Unintended Consequences

December 16, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Allegory, End hate, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro-fiction, No More Hate, Pluralism, Protection, Scarecrow, Tolerance 31 Comments

“This is the stuff of nightmares.”

Nina grinned and admired her handiwork. “This is the idea.”

Daniel shuddered. This thing was creepy even in full daylight. He could only imagine how it would appear in twilight or moonlight or through a flashlight’s beam. “Did you have to make it so KKK?”

Nina’s grin slipped and quivered but returned. “Not the intent, but perhaps the effect will nonetheless be meaningful.”

Daniel scratched his afternoon whiskers. Itchy stuff, all that growing up. “How so?”

“A dilapidated, pathetically-desperate-for-a-shower bully racist figure protecting a multi-racial, pluralistic graveyard is perhaps quite apt. Don’t you think?”

Photo prompt: © Sandra Crook

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Winter’s Tread

December 15, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: cold, Creative writing, dVerse, Fireplace, Inglenook, Micro-fiction, Poetry, Quadrille, Untold Stories, Warmth, winter, Writing Challenge 28 Comments

(Photo: Stéphane Juban on Unsplash)

When the cold gripped hard

And pulled life from the sinews

Of the earth,

And when the wind screamed wild

Among the emptied branches

Overhead,

She’d seek the warm embrace

Of the inglenook’s fireplace

And write a book

Of summer’s heat

Inside her

Head.

For the dVerse quadrille poetry challenge: Inglenook

Not Long Now

December 12, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Creative writing, Current events, Facts Matter, Insecurity, It is time, Niggle, Not Okay, Poetry, Politics, Reality, Weekend Writing Prompt 20 Comments

(Photo: Wilhelm Gunkel on Unsplash)

He failed but would not let it go.

He would not let things rest.

He has to prod and press and woe

In niggling senseless tests.

He cannot accept evidence.

He contradicts all fact.

His weakness grows in petulance

Yet haggle seems he must.

A pity he’s so insecure.

His desperate noisome pouts.

Yet reason in most still endures

And his time will soon run out.

For Sammi‘s Weekend Writing Prompt: Niggle in 66 words

Not A Bird

December 10, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Beach, Beach combing, CCC, Discovery, Flash Fiction, friends, Micro-fiction, Mystery, Photo prompt, School assignment, Siblings 13 Comments

ccc109-1 CrispinaKemp

“Hey! At the bottom of the cliff to the right. What do you think this is?”

Lisa adjusted the focus on her binoculars. “Can’t tell. A bit of junk?”

They were supposed to be cataloguing the different bird species they could find along their stretch of beach, but the seagulls were tiresome, and the sandpipers were too fast, and the wind had whipped so much sand around that she would certainly be carrying another pound of it just in her hair. Lisa wanted to go home. She wanted a nice bath, dry clothes, and a hot cup of tea.

“Perhaps a miners’ rail box.” Deena, binoculars glued to her face and hair tucked under a maddeningly practical cap, seemed oblivious to the stinging sand or Lisa’s rumbling stomach.

“Not a bird,” Lisa tried.

“No, but sure is a mystery!” Deena rose and pointed at the narrow trail. “Let’s go investigate!”

For Crispina‘s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Waiting To Travel

December 9, 2020December 9, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Grief, Harbor, Longing, Micro-fiction, Patience, Retirement, travel, Waiting 50 Comments

He left the house each morning as he always had, a bag with his lunch slung over a shoulder.

The harbor was no longer where he had to be, but work never was just an employment. It had been his world. Even more so since Marissa left to roam the realms beyond this world.

To him her current travels were as real as the ships that left for unseen places only to return with goods that others had stacked for his crane to unload.

One day he will sail to where Marissa was.

Till then, he watched each day unfold.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: © Roger Bultot

Windmills

December 5, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Creative writing, Cult, Current events, Facts Matter, Insanity, Petulance, Poetry, Quixotic, Reality check, Tantrums, Weekend Writing Prompt 16 Comments

(Photo: CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash)

So he shouts

At the wind

For blowing

To where he did not

Want it,

And demands

Others swear

There’s no wind

Because he’s so

Quixotic.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Quixotic in 26 words

Sniffers

December 4, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Animals, Anosmia, CCC, disability, Dogs, ENT, Flash Fiction, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, Personification, Siblings, Speech and Language Therapy 10 Comments

img_1924-ccc108 CrispinaKemp

“This won’t do,” Tina sighed. “You have got to sniff better.”

Spinner tried, but there was nothing. Or at least, nothing he could make heads or tails out of. And making tails was the whole idea.

He shrugged and spun around. Perhaps he’ll glean a clue from his surroundings. Perhaps it’ll settle the tension that trying to sniff things often awakened.

Tina groaned. “Mama was right. You will never amount to anything.”

“Hey!” Spinner whined.

Tina lowered her head. That had been below the belt. Still, it was true, and someone had to confront Spinner now that Mama was no longer there to instruct them.

“Look, Spin,” she tried to soften her frustration with a bit of guilt. “It really shouldn’t be so hard. You sure there’s nothing wrong with your sniffer?”

“I think it’s broken,” Spinner whispered, shamefaced. “What kind of a dog can’t tell the smell of poop?”

For Crispina‘s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Note: Anosmia, or the lack/loss of sense of smell, is a real condition that was made famous by the pandemic but is certainly not limited to the current virus. Nor is Anosmia limited to humans. Like humans, dogs can live without a sense of smell, though for many of them it carries a significantly higher ‘sensory price’, because their sense of smell is 10,000 to 100,000 more acute than that of humans.

Evidence Of Hope

December 2, 2020December 2, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Clues, Detective, Evidence, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, hope, Investigation, Micro-fiction, Runaways 58 Comments

“Aha!”

Nate looked at Mr. Banks. The tall man was bending forward, willowy limbs almost touching the pavement, round-rimmed glasses testing gravity.

“Aha, as in what?” Nate asked.

“As in I believe we have a lead.”

Nate felt his eyes fill. False hope was the worst. The desperation with which he clung to the possibility.

“And?”

The detective straightened. He pointed at the photo, then the pavement. “See her ponytail? See this? Her hair tie broke. Runaway or not, she would have tried to get a replacement. The pharmacy across the alley is the closest. They may well have footage.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers