Speed Dating

March 13, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: CCC, Creative writing, Dating, Ducks, Flash Fiction, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, New Beginnings, Personification, Relationships, Taking charge 17 Comments

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He was the shy one of the waddling. Afraid to take the lead or be left behind, he maintained his place in the middle of their paddling, webbed feet rowing furiously as to not lose his place.

“Too tightly wound, that one,” his mama tilted her head in puzzlement, for there was naught wrong with him. Middle hatched, middle weight, decent feathering.

“Good thing he’d never have to lay eggs,” his aunt quacked laughter. “Or sit on them, rain or hail or thunder!”

He pretended to not hear. Bobbed amidst the plump. Scanned the water. Dove. Rose. Dove.

“They’re just a bunch of hens,” a soft squeak sounded.

He pulled his head up too fast and almost dove back just to cover up his clumsiness.

She rested effortlessly on the water, a perfect Duckess from the skein that had dropped by their pond.

“You could leave,” she added. “Come with.”

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Steps Away

March 10, 2021March 10, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Beach, caregiving, Disabilities, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Helping hand, Make the most of it, Micro-fiction, Poetry, Understanding 55 Comments

“We’ll carry you,” they said.

“It’s only steps away.”

The breeze blew memories of salt and sand and spray.

She raised her finger.

In her mind.

For the one that lay atop the sheets no longer knew

To move.

And yet

It was okay.

Because they understood quite perfectly

What she wanted

To say.

The gladness in her eyes.

The gift

Of yet another

Day.

“We’ll carry you,” they said.

Strong arms linked

As her heart thumped

In time to

The gentle sway.

It was only a few steps

To the water.

To the breathing

Gray surf

Of the bay.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © CEAyr

In A Heartbeat

March 8, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Butterfly kisses, Creative writing, dVerse, Fog, hope, Micro-fiction, Photography, Poetry, Poetry prompt, Possibility, Quadrille 29 Comments

(Photo: Karen Forte)

The fog cocooned her.

A swift blanket

Of numbing

Penetrative chill

The sun could not

Expel.

And yet

A butterfly’s wing

Flicked against

Her cheek.

A kiss

Of warmer

Days.

A promise for

What what could,

In a heartbeat,

Thaw frost

Into bedazzled

Hope.

For the dVerse quadrille challenge: swift

For Carol. On your birthday in heaven. Butterfly kisses galore.

Spring Loaded

March 5, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Bouquet, Caretaking, CCC, Creative writing, Delivery, End of life, Flash Fiction, flowers, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Spring 9 Comments

(Photo: Crispina Kemp)

A steady stream of arms laden with crinkly cellophane bundles traipsed through the narrow entrance corridor, up the stairs, around the bend, and past the out-of-order elevator.

The smells of urine, rust, and peeling paint receded. Giving way to vases, boxes, baskets, floral foams, and rubber bands.

There were roses. Lush buds with intrepid blooms unfurling their blushing petals amidst a proliferation of snowy Baby’s Breath.

There were carnations in white, fuchsia, orange, and a teal-blue hue that nature did not make but lent a Caribbean Sea vibe to the bouquet.

Daffodils and tulips, proud atop their stems, even if their own growth did not commence in frosted ground but in the cushy climate of the nursery.

And Gerbera daisies in a smiling rainbow of colors resting atop greens.

The room brimmed with the scent of flowers.

If she could not wait for spring, they would bring spring to her.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Up And Up

March 3, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Climbing, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Getting Together, love, Memory, Message, Micro-fiction, Relationships, Upward 53 Comments

“Find the red door,” the note said. “Climb up, then up some more.”

Michael felt a smile spread inside his belly. Helen never could resist a rhyme. It’s how he knew it had to be her. Even after all this time. Even when the printed letters could have been typed by anyone.

He knew.

And it warmed a place in him that he had forgotten could be thawed.

The basement’s entrance was not much to look at. The stairs and walls had all seen better days.

So had they.

And yet, there they were.

Climbing up, then up some more.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: © Roger Bultot

Tchotchkes

February 27, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: children, Fair, Flash Fiction, Kitsch, Micro-fiction, parenting, Purim, Shopping, Strategy, Style, Weekend Writing Prompt 19 Comments

(Photo: Smadar Epshtein)

“Oh Mama, look!”

The woman raised eyes from the screen to follow her daughter’s arm. “Kitsch to the max,” she wrinkled a lip at the stall.

“But Mama!” The child checked her tone before it thinned into a whine. She loved the shoes! She would need finesse. “I mean,” she shaped a grin, “for Purim?”

Her mother shook her head. “What are going to dress as, Queen of Tchotchkes?”

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Kitsch in 69 words

Green Throne

February 25, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Memoriam, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Adversity, Artistry, CCC, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, Gratitude, Memoriam, Micro-fiction, Overcoming, Photo prompt, Stonework 24 Comments

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Not many could make stone into illusion.

She could.

Her hands carved softness into unyielding rock. Made age appear into the moss as if the stone itself shed velvet, hewed damp to seep from underneath the surface as if through the core of sighing cushions, long forgotten, left to rot.

Only it was not.

Instead of a discarded chair, it was a throne. A headstone.

A memorial to the man who’d scooped her out of orphaned desperation, who brought her here, who led her to her heart’s forgotten home.

She held the memories of his calloused hands atop her shoulders. Steadying her mallet, guiding her chisel, letting her learn. Letting her fail. Letting her know she was worthy. As was he. Just because she was.

His masonry was practical. Fences. Houses. Walls.

Hers sang to the forest floor as she carved. His armchair, reincarnated.

For eternity. Her parent of soul.

For Crispina‘s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Wrinkled Thorns

February 24, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Acceptance, Family, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Let it be, Life Lessons, love, Micro-fiction, Respect, Roses 56 Comments

She always left one rosebush alone. Let the flowers bloom as they wanted, curl and unfurl as they wanted, dry and droop as they wanted.

“It is an eyesore,” her mother-in-law criticized, ever eager to point out imperfections to the daughter she did not birth and that her son had chosen to love more than he ever did the one who’d labored to bring him into the world.

“Perhaps,” she smiled, but did not yield.

Thorns and wrinkled petals seemed fitting. Frosty resentment prevented closeness, but the old woman had given life to the man she loved. It was enough.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: Dale Rogerson

Almost Ready

February 23, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: CCC, Determination, Flash Fiction, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Practice, Siblings, stubbornness, Swimming, Taunting, Twins 18 Comments

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She practiced every day the sea was calm and some days when it was not but the waves called her anyway.

“Your lips will permanently blue,” Lucy, her twin, chided.

Leena shook her head and tightened the proffered towel around her shoulders. Her fingers were numb and the damp cloth almost slipped.

Lucy sighed. She used her brooch to pin together the towel’s ends, then rubbed Leena’s back to help the blood flow. She could not dissuade her younger-by-ten-minutes sister from swimming. Leena was all stubbornness once she’d set her mind to something. But Lucy could make sure Leena did not go to the beach alone, and that someone was there to help warm her up and get her safely home.

“I’m almost ready, Lucy,” Leena gasped through chattering teeth. “Next time Cousin Ned visits, I’ll beat him to the logs. He will not get to call me Weakleena again!”

For Crispina‘s Crimson’s Creative Challenge