The Farthest Ride

September 4, 2020September 4, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Beach, Big sister, Brothers, CCC, Flash Fiction, Micro-fiction, Now what, Oh oh, On a dare, Siblings, Trouble, Wind Turbines 15 Comments

They were going to make a race for it.

Sherry frowned.

Why did everything have to be a race with them?

She knew there was naught a thing she could do to dissuade them. To the contrary: if she tried to, they were almost certain to up the ante, in bravado and a bit of spite.

Older sisters were never listened to. Even if they were ran to later with the scrapes and bruises and secrets that had to be kept from parents and the like.

Lots more than scrapes and bruises at risk here, though.

“I’m going to ride,” Thomas bragged. The paddle-board he’d rescued from the trash was his pride and joy. Pitiful in looks, with masking tape to hold the bits together, but serviceable. For ripples. Not for this.

“Nah, I swim,” Teddy said. “I’ll reach the farthest wind turbine before you get half-way to the first!”

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Backseat Jostling

August 15, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: Car ride, children, families, Jostle, parenting, Poetry, Reality, Siblings, Things Kids Say, Ultimatum, Warning, Weekend Writing Prompt 25 Comments

Photo: Thais Ribeiro on Unsplash

“Mama, he’s touching me!”

She tightened her grip on the steering wheel.

“Mama, he’s breathing on me!”

She inhaled.

“How come he always gets the window?”

She sighed.

“I don’t have room!”

She braked.

“Stop this or you can all walk home!”

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Jostle in 42 words

The Two Towers

August 12, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Amusement Park, Day trip, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Just for fun, Micro-fiction, Oh-oh, parenting, Siblings, Trouble 42 Comments

PHOTO PROMPT -Copyright-Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Photo prompt: Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“He’s gonna do WHAT?!!”

Oh oh, never should have said nothing. I swallowed and inspected my sneakers. Found a stain. Hopefully mustard.

Mom grabbed my shoulder.

“Marcus Anthony Jeremiah Rivera, what did you just say your brother was up to?”

Her face told me it’d be as bad for the messenger if I didn’t confess. I was toast. Benito was gonna beat me up soon as she was done with him.

“See those towers?”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Benito saw a big rope between them and he said it’s perfect for zip-lining.”

Way Mom ran, she should’a been in the Olympics.

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

Paused Revolution

July 21, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Blended families, Compromise, dVerse, Family, Finding peace, New Beginnings, New Day, Poetics, Poetry, Relationships, Revolution, Siblings 30 Comments

Photo by Adam Cain on Unsplash

The sun rose bright

In the horizon

Spilling gold on

Ebbing tide.

They woke with

Tangled limbs still weighted

And lids that wrinkled

In the light.

It dawned to be

The day of changes,

When revolution would be

Put aside.

They’ll find their breath,

And mend their fences.

They’re family now.

They will not

Fight.

For the dVerse Poetics challenge: revolution

Resolute Rose

May 30, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: big-sister, Determination, Finding a way, Helping, Ouch, Poetry, Practical solutions, Resolve, Siblings, Tenacity, Weekend Writing Prompt 17 Comments

Photo: Caroline Hernandez on Unsplash

The least of hardship was when

She broke her toe,

Age nine,

Her youngest brother

Then a mewling newborn

In her arms.

She’d been pacing

Through the night

To let Mother

Recover some.

Ever the intrepid

Elder child,

Rose missed but

A step,

Taped her toes,

And walked on

Till the morn.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Intrepid in 52 words

Home Sweet Home

April 30, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: CCC, Cottage, Countryside, Creative writing, Flash Fiction, Going home, grandparents, Homecoming, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Restoration, Siblings 8 Comments

cob-cottage CrispinaKemp

They stopped the car down the lane and walked the last few hundred yards, wanting to see the cottage unveiled.

“Grandma would be proud,” Tilly sighed. The roof had bowed in and the walls had extensive water damage the last time they’d seen the place.

“Not about the fence, she wouldn’t.”

Tilly grinned. Her brother never could let an opportunity to find fault go unheeded. And … the fence did need propping. “A stray dog or deer knocked it. Surely it’ll be easy to mend.”

“Hmm.”

Tilly looped her arm in her brother’s. The cottage finally looked the way she remembered, the way Grandma had maintained it all the years she’d lived there and until she had to go into care.

Once more it was going to be home sweet home.

“Let’s get the car, and my things,” Tilly said. “We’ll be bringing Grandma along, in spirit, if not in form.”

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

For Keeps Sake

April 5, 2020April 5, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Photography, Poetry, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: attention, big-sister, books, children, Family, Keepsake, listening, Memory, Poetry, Siblings, Story Time, Sweetness, Weekend Writing Prompt 15 Comments

Photo: Osnat Halperin-Barlev

Hold your toes

And attention

On the story she tells.

Lean in more

To inspect

Every image as well.

For no matter

The weather

Or the chatter

Outside,

There’s not much like

The keepsake

Of a big sister’s

Pride,

And the magic of

Words

In your sweet heart,

Amplified.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Keepsake in 49 words

Nostalgia

March 1, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: Bus ride, Going to school, Hadera, Israel, Memory, middle-school, Morning, Siblings, Sisters, What Pegman Saw, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 29 Comments

Photo: Hadera, Israel

The bus rumbled on the narrow road, slow behind the loaded tractor wagon. A mix of diesel fumes, damp earth, and faint notes of orange blossoms wafted through the open crack in the heavy window.

They were going to be late. Again.

She sighed and glanced at her youngest sister, automatically feeling for the change-of-uniform she carried at the bottom of her school bag for the eventuality that her sister’s car-sickness would get the upper hand.

Across the narrow aisle, a woman coughed wetly into a handkerchief and shifted the plastic baskets that crowded the small space under her feet. Those will be packed full on the ride back from Hadera, their area’s shopping center and nearest ‘big’ town.

Finally, past Gan-Shmuel, the snailing tractor turned into a field and the bus picked up speed. Houses marked the city’s boundaries. She nudged her other sister awake. “We’re getting off soon.”

For What Pegman Saw: Hadera, Israel

Note: Depicting a very true (almost daily) childhood memory …

Last One In

January 8, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Adversity, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Micro-fiction, Poverty, rules, RV, Shame, Siblings, Writing Challenge, Writing prompt 40 Comments

Photo Prompt: C.E. Ayr

“They’ll kick us out!”

Darlene shook her head. “They won’t know.”

“Dad will kill us if we get caught.”

Darlene sighed. Shirley was such a wimp. Never took any risks. Never had any fun. “We won’t.”

Shirley peered out of the RV at the shimmering pool. Darlene never met a rule she didn’t want to break, and somehow both of them would end up punished. “It says ‘Guests Only.'”

“We’re guests.”

Without a permit. Shame rose like hot bile. They were always the ones without, the ones left out.

“C’mon then,” she blinked away tears. “Last one in cleans up!”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers