The Way Down

April 26, 2025Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Bridge, Depression, Finding a way, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Intergenerational Trauma, Loss, Micro Fiction, Mist 27 Comments

“The way down is longer way than it seems.”

Mama’s words echoed in her head, soft warnings or an encouragement, she never really knew. Never did ask.

Not even after.

Because she understood.

Every time the fog rolled around.

The wonder. The urge. The pull of the opaque. The damp air on her face, her heart, her bangs.

It was, perhaps, something in their blood that called their soul to enter mist.

And yet.

Torso pressed against the bridge, her city’s pulse drowning all sound,

She did not dare repeat what Mama had done.

Abandon.

Her daughter. Her young son.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Roger Bultot

Rocket Science

April 16, 2025Na'ama Yehuda Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Changes, Communication, Finding a way, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, Science Fiction, Unexpected 52 Comments

“You know how to work it?” Timothy hurriedly stuffed his bag.

“Sure,” Liz shrugged. “Been a while, but not like it is rocket science.”

Timothy paused. An odd joke…but he didn’t have the time to explain anyway. “Just make sure to bring water,” he pressed.

Liz shooed her brother out. He’s been hovering ever since she’s been discharged. As if she’d never lived in a City. Never used a phone. So what if only Before?

A block later, she stood staring. Mystified.

“Water them before you dial,” a passerby offered. “Plants won’t connect your call otherwise. Rocket science, you know.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Sandra Crook

Unbowed

April 13, 2025Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Abuse of power, Defiance, Determination, Finding a way, Poetry, Strength, Tenacity, Trauma, Weekend Writing Prompt 10 Comments

Photo: Khamkéo on Unsplash

She squared her shoulders

To the wind

Words spinning past

Her ears,

And stuck her chin

Out

To the freeze,

Refusing to

Bow

Or flinch.

“So fierce,” he chuckled,

Unamused.

Survivor, she thought,

Of your abuse.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Fierce in 36 words

The Math

September 29, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Adversity, Calculate, Current events, Endurance, Finding a way, Hard times, Math, MicroFiction, One step at a time, Tenacity, Weekend Writing Prompt 11 Comments

(Photo: Crissy Jarvis on Unsplash)

It was all about the math, he knew.

The breaths, the bites and chews and swallows, the number of small steps one takes, the flickers of their eyelids.

The sum of heartbeats.

It all seemed endless, but

He only had to endure one breath at a time.

A step after the other.

A blink. Each flutter against his ribs.

He dared not calculate, but still he knew it added up.

To when the awfulness will pass,

And life came back.

For the Weekend Writing Prompt of Calculate in 80 words

Boxed In

September 25, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Beach, Finding a way, Friday Fictioneers, Historical fiction, Inequality, Seaside, Stubborn, Things Kids Say, Women's rights 28 Comments

It took all afternoon, but she managed to not be discovered.

Rose had said that it could not be done. It only made Marina more determined.

“It isn’t proper,” Rose had said.

Well, what wasn’t proper was that lads went. Why would the lassies not?

She was supposed to be at the hotel’s library, peering daintily through lace windows at the expanse of sea.

Instead, she hid in the tiny cabin, inching it toward the water, hoping for tide’s help.

At last her bare toes touched a tongue of foam. It was worth the lashing she’d get once back home.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: Sandra Cook

Space Saver

January 19, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Creative solutions, Finding a way, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Laundry, Micro-fiction, Sisters, Space saving 55 Comments

small-load NaamaYehuda

“It won’t fit.”

Sandra looked up from kneading. Mollie’s face was red with exertion.

“What won’t?” she asked, resuming the stretch-fold-stretch-fold rhythm. Working dough relaxed her. The knowledge that each pull and press moved energy from her muscles into what would later feed them. The cycle of it.

“The laundry. Nothing fits.”

“That’s odd,” Sandra noted. “I washed linens in it just the other day.”

“But nothing fits!” Mollie’s voice shook. “Not a sock!”

Sandra paused. She forgot how easily her sister got flustered even by simple things.

“It’s a Space-Savor model,” she offered. “Have you tried shrinking the items first?”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: © Na’ama Yehuda

Hanging In

October 4, 2022Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Adversity, Creative writing, dVerse, Finding a way, Hanging on, hope, Life paths, Poetry, Quadrille, Unknown 18 Comments

(Photo: Ray Fragapane on Unsplash)

They didn’t know then

Or still

What track life will

Bring.

Yet they hold on,

By bootstraps

Hoping

For just enough breath with which to

Sing,

To the sun

That would rise,

To the hope

That would

Cling.

Till dawn will

Another story

String.

For dVerse Quadrille Poetry challenge

No Time For That

July 29, 2022Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Breathing Space, CCC, Finding a way, Pacing, Photo prompt, Poetry, Reflection, self-care, Slowing down, time 16 Comments

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There was never enough time.

For that.

No time for the things that mattered but were not deemed essential.

No time for the space that was given no paths to traverse.

None for the slow breath that could have allowed a pause

In the constant

Race.

Because there was never time.

For that.

Too much buzzed already

From the break of dawn to the collapse of night.

No time for

Time.

And so, she stopped it.

Stopped time.

She let the hands rest.

Let the heart expand inside the fluttering confines of the

Chest.

She let the breeze

Set

The pace.

The leaves, believe.

The ground stretch long and wide beneath

The feet.

The skies expand across

The dawn.

To let

The space that had

Held on,

To finally

Allow itself to be

Redrawn.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Nana’s Will

June 29, 2022Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Finding a way, Friday Fictioneers, Nursery, Photo prompt, Rebuilding, Resilience, Resourcefulness, Starting over, Tenacity 41 Comments

floral-truck

“So how exactly will this work?” Maria scanned the detritus left by the fire. Remains of a lifetime of work and investment. Gone. Shards and a handful of charred pots. Is all.

“We start from seed, as it were,” Steve pressed. “We get Dad’s old truck out of the garage. Use it as a wheeled nursery.”

Maria sighed. It could work, but was she even up to it? Where there’s a will there’s a way, Nana had always said, and it matters most where there’s little will with which to find a way.

“A willed nursery…” Maria nodded. “Nana’s way!”

For Friday Fictioneers

Inside Job

March 17, 2022Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Adversity, Encourage, Finding a way, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Make the most of it, Making do, Micro-fiction, Survival 25 Comments

gate-photo-promt-unknown-submission

“It doesn’t matter what it looks like on the outside …”

“Yea,” Elianna intoned, “it’s what on the inside that matters.”

“Exactly,” Jennifer winked. To be easily discouraged was a privilege of the young. Something time cured. Or tanned into tough old leather. She chuckled.

“What?” Elianna sounded wounded.

“I was laughing at myself, Eli.” Jennifer tested the length of her chains. Sink to bed to door. “We can do not a thing about that horrid gate or those who guard it, but let’s put some elbow grease into this door and make our inside view a good deal better.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers