Photo prompt

Urban Sprawl

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , 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

 

Until The Rain

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 27 Comments

 

“It will only last till fall.”

“In all probability,” Tad smiled, “so would I.”

Seth craned his neck toward the canopy, so tears stream into his hair and not onto his cheeks, where Tad may see them.

Gone was the sturdy tarp of their childhood gazebo. Stripped away by time, and the remains plucked off by winter’s hurricane.

“The trees protect it still,” Tad offered gently. “The roof we have no longer hides the sky.”

Until the rain, Seth thought, but nodded. The light was soft. Perhaps the inevitable will be, too.

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Lisa Fox

 

Suspension

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 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

Photo prompt © Fleur Lind

 

 

Mostly Between

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 14 Comments

 

“I gotta go,” Ari stuffed a sandwich into her mouth with one hand and a sweater into her bag with the other.

“Wait!” Ella’s eyes remained on her phone’s screen.

“Can’t.” Ari grabbed the keys. “I’ll be late for work.”

She left before Ella said another word, or at least, without hearing it.

They needed her job. Ella, per usual, was “between jobs.”

And I’m mostly between heaven and earth, Ari chuckled. She got into the car, shifted gears, and took a deep breath. Meditation was a crucial part of acrobatics. Even if it was not Cirque, but only shark-diving.

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

 

 

The Ride Home

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 26 Comments

 

brendas-double-decker-bus

(Photo prompt: Brenda Cox)

 

She saw the red bus nearing. Her eyes stung. Must be the jet-lag and little sleep. Home seemed far. Unreal, almost.

Or was this home?

She pressed her bag against the fullness in her chest.

This question was part of what she’d come all this way to explore.

The crush of people carried her onto the vehicle. Up the staircase. To the top.

She leaned into the seat and let the sounds of a language she’d forgotten wash through her. Awakening belonging. Remembering despair.

She’d been four when her adoptive parents came.

One day she belonged here. The next, nowhere.

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

 

Palm Pay

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 51 Comments

 

Miranda’s concentration was broken by the distinct whistle. She paused the script and ran to the window.

A man was peering at a tiny screen on his wrist.

“Hi!”

He looked up. “Miranda?”

“Yeah, that’s me!”

He tapped the square. “Package by Ele-Vator.”

“Thanks! Palm Pay okay?”

He nodded. “Try. They got range issues today.”

“No worries,” Miranda smiled. “Lemme pop out.”

She slipped a leg out to straddle the sill. “How’s that?” She lifted her hand.

The man raised his.

A small buzz in her palm.

He checked his screen. “Perfect. Done. Ele-Vating package now. Have a good one!”

 

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: Alicia Jamtaas

 

The Right Thing

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 50 Comments

https://rochellewisofffields.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/jhardy.jpg

 

“I’ll take the summer off and get it done,” Meyer stated. 

“It will take more than a summer,” Bette pointed out. She loved his enthusiasm. She liked half-done projects less. And this one mattered. Immensely.

Meyer’s intended retort fizzled at the look in his wife’s eyes. Love lived there. Love will have to live here, too.

“It has good bones,” he said instead.

“All it is, is bones,” she chuckled. “More likely we’re looking at two years.”

Meyer nodded. “We’ll liquidate other holdings.”

He wrapped an arm around his wife. “It is the right thing, Bette, to build this orphanage.”

 

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: © J Hardy Carroll

Just To Rub It In

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 29 Comments

 

“You should have let them check it first.”

“It’s not that bad,” Stephen tried.

“You always act as if you know everything,” Martha pressed. “Five more minutes and they would have found the glitch.”

Stephen shrugged. “I’ll fix it.”

“Like you did the hole in our sky?” Martha retorted, satisfied with how his hands tightened on the steering wheel. At least he was getting a taste of the frustration he was causing.

“Now our daughter will have to grow up with a partial simulation,” she added. To rub it in.

“Our simulated daughter.”

He always did get the last word.

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Fleur Lind

En Route

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , 34 Comments

 

“Mind your step.”

I nodded. I’d waited too long for this to end my chance with a twisted ankle. The stairs were strewn with leaves and refuse.

“Leave no sign. It will be dark.”

I dipped my chin again in acquiescing. I’d promised that no matter what, I would not make a sound. I hoped the thunder of my heart between my ears did not transmit over the earpiece.

“Walk down.”

I did. Tried not to think about the booby traps.

If I made it in one piece, the door would open. To tunnels. To the safety of the Under-Town.

 

 

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Roger Bultot

 

 

Her Own Shadow

Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Meditations, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: , , , , , , , , , 47 Comments

 

Evening light filtered through partially open curtains. Outside the porch’s floorboards sighed. A car’s engine coughed into life. The scent of crushed leaves and motor oil drifted on an errant breeze.

She sighed.

There will be time to sort through the tangled mess inside her heart, to sweep up shards of life, to breathe out the echoes of words she wished to never have heard.

Not yet.

For the moment, she just sat.

A shadow of her former self.

In a house that wept emptiness.

And let the space behind her eyes

Hold her as she waited

To be found.

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo: © Dale Rogerson