Urban Sprawl

April 13, 2025Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Growth, hope, Micro Fiction, New Beginnings, Photo prompt, Plant Life 20 Comments

Photo prompt © Nancy Richy

The day the sun returned, the roots found joy.

It’s been an endless dreary time, asleep under the solitary plant light in the basement, curled in, unwilling to release new leaf into confinement.

Then came the roiling movement, the rumbling monster that made Earth wobble under ground. A quaking that woke ancient worries, but also a forgotten hope.

For new space can manifest after the earth moves.

New like this sill. This glorious comfy ledge. This daily warm caress.

The tendrils leapt, crept, grown. They found a mirror – of themselves – reflected in the glass.

A happy urban sprawl.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Encircled

October 30, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Adversity, Domestic Violence, Dysfunctional families, Finding peace, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, Seeking safety, Stop abuse 61 Comments

She set the biggest log in the center, then added odds and ends of driftwood to encircle it. The seagulls kept watch. Perhaps accusatory of her use of feathers.

“I’m sorry if it is one of your cousins,” she said.

A gull called. Her apology accepted?

She sat herself amidst the constellation, snuggled closer to the angel log, and drew her knees up to her chest.

“Sometimes a woman needs a circle of protection,” grandmother once said, a black eye contradicting or warning against errant timing.

“I am encircled,” she breathed into her knees. Her swollen eye throbbed.

***

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: Lisa Fox

Guest Tested

September 18, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, Newcomers, Nothing is Impossible, Radiant, Testing, Visitor 34 Comments

“They only glow when Marm’s here,” Eloise pointed.

I tried to not show my confusion. Being a first-time visitor to Castle Trent was a steep learning curve, but I was not going to risk being thrown out as an impostor.

“Best not upset her, though,” Eloise added, reaching for the pitcher and pouring what appeared like air into an empty iridescent glass.

She offered it to me and I tipped the vacant vessel toward my mouth.

Tasted cordial.

“A natural,” a voice boomed and a woman manifested, transparent as gauze.

“Apparently!” Eloise smiled, “I admit I wondered. Tammy, meet Marm.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Lisa Fox

Dismissed

September 11, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Leaving, Left behind, Micro Fiction, Moving on, Now what, Photo Fiction 29 Comments

“All done?” Miriam poked her head into the room.

Jeremiah nodded, thumbs digging into the small of his back.

“And right on time, too!” Miriam’s pointed at the window. “Dad’s here with the van.”

“I’m off, then,” Jeremiah stated. He did his part. It was bad enough seeing his whole life folded into boxes. He didn’t need to see it all taken away.

He brushed the hair off his sweaty forehead and turned to leave.

“Forgot your phone!” Miriam exclaimed.

Jeremiah shook his head. “It’s part of this. And …” he breathed, “I won’t need it where I’m going.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictoneers

Photo prompt: David Stewart

Points of Light

June 13, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Adversity, Difficult times, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, hope, Labor, Micro Fiction, Rescue, Waiting 21 Comments

“They will not come.”

Mara stilled her neck from shaking. Gabrielle did not need confirmation as much as she needed hope. “Oh, but they will,” she soothed.

Gabrielle shifted and sighed in half voice, half moan.

“Are they coming more frequently now?” Mara inquired then laughed at the teen’s raised eyebrow. “The contractions, I mean. Not the others.”

“They can all come once and done,” Gabrielle sputtered between clenched teeth.

Mara chuckled but her eyes searched the darkness. Gabrielle’s stamina would not last long.

A light wavered in the distance. Became three points. Mara exhaled. Finally, the sign of hope.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Lisa Fox

Outcircled

May 22, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Bullying, Culinary school, Defiance, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Getting through, Micro Fiction, Outside the box 35 Comments

“This will not do!”

Rosie dipped her chin in acquiescence, but her hands twitched atop the rolling pin. Master Chef, as they were told to call him, was no ‘Master’ of hers, not to mention a mediocre chef and worse instructor.

You need to pass this course, she breathed compliance into her arms. “P&D” (“Pastries & Desserts” in the syllabus, “Posh & Dumb” among students) was mandatory. As was the instructor, whose Pops padded the Culinary College’s coffers.

“You will keep to the circles,” he decreed before moving to the next student.

Not to any circles you’re in, Rosie vowed.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Patience

May 18, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Family, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Historical fiction, light, Micro Fiction, Patience, saying goodbye, Things Kids Say, Waiting 21 Comments

“How long will you be away?”

Pa patted Patience’s head. A rare affection from someone whose love was measured in ensuring there was grain and cloth and warmth enough for the lot of them.

“As long as the Lord deems right,” Pa responded.

“Hopefully the Lord deems it right quickly,” Patience blurted, bracing for reprimand. Children ought not question God’s plan.

“Amen if so,” Pa murmured, surprising her. He shouldered his rucksack, touched her head again. “You are the eldest. Help Ma and tend your siblings. And,” he added, “keep the tower lit, may its light lead me back home.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: Dale Rogerson

His Royalness

May 1, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, confusion, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, New job, Odd, Supervisor 28 Comments

“You lift up to make him king. You lower before dethroning.”

Molly stared at Davis’s face, uncertain what to do with hers. Some hazing was expected on orientation day. But this?

Davis glared back, and she nodded as if in comprehension, desperate for a glint of mirth to reassure her he was joking.

There was none.

“And are there guidelines for when either happens?” she attempted.

Davis’s eyes narrowed and Molly swallowed. There goes her job.

The man bowed to the doll. “Please forgive her ignorance, Your Royalness.”

He turned to Molly. “Beware, for your predecessor lost her head.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Suspension

February 28, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Beyond repair, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, Out of commission, Photo prompt, Suspended, Too late, Vehicle 40 Comments

“It cannot be saved.” The mechanic stuck stained hands in blackened pockets of oily coveralls.

Shelly tilted his head in bewilderment.

“Perhaps a new suspension…” he chanced. “A bit of wax or paint job.” Shelly could not recall the last time that the car was operational, nor how to do a thing on its behalf, but surely all that the conveyance needed was an odd term or two and the tinkering of a sufficiently grimy man.

“The only suspension that can help this pile of rust,” the mechanic muttered, “will be one that suspends it en route to wrecking.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Aloft

February 21, 2024February 21, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Historical fiction, Micro Fiction, Migrant Children, Migration, New Beginnings, Wagon 47 Comments

It was the opposite of everything. No more the steady breath of fire in the hearth. No more the solid oaken walls that Grandpa hewed and Grandma charred. No more the steady view that only seasons marked.

She was aloft atop the bedding, swaying on the ruts, the creaks of wooden wheels squeaking out of step with the team’s heavy clip-clop.

Another place awaits, Ma says, though where or what Faith couldn’t tell. How when all who’d gone before hadn’t returned?

Pa’s steady shoulders hitched with the reins. “Prepare,” he said. “We’ll circle wagons and there’d be chores ‘fore long to tend.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers