Mostly Between

August 24, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Job, Making it work, Meditation, Micro Fiction, Photo prompt, Relationships, Responsibility 14 Comments

“I gotta go,” Ari stuffed a sandwich into her mouth with one hand and a sweater into her bag with the other.

“Wait!” Ella’s eyes remained on her phone’s screen.

“Can’t.” Ari grabbed the keys. “I’ll be late for work.”

She left before Ella said another word, or at least, without hearing it.

They needed her job. Ella, per usual, was “between jobs.”

And I’m mostly between heaven and earth, Ari chuckled. She got into the car, shifted gears, and took a deep breath. Meditation was a crucial part of acrobatics. Even if it was not Cirque, but only shark-diving.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

His Claim

August 20, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Bias, Blind spot, Current events, Hypocrisy, Impartiality, Micro Fiction, Poetry, Reality check, Weekend Writing Prompt 9 Comments

(Photo: Stefan Spassov on Unsplash)

His claim was

Impartiality.

In practice he exhibited bias

So pervasive

As to blind him.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt of: impartiality in 15 words

The Ride Home

August 16, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, adoption, Childhood Adversity, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Home, journey, Micro Fiction, Photo prompt, Revisiting 26 Comments

(Photo prompt: Brenda Cox)

She saw the red bus nearing. Her eyes stung. Must be the jet-lag and little sleep. Home seemed far. Unreal, almost.

Or was this home?

She pressed her bag against the fullness in her chest.

This question was part of what she’d come all this way to explore.

The crush of people carried her onto the vehicle. Up the staircase. To the top.

She leaned into the seat and let the sounds of a language she’d forgotten wash through her. Awakening belonging. Remembering despair.

She’d been four when her adoptive parents came.

One day she belonged here. The next, nowhere.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

All Better Soon

August 12, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: All better, Chicken soup, Making do, Panacea, Practical solutions, Remedy, Sickness, Weekend Writing Prompt 18 Comments

(Photo: Uwe Conrad on Unsplash)

She cried into the onions, peeled the taters, chopped the carrots, minced the garlic, seared the chicken bits.

Around her a cacophony of coughs.

A prodigious sneeze.

She wiped. She washed her hands. She stirred.

The panacea simmered.

There’s nothing chicken soup won’t fix.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt of: Panacea in 44 words

Uncle Ronnie’s Cabin

August 12, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Abandomnent, Adversity, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Log Cabin, Making do, Micro Fiction, Things Kids Say, Uncle 30 Comments

Mama said it would be “an adventure.”

Lizette knew this meant no argument. No whining. Mama needed “Mama Time”.

“Just the weekend,” Mama said.

Lizette knew this meant at least a week. Till Mama grew tired of her new Beau. Or the Beau grew tired of Mama.

Did Uncle Ronnie know Mama’s language? Will he care?

It was dark when they arrived. Light flickered in the cabin’s window.

Mama let her out. Told her to knock. Drove away as the door opened.

Lizette shuddered. Entered. Gasped. Sighed.

The chandelier tree. The moose. Her uncle’s smile.

She could stay a while.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Alicia Jamtaas

The String

July 30, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Body Language, Creative writing, Flutter, hope, Micro Fiction, Nervous, Uncertainty, Weekend Writing Prompt 10 Comments

(Photo: Tom Pumford on Unsplash)

Her fingertips betrayed her. Flitting over the edge of her shirt. Spinning the loose string that twirled and fluttered in loops of tightening and release.

He might come. He might not.

Her quiet hope.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt of: Flutter in 34 words

Albatross

July 16, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Dejected, Difficult times, Dreams, Flash Fiction, Growing up, Historical fiction, Micro Fiction, Missing out, Weekend Writing Prompt 2 Comments

(Photo: Duncan Kidd on Unsplash)

They were all of them going to the fair. But her.

She had to stay home. Tend the fire. Knead the dough. Rock the cradle.

She still recalled her dreams of growing up. The independence.

The folly.

She went from burdened by her folks, to burdened by her husband.

The dream now an albatross.

A wail rose from the other room. The baby.

Could have been her own dejected cry.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt of: Dejected in 70 words

A Dress To Impress

July 15, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, Party, Photo Fiction, Self sufficiency, Sewing, Siblings, Twins 21 Comments

“I’m not going!”

There it was. Mira’s famous pout.

Dahlia sighed. “Stay home, then.”

“And leave me all alone? You always think only of yourself!”

Get a mirror, Dahlia turned to the door. No use arguing when her twin was in a mood. “Party is next week, and I’m going. You do you. Now, I’m off to Fab Fabrics.”

Mira sniffled. “I don’t need another quilt.”

“I know,” Dahlia smiled. “This one’s for me.”

“You already have a quilt, no fair you’ll have more than I!”

Dahlia smirked. “Actually, it’s for the party. Gonna make me a dress to impress.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Amenities

July 8, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Amenities, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Honeymoon, Making it work, Micro Fiction, Photo Fiction, Relationships 42 Comments

“Told you there’d be amenities!” Bob beamed.

Raquel looked around the campsite. Mud. Mess. And Misery. She bit her tongue. Only herself to blame. She should have known.

“When something is too good to be true, it is too good to be true,” her Ma always said. And of course, her Ma was (always) right.

Ma also told her that Bob was bad news, a bunch of trouble, and would never amount to anything.

True on all three counts.

She took a deep breath. She made her bed, and she was gonna lie in it. Even in a tent.

For Friday Fictioneers

Peas In A Pod

July 1, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Announcement, FlashFiction, Friday Fictioneers, Home, Just for fun, Micro Fiction, Photo Fiction, Siblings, Things Kids Say 19 Comments

She stormed in and stood, panting, hands on knees.

“What is it, girl!” Penny jumped, spilling some tea. A chain of horrible scenarios tumbled through her brain.

“She’s excited, not scared,” Margo barely lifted her eyes from the book she was destroying.

Clara nodded. Still unable to speak.

“I. Found. It!” she finally managed.

“Found what?” Penny snapped, then bit down her irritation. It was tiring, being the elder. The responsible one. The level-headed, boring, taskmaster sibling.

“Our perfect future homes!” Clara announced. “We can live next to each other, strung along the avenue like peas in a pod.”

For Friday Fictioneers