Bedtime for Luna

September 5, 2018September 5, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, children, Difficult times, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, hardship, Micro-fiction, Separation, Short Story, Waiting 20 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © Gah Learner

“So, remember,” her hand on the door’s handle. “Bedtime at 9, only one treat, brush your teeth.”

“And no opening the door for anyone,” he intoned.

At least it got him a smile. There weren’t many of them of late.

She tucked an errant lock of hair behind an ear and suddenly he couldn’t stand it.

“When will you be back?” He knew. He had to ask.

She glanced at the window. The court-order weighed heavy on her mind.

“When Luna goes to bed behind the mountain, I’ll be home.”

For the last time.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

As The Crow Flies

September 1, 2018September 2, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Challenges, Flash Fiction, Frozen, Inheritance, Mackinac Island, Micro-fiction, Obstacles, Short Story, Thaw, Timing is everything 26 Comments

Mackinac Island; http://www.cityofmi.org/

“Thar she is,” the captain pointed.

She stared at the lighthouse across a desert of stacked ice shards and patches of wet cold.

“How far are we?”

The grizzled man lifted a hand against the horizon as if measuring. “Ah, ’bout a mile, as the crow flies.”

Might as well be ten thousand, she thought. Years, too.

He’d left the engines idling but refused to get her any closer. Would not lend her a kayak, either. “Too chocked up,” he’d said.

She reiterated her urgency but still he would not be swayed.

“She’d give up her ice soon,” he nodded at the lake. His attempt at kindness.

Soon would be too late. She swallowed bitterness. The estate was scheduled to be liquidated the next morning. Without photo proof of her early childhood scrawls in the lighthouse’s attic, she’d lose the inheritance. Illegitimate in a whole new way.

For What Pegman Saw

All There Is

August 30, 2018August 30, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 3LineTales, Acceptance, Determination, education, Flash Fiction, Knowledge is Power, library, Micro-fiction, Short Story 8 Comments

Photo: Davide Cantelli via Unsplash

She would learn everything about it, she promised herself, and details will no longer catch her unaware. The books soldiered on, and she with them. By closing-time she was educated and heartbroken: She knew what it was. She knew it was incurable.

For Three Line Tales, week 135

Gramma’s Right

August 29, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, All is possible, children, Fantasy, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Mirror, Short Story, Unexpected 29 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © Nathan Sowers

“You can come with me,” she insisted.

“Mazie,” I sighed. “You’re old enough to know not to take Gramma’s stories literally.”

The seven-year-old shrugged, and the new pixie cut she’d insisted on and which took away the curls I so adored, glinted in the light.

She glanced at the dilapidated building, then at me. Her face was inscrutable. Was she hesitant or exasperated? Perhaps both?

The moment stretched.

“Gramma’s right,” she sputtered. “You’re too stubborn for your own good.”

And she stepped through the mirror, onto grass, and disappeared into the shack.

For Friday Fictioneers: August 31 2018

Haphazard Town

August 11, 2018August 11, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Reflections, Writing Tags: Briefly, Flash Fiction, Just for fun, Lost and Found, New York City, Planning, Poetry, Prompt, Tourists, Weekend Writing, Writing 4 Comments

Photo: Smadar Halperin-Epshtein

One does not need a plan

To get lost

In this new town

She thought

Right before

She did.

For The Weekend Writing Prompt: Haphazard

Dedicated to my friend F.C. who at least had the wherewithal to call the local cavalry …

Green Machine

August 10, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, health, Junkfood, Just for fun, Resolutions, Siblings, Surprise, Wheatgrass 24 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio

“Bah,” they taunted. “Your resolutions never last.”

She stewed.

When her twin brothers showed up for their monthly siblings’-dinner, muscles and righteous bravado rippling under too-tight shirts, she knew what they were expecting: Frozen pizza or boxed mac-and-cheese. The usual Candace-can’t-cook stuff.

They sprawled on her couch and let her putter in the kitchen.

“When’s the pizza ready, Sis?” Brian called. “We’re starving.”

She smirked. He and Bobby lectured her alright, but she knew they secretly looked forward to their junkfood fix.

“Oh, no pizza,” she brought out the shot glasses. “Wheatgrass!”

For Friday Fictioneers, August 10, 2018

Rawson Rise

August 4, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Canada, Cancer, caregiving, Flash Fiction, Grief, healing, hope, Illness, Nature, Respite, Short Story, WhatPegmanSaw 30 Comments

Rawson Lake; photo: Jack Ng

It was their last day by the lake. The weather was perfect and the air was so crisp it squeaked. She inhaled deeply, savoring every moment. By that time tomorrow she’d be stuck in rush-hour traffic.

“See?” he pointed. “Even wood can’t keep its head above water at some point.”

She snuck a hand into his and squeezed. She wished she could give him sips of this place during what was to come. She wished she could tell him this round wouldn’t be as difficult as the ones before. That this one would work. She didn’t know if to hope or fear it being the last. It shattered her that she no longer knew what he hoped for.

She gathered the light around her, kissed his baldness, and rose to stand.

“For now, my love, let’s float.”

For What Pegman Saw: Rawson Lake Canada

Not All Is Lost

August 3, 2018Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, compassion, Creative, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Home, Homelessness, Nesting, Practical solutions, Safety, Short Story 19 Comments

They were always getting blown out of their homes. She couldn’t stand it. She knew how it felt to be homeless, especially for a youngling. And she’d seen the devastation of parents who’d returned to find some force had swept their babies off to unknown and worse places. She knew about being lost.

She was going to stop it.

At least for them.

Surely if she built it, they will come.

She kept checking and almost despaired, but one morning … there they were.

“Welcome home,” she whispered to the first eggs laid.

For Friday Fictioneers, August 3, 2018