The Stand-In

(Artist: Rafael Barradas; Source: WikiMedia Commons)

50 years. You’d think I’d be over it. You’d be wrong.

Oh, sure, I know it’s not my fault. I blame myself nonetheless. Silly? Self-indulgent even? Yes. And yes. But there it is.

We argued. Ironically, I don’t remember why. I do remember screaming, “I hate you,” and slamming into my bedroom.

Those were the last words I ever spoke to her.

How could a 33-year-old woman drop dead of a massive coronary? Daddy said, “Her heart was just broken, honey.” But I knew that. I broke it.

 I’ve been living her life ever since. It’s my job, after all.

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Thanks to Tara of Thin Spiral Notebook for hosting the 100 Word Challenge.

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The One

Tara of Thin Spiral Notebook issued a challenge: write a 100-word story without using the letter A. How could I resist?

The One

The first time I see her, no voice inside me shouts, “Right there! Her! She's the one.” She isn't very pretty. She isn't even  cute. Still, something pulls me to her. 

She sits in the corner by herself, eyes down, oblivious to everything. My gut wrenches. The poor thing, she looks so forlorn, forgotten. 

I go to her. “Hi.” 

She lifts her eyes, those icy eyes! But despite their Nordic frostiness, I see joy fill them when she sees me there.  She is the one. I'm in love. 

I sign on the dotted line. 

 “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s go home.”

(Source: WikiMedia Commons
Photographer: Tim Dawson)

Prey

Morning Web photo by Mark Impala 

Source publicdomainpictures.net 

Clip art spider added 

 

Hidden deep within,

Out of sight and out of time,

His heart beats tentatively.

Broad chest lies like armor

Over a fragile inner self

Giving false illusions of strength.

It didn’t take much -

A few harsh words sent flying

On arrows of whispered breath

To pierce skin and bone.

Traveling straight and true,

They hit their mark in a heartbeat.

More powerful than bullets, the words

Slam into his vulnerability, pushing

Love aside to steal life.

As mourners weep and prayers are tossed

Onto his lowering casket, she hides behind  

A black widow’s veil, dry eyes on new prey.

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Written for 100 Word Challenge, hosted by Velvet Verbosity.
 

Jars of Delusion

It’s been a while, but tonight Gloria’s feeling pretty good.  She plans to head over to McNamara’s for a tipple of sherry.

Sitting on the stool in front of her dressing table, she turns her head this way and that, admiring her image in the mirror.  After tucking a few errant hairs into the clasp at the nape of her neck, she reaches for the jar of color in front of her.  She carefully smoothes a dollop of Silver Pink Minx over her lips. 

Gloria flashes a sexy little pout at her image.

Looking good, baby. You’ve still got it!

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This is my offering for Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge.  The prompt this week is "jar."

100-Word Challenge: The Corporate Lamp Standard

Suffering terrible headaches from the flickering overhead neon lights in her office, she asked a co-worker where she’d gotten attractive table lamp on her desk. 

“It’s in the supply catalog. Just order one.”

She completed the order request and submitted it.

Late one afternoon, a man with a clipboard appeared at her office door. 

“I’m from Facilities,” he said. “Did you order a lamp?”

‘Yes! Are you delivering it?”

“No, sorry. Rotten luck! That lamp doesn’t meet our Corporate Lamp Standard.”

“Well, what would meet the standard?” she asked.

“I don’t know. We haven’t set it yet.”

***

True story.

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This is my offering for the 100-Word Challenge, hosted by Velvet Verbosity.  The prompt this week "rotten."

100-Word Challenge: Achievement

She stood waiting, shivers of fear running down her spine.  And then she heard her named called. The moment had come.

She had been waiting for this all her life.  She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and began.  And then all thought left her mind.  She was aware of nothing, until at last her fingers danced lightly over the keys sounding the final notes of the Prokofiev piano concerto.

The ten-year-old girl smiled and lifted her hands from the keyboard as Carnegie Hall erupted into thunderous applause. She stood, faced the audience and curtsied. She had done it.

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This was written for the 100-Word Challenge, hosted by Velvet Verbosity. This week's prompt was "fingers."

Wandering the Corridors of Time

Twenty years after graduation, she went back to her high school in search of the youth she’d lost somewhere along the way.  Stopping first at the office for a hall pass, she wandered through the familiar corridors.

Here’s where we rolled soda cans down the aisle during assembly, she thought.  And here’s where he used to meet me after 5^th period.

The bell rang, and the corridor filled with students.  A boy with purple and green hair looked at her oddly, and then came over.

“May I help you, Ma’am?”

She sighed.  I think my youth has left the building.

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This is my entry for this week's 100-Word Challenge, hosted by Velvet Verbosity.  The prompt this week is "corridor."

Bucko and the Road Kill

This is my offering for Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge. The prompt this week is "failed."

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Bucko and the Road Kill

He stood looking at it, and frowned.  It wasn’t at all what he’d expected.  It just lay there completely limp and lifeless, doing a perfect imitation of road kill.

It hadn’t been cheap, and it was a luxury he couldn’t really afford.  But she had wanted it.   She had begged and pleaded, and he knew he wouldn’t get a moment of peace until he gave in. 

He thought again about the expense, and he grimaced at himself in the mirror.  “It was supposed to make you look younger. Well, it failed, Bucko.  It makes you look like an old fool!”

The Sow's Ear

She sat in the back of auditorium, gnawing her nails to the quick as she watched her classmates take the stage and try out for the 5^th grade Spring Concert.  She thought she could sing, but just thinking about auditioning, she could hear her father laugh. 

She knew she was worthless.  He’d told her often enough: hands like a truck driver; legs like a piano stool; and a face you would pay to haunt a house.

Sighing, she wished again she could be a part of it all.  But you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

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This was written for Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge, where the prompt of the week is "worthless." Thanks to LouCeel for providing a home for the challenge here.

100 Word Challenge: Adah Aho’doo’nili - The Place Where Two Fell Off

This was written for Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge, where the prompt this week is "companions." The challenge is hosted by LouCeel here. Thank you, Lou, for your continued efforts to keep the challenge going.


Adah Aho’doo’nili - The Place Where Two Fell Off

In 1805 they came, doing to us what they had done to so many before us. Those who could fight could not, gone to seek the roaming buffalo. We were those left, we women, children, and old men of the tribe.  We huddled in that place that would soon be called Adah Aho’doo’nili by those who would survive us.

Suddenly like a fearful apparition, one was upon me. I spread open my arms, and welcomed him into an eternal embrace. Stepping off into my Fate, I took him with me. Enemies in life, we would forever be companions in death. 

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This is a magnificent canyon in Chinle, Arizona called Canyon de Chelly (pronounced canyon da shay).  With the exception of a few years in the 1800s when they were forced off the land, the canyon has been home to the Navajo people.  In 1805, the Navajos were attacked here by Spanish troops.  The Navajos women, children and old men not out on a hunt took refuge in a cave high up in the 1000 ft canyon wall, which was inaccessible from the surface above. The Spaniards rained bullets upon them, and 115 Navajos were killed. A few Spaniards managed to find a way to climb down to reach the natives.  Legend has it that at "Massacre Cave," which the natives call "Adah Aho’doo’nili" or The Place Where Two Fell Off, a Navajo woman grappled with a Spanish soldier. Ultimately she took him over the edge with her, and they fell to meet their deaths.

100-Word Challenge: Minimum Daily Requirement

She was never a bundle of sunshine and joy in the morning, but then who was? Not I, that’s for sure. But despite a spell of the morning grumblies, she normally cheered up as she woke up, becoming more delightful as the day progressed.

So it was a bit alarming to find her so dark and stormy at 3PM on a sunny, cloudless day. It was totally out of character.

I was concerned, and gently asked, “What’s wrong? Don’t you feel well?”

"Fine!, I’m just fine!” she snapped. “But just wait until I find out who took my chocolate!”

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This is my entry for this week's prompt, Minimum, at Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge.  Thanks again to our good friend Lou for hosting the challenge here.

100-Word Challenge: Daybreak Daliance

Dawn breaks over the distance.

Morning spreads into the sky.

It’s still too dark to see much outside.

I open my beak, call out to the world,

Announcing my presence with pride.

Abundant with attitude,

Splendid with style,

My plumage so lush,

My head gear so bright:

Call me “Cock of the Walk.”

You’d be right..

Thanks to me, the world awakens.

The chicks in the henhouse begin to cluck.

“We’re hungry,” they grumble, “and have eggs to lay.”

I’m Cock of the Walk, so I wink and I crow,

“Hey, Girls, let's start with a roll in the hay!”

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This is my entry for this week's prompt of "Abundant" in Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge, generously hosted here by LouCeel.  Lou, with so much on your plate, I know this is tough. I'm grateful to you for keeping it going.

100-Word Challenge: Lethal Weapon

This is my entry in Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge, hosted by LouCeel here.

Lethal Weapon

I have to wonder. What causes a celebrity to self-destruct?

Is fame too heavy a mantle wear 24-7? Is it uncomfortable rattling around in a 7000 sq. ft. house? Or cumbersome driving a big Lexus? They can be so hard to park.

Take Mel Gibson. Here’s a guy who seemingly had it all. Then one day several years ago, he opened his mouth, and began shooting himself in the foot. His ammunition of choice? Anti-semitism. Racism. And most recently, domestic abuse.

It seems Mr. Gibson has been carrying an unconcealed lethal weapon. And he’s using it to commit professional suicide.

Taddeo and the Swimmer

The Amalfi beach was crowded, normal for a day this hot  There were bronzed bodies everywhere: lying on beach towels sunning, building sand castles. But there was only one body Taddeo was interested in.  Hers.  He’d had his eye on her since he’d seen her swimming away from the beach.

Then, suddenly, he was in the water and swimming toward her.  She was way out, struggling.  He swam up close to her, and after she wrapped her arms around his neck, he brought her safely back to shore.

Being heroic was what he did.  He was a water rescue dog.

 

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Written for Velvet Verbosity’s 100-Word Challenge, this was inspired by the amazing water rescue dogs of Italy.  Trained for three years at the Scuola Italiana Cani Salvataggio (Italian School of Rescue Dogs), these dogs are credited with saving many lives off Italy’s shores.

For more information, visit these links.

BBC - Italian Water Rescue Dogs

Italian School of Rescue Dogs

Who Knew?

We knew them as John and Mary.

They were our friends and neighbors for five years. They came to our parties and our daughter’s graduation.

We watched their son play football, and we watched as John moved up the ladder at the research facility where he and I worked.

Yesterday, we watched as FBI agents led them away in handcuffs.

It seems they stepped right out of a LaCarre novel and into our kitchen. Under a blanket of normalcy, they shared our boring suburban lives and our national secrets with their Russian controller.

Huh. Who knew? Spies really do exist.

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Back Story:

While the above is a fictional account, it was inspired by a very current new event.

After years of investigation and surveillance, on Sunday June 27, FBI agents arrested several people and charged them with being deep cover Russian spies in an operation that reached from Boston to Seattle. News reports read like the epilogue from a LaCarre thriller.  To read more, go here.


This was written for this week's prompt of "blanket" on Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge.  For more, click this to visit the 100-Word Challenge, graciously hosted by LouCeel.
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100 Word Challenge: The Surprise

This was written for Velvet Verbosity's 100 Word Challenge. The prompt for this week's challenge is "bustier" (you know, as in "lifts and separates"?).  For more sexy lingerie, visit the Challenge's temporary home, graciously provided by LouCeel, and check out the comments section.

The Surprise

They’d been married barely a year, and she felt she really didn’t know Jim. Their conflicting schedules certainly did nothing to help that situation. Her evening shift at the hospital meant she was long gone before Jim got home.

But, tonight, she’d gotten out of work early and she was going to surprise him. She let herself into the apartment quietly, and tiptoed into the bedroom. Jim was standing in front of the mirror in her favorite black satin bustier, turning this way and that.

He winked and said, “What do you think, Honey? Does this make me look fat?”

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100-Word Challenge: Sauce

The prompt for this week's 100-Word Challenge is "sauce."  For more saucy entries, visit Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge, temporarily hosted by LouCeel.

Rainforest Ragu

It's just like a hot tub, really, except hotter. Yeah, dude, keep telling yourself that.

His trip into the rainforest had been uneventful, other than the constant assault by mosquitoes the size of Hueys. He’d found everything he needed. When he won the Nobel for medicine, it’d all be worth it.

He never saw the net, until it fell on him.

When the native came again to see if he was done, he said, “You won’t like me much. I’m a tough old bird.”

Grinning, the native answered, "Buddy, I can eat anything if it’s got enough sauce on it.”

100 Word Challenge: Epidemic

Rx: Chicken Soup?

I'm not sure how the epidemic began.

First to show symptoms was the desktop computer. One minute it's feeling fine, the next it's moaning, ”Ow, ow, my config.sys file.” The doc said he'd be right over.

As I awaited his arrival, I brought in a less qualified temp to pick up the slack, a netbook normally used for roadwork. Before the doc even got to the house, the netbook collapsed, holding its hard drive and vomiting bogus messages and links to questionable websites (why it thought Viagra would help, I can't imagine!)

Groan.  I'm not feeling so well myself.

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Update:  OK, so the desktop is home from the hospital,and is not only healthy again, but thinner (as sometimes happens after being sick).  In this case, that's not a good thing, though.  And so, I'm still not feeling so well. Seems the "doc" had to reformat the hard drive. Which means I have to reinstall every piece of software.  Arrgghh!
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100 Word Challenge: It's Tradional!

This was written for Velvet Verbosity's 100-Word Challenge. This week's word is "traditional."

It's Traditional!

The small British lad was thrilled to meet his Mum’s best friend from America. She was a soldier! A lady soldier!  

Archie had seen lots of soldiers on the telly. He knew what to do. He smartly saluted the major.
 
She laughed, saying, Oh, Archie, you don’t have to salute me! I’m not wearing my oak leaves today.”

Archie’s eyes brightened. “It’s May 29!”

Confused, she said, “Yes, I know.” Her confusion deepened when Archie reached around and gave her a good pinch on the bottom, and then jumped back out of reach.

Winking, he said, “Sorry, Ma'am, it’s traditional!” 

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May 29 marks the 350th celebration of Royal Oak Day in Britain, when people traditionally wear a sprig of oak leaves in support of the monarchy. Children call it “Pinch-a-Bum Day,” because if a friend can’t produce an oak leaf when asked on that day, they are punished with a pinch on the bottom!  I'm sure it's unlikely that a child would pinch an adult's bum (let alone a soldier's!), but that Archie! He's a rascal!

To learn more about Royal Oak Day, click here.

100 Word Challenge: Less Than Meets the Eye

This was written for this week's prompt, "sanitary," at Velvet Verbosity's 100 Word Challenge.

Less than Meets the Eye

Oh, sure, she put up a good front. From the tricked-out look of her, you’d swear she was one of the “good” ones. All proper and polished, the way she was. Not like the rest of us, who, Mama always said, looked like we’d slept in our clothes. “Why cain’t ya'll be more like her,” Mama said after she saw her for the first time. “Girl’s got class.”

And then she opened her mouth and, oh, my, the words that came out. Mama was appalled. “You cain’t be carryin’ words like that around in your mouth. It just ain’t sanitary!”