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

Energized

August 30, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Energy, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Lightening, Micro Fiction, Photo Fiction, Storm, training 39 Comments

Twenty kilometers. His heart thumped in his ears. His muscles screamed for relief. He pushed through. Almost there. A bit more. One last hill.

Done.

All he needed to do now was get to his bike. Pedal home. Thankfully, mostly downhill.

He’d have a warm shower while the coffee brewed. Get some oatmeal going. Fry an egg. Make toast. His mouth watered.

A distant rumble sounded, and he looked up. The heavy bank of clouds that followed him, finally caught up.

Light flashed. Whoa! So close! A second wind propelled his legs as he sprinted, suddenly energized, to his bike.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: @ Dale Rogerson

A Dress To Impress

July 15, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, Party, Photo Fiction, Self sufficiency, Sewing, Siblings, Twins 21 Comments

“I’m not going!”

There it was. Mira’s famous pout.

Dahlia sighed. “Stay home, then.”

“And leave me all alone? You always think only of yourself!”

Get a mirror, Dahlia turned to the door. No use arguing when her twin was in a mood. “Party is next week, and I’m going. You do you. Now, I’m off to Fab Fabrics.”

Mira sniffled. “I don’t need another quilt.”

“I know,” Dahlia smiled. “This one’s for me.”

“You already have a quilt, no fair you’ll have more than I!”

Dahlia smirked. “Actually, it’s for the party. Gonna make me a dress to impress.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo credit: © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Amenities

July 8, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Amenities, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Honeymoon, Making it work, Micro Fiction, Photo Fiction, Relationships 42 Comments

“Told you there’d be amenities!” Bob beamed.

Raquel looked around the campsite. Mud. Mess. And Misery. She bit her tongue. Only herself to blame. She should have known.

“When something is too good to be true, it is too good to be true,” her Ma always said. And of course, her Ma was (always) right.

Ma also told her that Bob was bad news, a bunch of trouble, and would never amount to anything.

True on all three counts.

She took a deep breath. She made her bed, and she was gonna lie in it. Even in a tent.

For Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © AJ Wilson

Peas In A Pod

July 1, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Announcement, FlashFiction, Friday Fictioneers, Home, Just for fun, Micro Fiction, Photo Fiction, Siblings, Things Kids Say 19 Comments

She stormed in and stood, panting, hands on knees.

“What is it, girl!” Penny jumped, spilling some tea. A chain of horrible scenarios tumbled through her brain.

“She’s excited, not scared,” Margo barely lifted her eyes from the book she was destroying.

Clara nodded. Still unable to speak.

“I. Found. It!” she finally managed.

“Found what?” Penny snapped, then bit down her irritation. It was tiring, being the elder. The responsible one. The level-headed, boring, taskmaster sibling.

“Our perfect future homes!” Clara announced. “We can live next to each other, strung along the avenue like peas in a pod.”

For Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Dale Rogerson

New Order

June 6, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Cautionary tale, Current affairs, Dystopia, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Loss, Micro Fiction, Photo Fiction, Propaganda 21 Comments

She stood at the back and tried to make herself as small as possible.

Not easy, with her stature and attire.

Still, she hoped the shadows would afford some obscurity. Bad enough to be made to attend and be tallied. It would be worse to be noticed. To be named.

The speakers roared. The bands played deafening propaganda.

She stood. She clapped. She swayed as necessary.

She stayed alert. Her life depended on it.

But in a corner of her mind, she was a child still, pumping feet toward a blue sky. Still free. To believe. To think. To be.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Ted Strutz

Topper

February 7, 2021February 7, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Birds, Choices, Crow, Flash Fiction, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, Perch, Photo Fiction, Self-awareness, Top Banana, WritePhoto 19 Comments

‘Twas the best spot in the woods and he was keeping to it.

Sure, it had almost no leaves and practically no protection from the wind. Sure, the branches whipped around in every breeze and let the cold sneak under the most primped up feathers.

It none of it mattered.

When he could perch up at the very top.

Surveil. Keep tabs. See things first. Unhindered by masses of pine needles or large floppy green things hiding one’s next dinner.

“See Topper there?” he heard a winger chatter at another. “He thinks he’s top banana.”

“Not banana,” Topper retorted, and puffed his chest for emphasis with not-so-hidden indignation. “Top crow!”

For Sue Vincent’s WritePhoto Challenge

Photo prompt: Sue Vincent

Water Wait

January 28, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Fasting, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Grumpy, Micro-fiction, Patient, Photo Fiction, Thirst, Waiting, Water 42 Comments

“Who put it there?” Moe grumbled.

The waiting room was almost empty, but it only added to his resentment. Don’t people know it is cruel?

Alisha looked up from the small screen that consumed her waking moments and too many of what should have been her sleeping ones.

“Put what where?”

At least she was sort-of-paying attention.

“That,” he put as much contempt as he could manage with a parched brain into the word. He hated clinics. Especially this one.

“Oh, it’s yours,” Alisha handed him the water bottle. “Nurse said to have some. Told you no need to fast.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Subdued Sacrilege

January 1, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: As above so below, Assignment, CCC, Conversion, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, Photo Fiction, Reflection 16 Comments

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“Simply look down instead of up,” Manny pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and hiked his shoulders up against a chill no one else probably felt. It was 99F outside.

“But the basilica is right here, and so beautiful!” Danielle exhaled wonder.

My point exactly, Manny thought, but did not say. Recruiting was a subtle thing.

Instead he nudged the water with his shoe, rippling the surface to distort the reflection of the edifice. Almost spitefully the puddle settled back into the sharpest mirror, and Manny half expected his superiors to appear in frowning disappointment at his dismal conversion pace.

“What it is?” Danielle responded to his sigh, her eyes still gazing in the opposite direction of the Netherworld, and therefore opposite to where he needed them to be.

“Nothing,” he muttered, deflated.

Her softly luminescent hand appeared. “How about we go into the church and pray about it?”

For Crispina‘s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Aftermath

October 29, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Acceptance, Assessing, CCC, Coming to terms, Flash Fiction, Loss, Micro-fiction, Mother Nature, New Beginnings, Photo Fiction, Storm 14 Comments

bricks CrispinaKemp

“This is all that’s left.”

Marshall nodded and surveyed the area, hands clasped behind his back in a show of control that did not quite hide his devastation.

Danielle caught Sandy’s eye and the latter blinked acknowledgement. Marshall’s white-knuckled grip and the way he rocked ever so slightly on the balls of his feet communicated volumes. Danielle didn’t think he trusted his voice.

The moment stretched.

“We did find some items scattered farther on,” Danielle pressed, distressed by his unnamed grief.

“Mostly parts of items,” Sandy clarified. Won’t do to raise hopes when they already knew nothing was salvageable.

Marshall lifted his head and gazed at the path of destruction the freak storm had left on the barrier island. A quietude spread inside him. An ebb and flow of sorrow and release.

“Thank you ladies,” he told the county’s disaster inspectors. “Mother Nature had spoken. I will not rebuild.”

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge