Everything She Needs

August 7, 2020August 7, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Ancestry, CCC, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, Historical fiction, Memory, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Preparations, Searching, Witch Hunts 16 Comments

shadowed-me CrispinaKemp

She took one last look around, another in the mirror.

Waterproofs. Umbrella. Boots. A change of clothes tied around her waist. A utility apron with ration-filled pockets. Some necessaries. Her pen and notebook. Basic first aid. Matches. Tarp. The photo. And her courage, tightly wound into the center of her chest.

She was ready.

There were no roads or maps where she was going. She’d hike up then use her wits and hopefully the scent of memory, awakened, to find the place. She didn’t know how much the faded photo would help, with the quarry and the landslide and the decades passed since the plate was exposed. Still, she took it. Her soul told her that the photo did not wish to be left behind.

She walked into the dawn. She had everything she needed.

If fates smiled, she’d find the ruins of Witch Wilma’s home. Her great-great-grandma’s tomb.

For Crispina Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Not Much

August 5, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Adversity, Dystopia, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Home, loneliness, Making do, Micro-fiction, Safety, Survival, Trains 44 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Photo prompt: © Jennifer Pendergast

There was nothing left to stay for.

Not much to pack, but still he managed to stuff the duffel with odds and ends. More for feel than for utility.

He won’t be coming back.

The empty cars stood, cooling, on the rails. There was an echo in his bones even with no movement. Even without any sound.

He scanned for danger. One never knew, and he had had enough surprises.

When nothing stirred, he climbed aboard. The metal floor smelled of pee and rats, but at least he’d sleep with a wall at his back tonight, a door barred shut.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Square One

July 31, 2020July 31, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: caregiving, CCC, Childhood Adversity, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, Making do, Micro-fiction, Optimism, Overcoming, Photo prompt, Responsibility, Siblings 16 Comments

st-olaves-mill CrispinaKemp

“You’ll have to climb up there to fix it,” Shelly’s voice made clear he did not think the climbing or the fixing would do any good.

Bertie sighed. It was none of it ever simple. Not with Shelly. Not with him.

Mama prophesied it when his brother was born wrinkled, whimpering, and without a dad.

“You’ll have to watch out for him,” she’d announced to four-year-old Bertie. “You’re his older brother now.”

Then mama, too, was gone, and left them with their uncle and their scowling aunt, who did not need two more butts to wipe or wallop, and Bertie had his work cut out for him. Then, and now.

Shelly couldn’t help being pessimistic. At least Bertie had had some years of motherly love.

“It’ll work,” Bertie promised, climbed.

The windmill spun. Lights came on. Then the new cable caught and tore and they were back to square one.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Gone Swimming

July 29, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, coping, Creative writing, Dolphins, Dream, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Imagery, Making do, Meditation, Micro-fiction, Swimming 75 Comments

Photo prompt © Jean L. Hays

She spent the day swimming, buoyed by the swell and fall of waves, kissed by the spray of salt, caressed by playful bursts of wind as silvery bodies and slick flippers dipped and slid and spun beside her.

The sun warmed the top of her head, then the tip of her nose and the crests of her knees as she turned to rest and float and face it.

It was like living in a dream.

And it was. A dream.

The stained glass in the open door a portal to what was. The ventilator sighed. She could no longer swim.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

4T

July 24, 2020July 24, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Allegory, CCC, Corruption, Current affairs, Discrimination, Dystopia, Flash Fiction, Government, History, Micro-fiction, Persecution, Photo prompt 25 Comments

max-headroom CrispinaKemp

Luke eyed the sign ahead.

“I won’t be allowed in,” he sighed.

Sarah scrunched her forehead. “Maybe they won’t notice?”

Luke raised an eyebrow. He was 6’8″.

Of course they would notice. It was a stupid thing to say. She blushed. “I’m sorry, Luke. I mean, it’s just so unfair!”

He nodded. Such rules often were. Still many tended to accept, even embrace, ‘patriotic regulations’ … until caprice hit close to home. Or in his case, on the way back to it.

He had pooh-poohed the risk. What folly.

He wouldn’t be allowed into the City. Even though he’d been born and raised and lived there. Had committed no crime. He was banished. They’d expel him if he were still home.

The militia could shoot him on sight. Neighbors would be expected to report his presence. As of that morning, anyone above 6’6″ feet was considered a 4T security risk – Too Tall To Trust.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Blending In

July 22, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, art, being yourself, Belonging, Creativity, Determination, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Have a voice, Micro-fiction, Painting, Tenacity 53 Comments

Photo prompt: © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

She knew from the moment she walked in that she was way out of her league. Her virgin palette was blinding amidst the well-worn, paint-that-will-never-come-off-anymore held by others. She felt blush suffuse her face and an even deeper shame at raised eyebrows and feigned disinterest. Apparently she did not even warrant curiosity. An outsider. A wannabe.

She almost up and left.

But she’d saved for months to afford the class, and she spent her last on paints and brushes.

The need to create pulsed in her blood.

She stood her ground.

Blending in or sticking out, she’d stay. She’ll paint.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Red Moon Riding

July 20, 2020July 20, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Carl Sandburg, Creative writing, dVerse, Flash Fiction, Jazz Fantasia, Longing, Memory, Micro-fiction, Night sky, Prosery, Quote, Relationships, Vista 21 Comments

Photo: Niklas Priddat on Unsplash

She let the shudder travel from the roots of her hair to the nape of her neck and down her spine to the place where the calving of her body started. The skin on the small of her back awoke. She sighed.

It wasn’t the chill in the air that had her trembling, even though the breeze could explain the raised goosebumps on her skin. It was the vista that had shaken her. And the memories it sought.

Oh, this was a different place. A different time. Yet somehow these still were the same sky where a red moon rides on the humps of the low river hills spreading below it. Transporting her. The earth roiled under a tapestry of dark and starlight, of shade and voids and hidden stars. Her breath drowned in wonder and sorrow: for lost beginnings, for hopes come dawn.

Prosery Prompt: “a red moon rides on the humps of the low river hills” (Carl Sandburg’s Jazz Fantasia)

For the dVerse Prosery challenge

Bobby’s Boonies

July 18, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: Boonies, Contentment, Country life, Finding peace, Flash Fiction, Hinterland, Home, Just because, Making do, Micro-fiction, Weekend Writing Prompt 10 Comments

Photo: Nolan Krattinger on Unsplash

He never thought he’d feel that way. But there he was, besotted by life in the hinterland, buoyed by the boondocks.

Who’d have believed the sticks could end up so satisfying? Sure, he gave up the sunny beaches, but while his city pals squeezed onto small spaces on the sand to swelter in the summer sizzle; he could splash right in his backyard stream, in his birthday-suit if desired.

Then there were vegetables from the garden. The birds’ song. The quiet. He had discovered his inner bumpkin.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Hinterland in 87 words

A Thicker Thread

July 17, 2020July 17, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Beliefs, CCC, Creative writing, Culture, Flash Fiction, Folklore, friends, imagination, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Scots Gaelic 21 Comments

cubed-nut CrispinaKemp

“They left it here for a reason.”

Barbra rolled her eyes. There was hardly a thing Robin would not make a story of. “Okay, I’ll play. Who did and what for?”

Robin approached the holed-out structure with something like reverence. The round openings were just large enough for small children to wriggle through and climb and sit on with legs dangling. She had, when young, though she hadn’t seen many playing on it recently. Perhaps it meant the time was nearing.

“The fuamhairean had,” she said. “The giants left it but they will come back.”

“And supposing they exist, what could possibly be their reason to deposit it here?”

Robin sighed. Barbra wasn’t a believer. She wasn’t expected to understand. Still, it was important to explain. “It is a bead for their necklace. Their string tore. They’re waiting for the elves to weave them a thicker thread. It takes years.”

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

* fuamhairean – “giants” in Scots Gaelic