Rock-a-bye Rock

May 14, 2025Na'ama Yehuda Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Apprentice, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Just for fun, Lullaby, Making it work, Micro Fiction, Stubborn 43 Comments

“You must rock them or they’ll never hatch.”

Emilio sighed. His arms ached. This wasn’t what he had in mind when he’d traded a cushy private school spot for an ATM position.

Early mornings, late-night assignments, mediocre food, bedbugs. A ton of work, literally. Zero glamor.

He’d quit but this would give his parents the last laugh.

“Apprentice-To-Magi?” they’d chortled when he told them he’d signed on. “Muddy misery and miserly masters. You wouldn’t last a week!”

He grit his teeth, planted his feet, and rocked, singing under his breath, as he’d been instructed: “Rock-a-bye-rocks, in a crib box …”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo by the lovely Dale Rogerson

Boxed In

September 25, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Beach, Finding a way, Friday Fictioneers, Historical fiction, Inequality, Seaside, Stubborn, Things Kids Say, Women's rights 28 Comments

It took all afternoon, but she managed to not be discovered.

Rose had said that it could not be done. It only made Marina more determined.

“It isn’t proper,” Rose had said.

Well, what wasn’t proper was that lads went. Why would the lassies not?

She was supposed to be at the hotel’s library, peering daintily through lace windows at the expanse of sea.

Instead, she hid in the tiny cabin, inching it toward the water, hoping for tide’s help.

At last her bare toes touched a tongue of foam. It was worth the lashing she’d get once back home.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: Sandra Cook

Not Cold

April 16, 2022Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Writing Tags: cold, Friday Fictioneers, Funnies, Just for fun, More Alike Than Different, parenting, Pick your battles, Standoff, Stubborn, Things Kids Say 34 Comments

chair DaleRogerson

“I am not cold!”

“Your lips are blue,” the mother deadpanned.

“They’re not!” the child insisted, her exclaim dampened by chattering teeth.

“I see,” the woman breathed and swallowed a retort. The girl was altogether too much like herself and would only dig in deeper if confronted.

One set of eyes stared at the other.

The shuddering intensified.

“There’s a nice warm bath and dinner waiting inside,” the mom dangled.

A shrug.

“And how long do you intend to be … um … ‘not cold’?”

The little girl narrowed her eyes.

“Very well. Shall I bring you a chair, then?”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo: © Dale Rogerson

Mary Quite Contrary

April 3, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Absurd, Argumentative, Contrary, Current events, Just because, Poetry, Refusal, Rhyme, Stubborn, Weekend Writing Prompt 21 Comments

(Photo: Andre Hunter on Unsplash)

She was Mary

Quite contrary.

She refused to read what others wrote

And claimed all facts are anecdotes,

And when food was on her plate

She’d allow it to stagnate,

And then predictably complain

That she was made to abstain.

Any piece of news she heard

She declared to be absurd,

And if science dared be presented

She turned extra discontented.

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Absurd in 61 words

The Long Wait

November 5, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: CCC, Change, Flash Fiction, Leaving, Letting go, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Relationships, Stubborn, Waiting, Writing Challenge 12 Comments

Waiting CrispinaKemp

“You coming?” Betty scanned the space to make sure nothing was forgotten, slung her pack over her shoulder, and headed for the door.

“Nope.”

“Are you serious?!” she swung around to stare at Ron.

“Yep.”

Her arms began to bend and she was just about to press her palms to her hips, when she exhaled, shook her head, and stuck her hands in her jacket pockets instead.

That’s what he wanted. Another argument. Another delay.

Not this time.

“Suit yourself,” she said.

His incredulous intake of breath was almost worth a glance. She resisted the urge.

“You’re a coward!” his words chased her in a continuation of the arguments they’d had. “I’m not a quitter. I’m gonna stay and see this slump through, and when you come crawling back, I will not let you in.”

She drove away.

The town had since dissolved but apparently Ron still waits.

Sort of.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

Nailed It

July 3, 2020July 3, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: CCC, Creative writing, Elders, Endurance, Flash Fiction, Making do, Micro-fiction, Old Age, Photo prompt, Repair, Stubborn, Tenacity, Writing prompt 12 Comments

Photo: Crispina Kemp

He could never abide a wiggle.

Not a wriggle. Not a waver. Not the smallest bit of leeway.

Give an inch they’ll want a mile. He was one for nipping any jiggle in the bud.

Sure, the place was old, but it was built a-sturdy, and it stood the test of time. A war. A drought. A famine. Years could lend a touch of wrinkle, but that was no excuse for creaky hinges or a swinging that was anything but right.

Doors should no more need replacing than the people who had built them. Neither ought be done away with when they’re ripe.

So at the very start of wobbling, he cut a bar to measure, took the hammer and the odd-and-ends crate, and firmly nailed the wood across the geriatric slats.

Not unlike the way the surgeon had patched his hip and clinched his femur on to that.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

If It Ain’t Broke

May 18, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Adversity, Challenges, Creative writing, dVerse, Help, Independence, loneliness, Poetry, Poetry prompt, Pride, Quadrille, Stubborn 28 Comments

Photo: Will Malott on Unsplash

She refused to budge

Or borrow.

She would not allow herself

The slightest

Reach.

“If it ain’t broke,” she said,

Hiding sorrow –

Holding on to life

In tatters

Yet refusing to

Give in even

A stitch –

“There is no need to seek

A fix.”

For the dVerse quadrille challenge: Fix

Not Obsolete

April 18, 2020April 18, 2020Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Writing Tags: Current events, Do your part, Have a voice, Micro-fiction, Obsolete, Poetry, Politics, Resist, Stubborn, Vote, Weekend Writing Prompt 9 Comments

Photo: Jorge Lopez on Unsplash

“I am not,” she insisted,

“Obsolete.

Or not yet.

Not as long as I can

Vote,

And thus

Use my

Voice,

To oust threat.”

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Challenge: Obsolete in 24 words

Gravity

August 14, 2019Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Funnies, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Cousins, Family, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Gravity, Just for fun, Math, Micro-fiction, Stubborn, Writing prompt 60 Comments

“The box said up to 20 people,” Martin insisted.

I gazed at the purple awning below and my eyes rested momentarily on my cousin’s bare feet. He inherited Uncle Georgie’s hairy toes, I noticed. His impulsive stubbornness, too, it seems.

“That’s not what they meant,” I shook my head.

Martin glared at me as if my IQ wouldn’t make it past the bottom inch of a ruler. “Twenty people is twenty people, Ralph. Math is math,” he announced and launched himself from the garage’s roof onto the tent.

CRASH!

And gravity is gravity … I sighed. I had 911 on speed dial.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers