One Word: Chrome
It was bright yellow, with a black convertible top. Chrome wheels and chrome around the headlights. She couldn’t wait to drive it off the lot. She closed the door, put on her seatbelt and breathed in the new car smell. She pulled out of the parking lot, adjusting the radio as the eighteen wheeler shifted to another gear.
One Word: Coffin
She had made her list and checked it twice. Everything was in place. All that was needed was an opportunity, one more nail in the coffin and she would be rid of her forever. Waiting was excruciating but had given her time to plan down to the last detail. The sun was sinking and her expectations were rising.
One Word and Fiction in 58
They sat on the dock , shoes off, feet in the water. He would look away and kick the water so some would splash. She would yell, smack him and in a moment, do the same thing. The sun was shining and they didn’t care. They were just passing the time. Everything was fine until the body floated by.
One Word: Cleanse
She dove under again and swam as far as she could before coming up for a gasp of breath. She had been swimming for hours, hoping the chlorine would cleanse her body. Maybe exhaustion would cleanse her soul, but she doubted it. He was gone but memories he left behind wouldn’t leave town as quickly as he did.
One Word: Gallery squeezed into a Fiction in 58
He glanced right and left at the gallery walls as he worked his way up to the present. A first visit to the family home of his fiance and he was lost. Each painting showed a different groom but the brides looked alarmingly like his, same dress, same earrings. How was he going to get out of this?
Totally Optional Prompts offered color for inspiration and it had been sitting in the back of my mind for a couple of days and Sunday Scribblings prompt is New in honor of Laini who is anxiously awaiting the birth of her baby. One Word Prompt: Geese
Simon was slowly regaining his health. Word had spread in the valley that he had returned and soon folks would “pass by” to get a glimpse. As he got stronger he would take his staff and wander around his house in the afternoon sun. He would rest when he was tired and as he sat on a bench in front of his house the children came and sat around him and begged for stories.
“Shh” he said with his finger to his lips and a twinkle in his eyes. “If you get still I will tell you how our valley came to be so beautiful”. The children scooted up closer and waited expectantly.
Once a beautiful lady lived in a house at the end of the lane. She had magic that caused animals to be friendly and she loved this valley more than anything. One day, he began…
“Tsk Tsk, this will never do.” she said as she stepped out on the porch. The vista before her was all black and white and gun metal gray. She picked up her box of supplies and walked into the scene. On one side of her walked a lion and on the other a lamb.
She reached into the box and drew out her favorite brushes and began to paint. She took blue and white and mixed the perfect shade of sky and using wide strokes, applied light and air and wispy swirls of cloud. She took a tiny detail brush and with just a few flicks, birds wheeled and twirled. “That’s better.” she thought. Fine lines in the distance and suddenly geese flew in formation. The lion swished his tail and she nodded and smiled, “you’re right, we need to plan for morning and night.” and she added bright orange and deep rose in the west for the sunset to find and midnight blue so the night would have a place to hang the moon and stars. Lavender and pink blended in the east to invite the sun to rise.
The lamb nudged her with it’s nose and she nodded in agreement. She dipped her fan brush in the forest green and painted in towering pines, dabbing with black and gold for shadow and light, little brown pine cones to finish them off. Now for some oaks and elms. Bushes and shrubs and grasses to cover the earth and give the smaller animals something to nibble on. She looked around at her work and was happy.
She took browns and golds and reds and gave the dreary houses clothing that warmed them and made yellow light to spill out of windows with blue curtains waving in the breeze.
“That’s so much better.” she told the lion and lamb. One last thing to be done. She took her pen and drew loving and peaceful words over the first house and an angry argument ended. Lullaby lyrics written into the next house and a fussy babe slept. A poem from the street and the an artist sitting at his desk began to write.
She turned and as she wandered back to her home she sang softly and tree branches sighed in the wind, birds sang, and insects spoke of the changing seasons. Her supply box was lighter and so was her step. She reached her porch and set the box down and settled into her rocking chair. Her friends curled on the porch at her feet, sleeping peacefully. The gray was still there, but love had painted over it with beauty and the world was new with magic.
She grew sleepy and as she dozed, the shadows grew longer and night fell. The darkness was so jealous of the colors she brought that it locked her in the moon and that’s where she lives to this day.
The children all clapped and didn’t notice the sadness in Simon’s eyes when he finished the tale. “Go home children, your mothers will be calling you for supper.” he told them and stiffly got to his feet. The children wandered home calling out goodbyes as they went. They would look out their windows in wonder that night. They would dream of a beautiful woman looking down on them smiling over her valley.
There is a contest going on over at Just Your Typical Book Blog. You can enter to win a new bookcase.
About Them:
“Our names are Cheryl and Amber and we read read and read some more. We love discussing our favorite books; and even the not so favorite. We read and review Young Adult Fiction and sometimes even Adult Fiction. We have some authors that we adore and other that we are just starting to know.”
Check them out
Three Word Wednesday Revisited Glamour, Accentuate, Pitch
The pitch man was hawking youth and beauty. Accentuate the positive he said. Be your own boss, have your own company, buy our kit and you will have the holy grail of independence – beauty is only skin deep but profit goes all the way to the bank. She signed the little contract and the day the package came, headed out to sell, sell, sell. The first two doors were closed in her face but house number three was another story. The crone that stuck her head out was hopeless but well, anything would be an improvement so she set up her case on the kitchen table and accepted the offered cup of tea.
“Let’s just hold these fabric samples up next to your face and see how they look with your complexion.” she began. See how this one makes you look sallow and this one brings out the color of your eyes!” she smiled a professional and confident smile just like the booklet said to do.
“You are definitely a summer!” she told the poor homely woman. Truth was, she needed a bag on that head; there wasn’t enough make-up in the world. The woman just kept nodding and grinning, never saying a word.
“Now we just have to choose colors from this palette for your skin tone.” She started lining up little pots and tubes on the table. She took a sip of her tea. “That’s delicious!” she said. She started filling in the ticket. The woman pushed the teacup over toward her smiling. She took another drink. She was adding up the total and having a little trouble getting the numbers to stay still on the page. “You will absolutely adore this tinted moisturizer!” she said. The woman just kept smiling and nodding her head.
She finally got the ticket filled out and started placing the purchases in the hot pink bag with the black logo. She didn’t feel right. As she started to place the last tube in the little bag it slipped from her hand it seemed to fall for days and when it finally hit the floor the sound seemed to come from a long way away. She felt dizzy and the homely woman was helping her to sit on the couch. That seemed so kind, she would just rest a bit and then she would go on with her route.
When she awoke, she was stiff and sore and tried to stretch. Her hands were tied behind her and her ankles were tied together. She tried to scream but there was tape on her mouth. Her eyes were not covered though. She could see across from her at the kitchen table, the woman had tubes open and had painted her face with everything in the sample box, in some grotesque parody of glamour. She smiled and pointed to her face, bobbing her head up and down, happy.
I heard a voice call from the back, “Mother, I ‘m home.”
Three Word Wednesday Offering: glamour, pitch, accentuate
This is depressing but it was on my mind.
Small face with large eyes accentuated by pitch black liner. Hair piled up on top of her head making her appear taller than her barely three foot height. Dressed like a little glamour queen, mama sent her down the runway. “Now strut it baby – think beautiful, cuz you are!”
The lights hurt her eyes and her skin itched from the make-up. If she did good mama would let her have one of those little candy bars. Ten years from now she would get the diagnosis, breast cancer at fifteen. Cause? Early onset puberty and toxic reactions to more skin products than most thirty year olds need. At least mama would have the trophies to remember her by.
This is not meant to offend anyone – just food for thought.
Running behind on One Word – prompt: icy
Yeah we bought the nice house in the burbs. Thought it would be a great place to raise the kids, PTA, soccer, mini-van. the whole enchilada. Then we found the graveyard back behind the house. Now my days are spent slopping around in this old ratty robe trying to stay awake, the result of sleepless nights as the icy hands of backyard ghosts reach out to me. I think I will introduce them to our realtor..
Fiction In 58 and One Word prompt: collapse
She built her case, brick by evidentiary brick, documented in triplicate, what was once called iron-clad. He searched for loopholes and shimmied in and out as he pleased. She had it wrapped up, tied up in a bow, buttoned down. He was free and easy, breezing through the front door and out the back when it all collapsed.
One Word prompt: humid and Fiction in 58. I don’t have the link to the Fiction in 58 site.
She scrubbed the porch with water and an old broom. Sweat made her shirt stick to her. He went fishing with his idiot buddies using grocery money for beer. “I hope he brings home fish or falls overboard.” She thought. He had promised her daddy he would take care of her. This was not what her daddy meant.
One word prompt: planet
Okay – I started this and wanted to keep going past the minute time that the website gives you. Since I’m queen of this little corner of the blogosphere, I decreed that I could have as much time as I wanted. 🙂
She leaned on her cane and slowly followed the signs that said disembark. The hall wasn’t that long. Her kids were all grown and had their own families. Her husband had passed away years ago. There was no one to actually miss her. The one requirement was that she would have to remain here. The process would revert if she went back to earth. She said her goodbyes and headed off planet. She had sold her house and stocks and bought the whole package. She was sixty five but soon she would be young again. The white clad attendant at the end of the hall directed her to the Fountain Of Youth salon. The brochure said there would be no pain and she was more than ready.
She was directed to a changing room where she put on the tissue paper robe. When she came out the table was ready. They helped her up and she laid down. The pillow was fluffed, the lights lowered, and her favorite music was playing softly. Some sort of candle or incense was burning and it smelled of cinnamon. She closed her eyes and felt all the old aches and pains that age and arthritis had given her and thought about all it had taken from her.
That was all about to change. She would wake up healthy, with shiny hair and flawless skin. Young and better than she had been when she actually was twenty. No more glasses, her eyesight would be clear and she would be able to wear heels and a bathing suit and she would take better care of everything this time around. She would have, well, her whole life in front of her. A do-over, the kids would call it.
She slowly came to consciousness. She stretched but nothing felt the same. Her legs felt bigger. Her shoulders too. Her hair was short? What was going on? She felt a little panicky. She started to sit up as she opened her eyes. A smiling attendant reassured her that she was alright. There had been a slight glitch in the program though. She was strong and healthy – nothing to worry about there. “How did she feel about the name Mark instead of Mary?” He asked.
Sunday Scribbling #174Â prompt – anticipate
Avery walked along the path to Simons’ house, munching on one of the crisp apples that hung on the tree at the side of the path. He had snatched it and several more as he passed by. The morning was just beginning to lighten as the sun climbed a bit higher and it felt good. He had this sense of anticipation, like something was about to happen but examining his feelings, there was no apprehension. Maybe something good then. He checked the traps he had set the day before and found he had snagged a nice fat rabbit. There would be meat in the stew tonight! He tied the rabbit to the side of his pack and continued on. As he rounded the corner by the stream that ran next to Simons’ house he saw something in a heap next to the front door. Dropping his apple, he started running yelling “Simon!”. Oh, don’t let him be dead! He got to the door and felt his pulse. It was weak, but he was alive. He half carried and half drug him inside and put him on the bed.
Simon moaned, as Avery got a drink of water and brought it to his lips. Avery held him up to drink and then lay him back on the bed. He could see no wounds but the old man was skin and bones. He had never been fat but he seemed much older and more frail than one year of being gone should have caused.
He covered him with a quilt and set about cleaning the rabbit. He left him long enough to go outside to the garden that he had been tending ever since Simon disappeared. He gathered vegetables and herbs and washed them off in the stream. He brought everything back into the little house and got a fire started in the fireplace. He filled a pot with water and hung it over the fire to start heating. He chopped herbs and added them and next the vegetables. While it was heating, he finished cutting up the rabbit and added it to the stew and soon the pot was bubbling and the smell of thyme, basil, garlic, and onions filled the house. He hoped that good food and rest would set Simon back to rights.
He wondered for the hundredth time, where the old man had been this last year. He started to move into his house several times but though he spent a night there sometimes, he couldn’t shake the feeling that it belonged to Simon. It was almost as if the house waited for his return. He had kept it clean and tended the garden. He had tried to use what Simon had taught him to help the folks that came looking for medicines and advice. It never seemed enough and he missed Simon.
Throughout the day he watched over him, occasionally coaxing him to drink. He seemed to be resting easier and by evening, he was sitting up to drink and holding the cup himself. “Do you think you can sit at the table?” Avery asked him. Simon nodded and Avery helped him to a chair. He set a bowl of hot stew in front of him and some apple slices. He added a hunk of bread he had in his pack and fixed himself a plate and sat across from him. Simon ate silently but finally looked up at Avery with a small smile and nodded his thanks. There would be time for questions later. For now Avery was just glad he was back. Simon ate most of the stew and softened the bread with some of the broth. He even ate a few slices of apple. He chewed every bite slowly as though he wanted to hold the taste in his mouth. When he was through, Avery helped him back to bed and he slept again, but he had more color in his face.
Avery cleaned up from their meal and went outside to sit and smoke a pipe. The owl was back in the tree in the front yard. He hadn’t seen him since Simon left. The moon was rising and the nightbirds were singing. It seemed that all of the world was welcoming Simon back. Avery sighed and went in to sit watch for the night. He closed the shutters and as he did he stared at the moon which for some odd reason seemed infinitely sad and lonely tonight. He shook the feeling off, just happy that his anticipation had been real. He made himself comfortable in Simons’ rocking chair, not wanting to take his eyes off him. The folks around would soon notice but they would leave gifts for his needs and respect his privacy until he was ready. There would be a time when he would have to tell Simon about the evil that had crept into the valley. For now, rest Simon and welcome.
One Word Respond
You ask me if I love you. How am I supposed to respond? You show up after two years, no explanation, no apology, just “hey babe, can I sleep on your couch?” You think that curly brown hair, a bad little boy smile, and those washboard abs, well can get you whatever you want. Next thing I know I’m waking up and your toothbrush is hanging in my bathroom, and your stupid favorite brand of coffee is on my counter. What about next week? What about a job?
~~~~
How long should it take them to respond? He had been lying here for an hour. There should be pain – when he looked out of the corner of his eye he could see his ankle. That ain’t supposed to happen. He had managed to hit nine-one-one on his cell before he blacked out. Must of dropped the phone cuz when he came to he was cold but numb and no idea where the phone went. Guess he shouldn’t have laughed at her.
~~~~~
She straightened her jacket and checked her teeth in the mirror. The insurance policy application had been simple to forge. He thought he had it all going on and he would have used her and then taken off again. She would have been sitting there in that beige second floor studio apartment, no hope of ever getting out. He would have moved on to someone else and she would have had to start all over again. She had given him a chance. He should have thought of a better way to respond. He should have taken her seriously.
Our prompt this week is the opening sentence from The Open Door by Elizabeth Maguire
The story is in
the journey,
not the destination
left foot
right foot
breathe in between
this is what it’s like
sometimes all you can do
is all you can do
the universe moves on
while all you can do
sometimes is all you can do
this is what it’s like
breathe in between
right foot
left foot
The life is in
the journey,
not the destination
I’m having a twitchy, can’t think of anything, don’t like it if I do week. This is for a pile of prompts including One Word Shallow, Sunday Scribbling, Where in the world, Carry On Tuesday, and Three Word Wednesday.
Every inch of the back wall in the little room was tiled. Thousands upon thousands of little bits of multicolored pieces of glass and pottery. A mountain of rainbow chaos where someone had reached in, swirled their hand about, and caused a fantasy of ethereal beauty. There was no way this was done by human, it had to be fae and even so over a long period of time. There was power in it and a history before time was counted. How I had even managed to get to this room had to be accidental and now that I was here I wanted to back away before they became aware that I had seen it. It would not be something they would want me to know about. I wanted to back away, but couldn’t. The magic in the color held me spellbound and I felt as though I were falling into it.
A jerk on my arm brought me back to my senses. I shook my head and turned to see Fin pulling me backwards shading his eyes.. “Come on Nissa, don’t look!” I pulled my self away with no small effort, back into the darkness outside the doorway. “What was that?” I asked Fin.
“I don’t know but as soon as you stepped inside I could almost feel a hum in the air. Made the hair on the back of my neck stand up! There is strong magic in there.” He said.
The picture was still in my mind though many details were missing. I could still feel it’s powerful hold, though it weakened when out of view. It was too much to take in all at once. The flowers were colors not seen in nature and words were swirled through the design “Love is a flower that grows in color” in purple and gold.  When I stepped inside it seemed at though lights bounced from a place far above and reflected the mosaic in a shallow pool in front of the wall. Even now I was drawn to it.
“Nissa, you have to control yourself.” Fin said.
“Don’t patronize me. I’m in control and you know it. I feel the pull but I know it’s the magic.” I pulled away from him, rubbing my arm where he had gripped it. He was tall and wiry with dark red hair and he forgot how strong he was sometimes. I was glad in this instance but I’m damned if I would let him know. He grinned at me as if he read my mind which he nearly could. “Lets find a safer place to sit and see if we can figure out where this is on the map.”
Some of the corridors in the caverns were in complete darkness and others were dimly lit from skylights. There was a main room off to the left that we had traveled through to get here that contained illuminats left by mages. Illuminats were spelled rocks that held light from the sun for years. At least I hoped it was years. I had no desire to run into a mage. We sat down on a rock and Fin pulled the map out of his pack. “That room doesn’t show up anywhere on the map!” He said.
“Well then where in the world were we?”
“I don’t know” Fin said, “But it must be important to have so much magic. The Fae have protected it so well that it doesn’t show up on the map. I bet if anyone has found it before, their bones are in that pool at the base.”
“That’s it!” The artifact is in that pool!” I was sure that was the answer. We had been searching for so long. “Now we just have to figure out how to get to it!”
“Is that all? Nissa, if we go back in that room we might never leave it!” Fin said.
“You know the Fae like riddles and puzzles! We just have to unravel this. Simon sent us on this quest for a reason. Think back to his exact words. Maybe there was a clue in them somewhere.” I told him.
“He said for us to stick together no matter what.” Fin remembered. “and to not be afraid of darkness, it is just a mirror of the light, then there was something else.”
“Something about using what we have to get what we need. So lets take stock. We have rope in your pack. What if we tie it outside the door to anchor us. We can tear blindfolds. If we can’t see the mosaic it won’t have as much power.” I said.
“It’s got to work. It fits. You hold me and I will go to the pool.”
“Fin, I’ve already been close to the wall – you haven’t been under it’s spell and besides, you are stronger. I will need you to pull me out.” I knew he was going to argue but he also would have to admit that my way made the most sense.
We tore strips of cloth for blindfolds and some more to bind our wrists together in case I tried to let go. Fin tied one end of the rope to an outcropping of stone outside the door. He wound some of it around his waist, giving himself slack. We tied the blindfolds on, leaving them down til we were ready. Fin tied his wrist to mine and I felt a tingle of fear. What if I ended up nothing but bones at the bottom of the pool? Simon wouldn’t have sent us here if it wasn’t important. Whatever was at the bottom of that pool could help everyone in our valley so we would get it for Simon!
Fin grinned at me, fearless. “Ready?”
I smiled back at him. “Let’s go.”
We pulled the blindfolds down and entered the doorway. We moved slowly with our eyes covered. I tried to remember what the floor of this cavern room was like but I had been so mesmerized by the tiled wall that I didn’t pay it any attention.
“Are you okay Nissa?” Fin called to me.
“I’m fine. Just easing forward. There is something on the ground here. I’m going to pick it up.”
I reached down and picked up a piece of glass about the size of my hand. “ouch!” I cried. I had cut my hand. “It’s okay Fin, I just cut myself a little on a piece of glass.” I moved forward some more. My toe edged ahead and felt the beginning of the pool. “I’m going to wade in slowly.” I told Fin.
“Just take it easy, I’ve got you.” He said. “Just go slow!”
I was a little nervous walking in to the water. What if there was a trap or a deep hole? I just had to trust that Fin would get me out. “I don’t feel anything, Fin. I’ve gone all the way across and there’s nothing!” Now what? We had to be right. Maybe we were doing things wrong.
“I’m going to take off the blindfold, Fin.” I told him. I was already pulling it down, I knew he would say no but I couldn’t stand coming this far and then leaving and maybe what we needed was right there – I just couldn’t see it.
Fin was yelling at me to leave it on. “It’s already off Fin – just make sure that you get me out of here!” I felt his grip on my wrist binding tighten as he braced and I felt my eyes being pulled to the wall. Instead I looked at the piece of glass in my hand. It was a piece of mirror and now there was blood all over it from my cut. Without thinking, I bent to wash it and as I got close to the surface of the water, the mirror picked up the light from the opening somewhere above and was bent and flashing from a million tiny tile surfaces reflecting the light from the mirror. It lit up the pool and I could see something at the bottom. It was a stone but not like any I had ever seen. I picked it up and Fin started yelling. “I’m all right!” I said. “I’ve found something and as long as I only look at the wall’s reflection it has no power. As I picked up the stone, a drop of blood from my cut fell on it and it began to glow and pulse. I nearly dropped it. I was warm as though alive. “Hurry Fin! Let’s go. We’ve got to get back to Simon!”
Outside the room we removed rope and blindfolds and wrapped the stone and put it inside Fin’s pack. We stared at each other for a moment and then headed back the way we came, map in hand. Simon would be waiting for us. As we crossed the great room, the room we had just left, lit up as daylight and then the door disappeared as though it had never been.
OneWord :Â Drive
“Shut up and drive!” I said as I got in and slammed the passenger door. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to think. I knew if I didn’t get out right then I was going to strangle her with my bare hands.I wanted to hit him, hit something, hit it as hard as I could and then hit it again. I just sat there as the car flew down the road. Breathe. It will pass.
****
You don’t have what it takes they said. They said it takes drive and stamina. You have to want it more than you have ever wanted anything, they said. They said you have to want it more than having your own life, more than your family, more than chocolate cheesecake. That’s when they lost me.
****
The drive was the best part. The road wound in and out of trees with peeks at the ocean, then around a curve and there it is spread out before you like some kind of Neptune’s feast all sunlight glitter and windy waves. Makes you want to point the car straight out, gas it and just keep going, skipping across the top of the water.
****