally look like rock eggs, and the metal cage around them seem fitting for holding these and I can imagine these fecund little boulders might have tinytooths (baby dragons)
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right??? This was my first association to the photo, so this is where I went. Little dragonlings or little griffins or who knows … but SOMETHING is gonna hatch from them rocks (well, if they are rocked… 😉 )
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yes – and it might not just be the rocking – it is the energy and warmth from the hands – hahaha
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Maybe, and the sound of his voice, for he was instructed to sing to them, and the vibrations from his voice may well help the nascent beings learn human language AND get into rhythm with life and breath. 🙂
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oh wow- of course the singing is needed – and i am glad you included that – and how it is more than just to learn the language – but helps them get into the “rhythm with life and breath” and the Hatchlings manual noted that the eggs that were rocked without singing just did not have the same growth spurts and had lower immunity in the early days- so not to forget the singing – hahah
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Exactly! You got it. It is bad enough to have Wonky Cross-eyed Hatchlings when the person who rocks sings off tune. It takes a whole month of Baby Motzart to correct THAT! But a hatchling that was not sang to at all??? Oy, the horror! 😉
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haaaaah = laughing pretty good with the singing “off tune” and it can lead to cross eyed hatchlings – lol – but as you note – better than no singing at all ….
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Singing matters! 😀 (this is fun! …)
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yes – enjoyed our bit of story extension – with such a great starter 100 words –
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😀 spinning yarns ends up making sweaters … 😉
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hahah
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🙂
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Oh! I can’t wait to see what hatches, because I know for sure he’s not wasting his time. His parents will be disappointed in THEMSELVES for doubting him.
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Exactly, Alicia! He who rocks the rocks has the last word! 😀
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Sounds like a promotion he might just wish he never got!
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Ha! That, too. Or, a demotion, if you ask his parents … But, I think he’s gonna stick it out and make his own path!
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Na’ama Y’karah,
I guess he made his choice. Time to roll with the rocks I guess. 😉 Imanginative story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Time to rock-n-roll indeed! 😉
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Love this story, so creative! Well done!
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Thank you! The rocks made me do it! 🙂
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lol!
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😀 Rock on!
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ATM? I wondered what the heck that had to do with anything and then when you revealed it I sank back into the joy of the story! I’m not an ATM myself, but I do want to know what happens when those eggs hatch. I thought this was a really creative take on the prompt.
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Glad you liked it! And … I did have a bit of fun with the ATM thing … which of course has a different immediate connotation to me, but here we are, it also means Apprentice To Magi … 😀 – and, yea, we’re all waiting with much anticipation to see what them hatchlings are gonna be like!
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