Yesterday had been so much fun, except when Kai, his older brother, and he nearly came to blows in front of the whole family.
Kai accused him of cheating in their speed snorkeling event. He’d won it for the first time ever and wasn’t going to back down to Kai’s arrogance.
The claim was made that he had grabbed onto big brother’s ankle which was ridiculous. But Kai produced evidence in the form of red and purple finger marks above his foot.
A shouting match turned into a shoving match and if his brawny uncles hadn’t intervened, who knows what would have happened.
It was decided to break for their picnic lunch before entering the water for a more relaxed shallow scuba diving experience.
The two avoided each other until day’s end.
Stars twinkled and the moon looked larger than ever on the horizon when Kai approached his little brother beside the bonfire on the beach.
Looking at his hands as one finger traced the rim of his sweating beer, Kai whispered to him,
“I heard her, Noa. She spoke to me clear as day.”
Kai had taken Tutu Lulu’s disappearance the hardest. She had named him after the sea and had been her sidekick longer than he. He hadn’t really recovered from their loss.
“I’m sorry. But when you, someone, grabbed me Tutu Lulu spoke to me.”
“What did she say?”…
I nominate Di @ https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/.
Link to use if you’d like to put your name in for consideration so that future nominees can find you:
https://marladragon.wordpress.com/2023/05/24/nominations-starting-now-5/
Link to this post to put in all posts:
https://marladragon.wordpress.com/2023/06/01/10032/
#PassTheBaton
Category: Writing Prompts
Reena’s Xploration Challenge #282- The Weight of Time
It is entirely your choice to use either one or both of the images as prompts.
I chose the image below.
Prudence became momentarily frantic while searching for her cellphone. She needed to know the time!
How long had she been ambling along the serene, wooded path?
What time IS it?!
“Okay Prudy, breathe…just breathe.”
Moments ago, she’d watched chipmunks scurrying in and out of a tree trunk. But for “How long?” She still grasped a little of a blissful, weightless, freedom. She hadn’t known the time and, for once, didn’t care. But now, Prudence needed to know!
She’d been a slave to time since… well, forever. Forever was indisputably a long time and “NOW” couldn’t work without the anchor of a clock. Everything needed a time stamp- a before and after. It was the lifeline and essential compass that sustained her.
A distant voice came out of nowhere, just in time.
“Prudence? Prudence, open your eyes.”
A white light made her wince as her eyelids separated.
The first thing she was able to focus on was a large analog clock with a bright red second hand on the recovery room wall.
Her heartrate immediately slowed to the rhythm of that ticking time and she relaxed.
Next, that same nurse’s voice announced from somewhere behind her, “You’ll need to take some time off to fully recover, Prudy. Maybe somewhere where you can stroll in the woods?”
While drawing in a jagged breath in order to scream, Prudence fainted.
https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2023/06/01/reenas-xploration-challenge-282/
#Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge~ Spirit Animal Poetry-Lethal Poise
We took a quiz to find our spirit animal.
https://www.spiritanimal.info/spirit-animal-quiz/
Then we were asked to create a syllabic poem about it.
The owl spirit animal is emblematic of a deep connection with wisdom and intuitive knowledge. When the spirit of the animal guides you, you can perceive the true reality and see beyond illusion and deceit.
Lethal Poise
Sharp sight,
Eyes wide open,
Sober owl discerns with
Outwardly unassuming poise.
“Gotcha!”
The Crapsey Cinquain is a five-line, non-rhyming poem featuring a syllable structure of 2-4-6-8-2. Choose words that create drama that builds into the fourth line. The turn occurs on line five, the most important line. This is where you change your focus away from the drama in some interesting way. Cinquain poems need a title.
Ragtag Daily Prompt- Appearances Deceive
The word for today is DEBRIS.
Heather kept an organized home. Next to “neat as a pin” in a Google search was (see Heather). One could stop by any hour of the day, and they’d be treated to a pristine environment. Little did anyone know that Heather’s cleaning took place in the middle of the earliest hours of the morning. Her inability to sleep, as well as her need to have ‘perfect order’, was because her life was filled with debris. Poor decisions, Pop culture interests, and a lack of Faith, kept her scrubbing and cleaning to no avail.
Unicorn Challenge 5/26/23- A Woman’s Purpose
The rules are:
Maximum of 250 words.
Based on photo prompt above.
That’s it.
There he was, still an hour or so, from home at the mouth of the fjord!
It had been a long, long, time-too long. Her heart raced with excitement as her eyebrows drew into a scowl.
Was she happy or angry?
God made men with a purpose. He gave them talents and proposed that they make a mark on the world.
Why weren’t children and family enough?
The science, art, and exploration, however grand and celebrated, did nothing for the rearing of children and warming her bed.
He’d be awkward in the doorway…a stranger. Then, he’d settle in offering exotic gifts and wild adventurous tales to the boys as they danced vying for his long-awaited attention.
It would take a few days for the ordinary to set in. The sense of safety and completeness that was only to be shattered in a few months by his new driving focus that didn’t include any of them.
She was tired of waiting for his ‘purposes‘ to dry up and his body to lose its untiring fitness.
Their house was in need of long overdue repair.
Keeping him home, where he belonged, would require an accident.
193-words
https://talesfromglasgow137065088.wordpress.com/2023/05/26/the-unicorn-challenge-26-05-23/
Reena’s Xploration Challenge #281- Life Decisions
Let’s see how you choose to open and decode this message 🙂
Marj was in a dark dilemma.
She’d done so much crying that her eyes were nearly swollen shut.
What would she tell her parents when they returned from their overseas trip in ten days?!
He was 7 years older than she at 24, and her “first”, but he’d romanced her in a way that made her feel completely safe and valued. What a naive child she was! Now, that was all a tortuous month ago and he had since vanished.
The early pregnancy test had come back positive this morning and she now found herself rummaging in the attic for luggage to run away… or something else.
Another rush of panic made her fall to her knees praying to God for direction and it was then she spied the envelope between the rafters.
It was stiff-almost crispy- and it was sealed with wax like was done in the ‘olden days’.
When she turned it over, the three bold words on the other side made her audibly gasp.
FOR MARJORIE ONLY
The letter must have belonged to her great-grandmother whose name she had always worn proudly. Marj had heard that she had raised her grandmother all on her own after a “tragic accident” of some kind had claimed her first husband. Later on, when Grandma was 10, she’d married Grandma’s stepdad -the man she knew as Grandpa-and had twin sons.
Marj waivered a bit then opened the note:
My Dear Marjorie,
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. I did love you! Never forget that. We were impulsive kids full of lust and got carried off in a few passionate moments. Now I hear you’re “in trouble”.
I know a doctor in Memphis who deals with unmarried girls who are “in the family way” and sets things right. I’ll help you pay for travel, if you wish. Do what’s right.
As Ever,
Roger
“Great-grandmother Marjorie had never opened this letter. She probably knew what it was going to ask her to do. And I’m here because she chose not to do it. I hear you, God!.”
Marj placed the letter back, a little more carefully hidden, between the floorboards. Straightened her posture and went back to her room to look online for a job, and possibly later on, research ‘baby names’.
https://reinventionsreena.wordpress.com/2023/05/25/reenas-xploration-challenge-281/
Two for Tuesday- My Granddaughters
Paula, https://lightmotifs.wordpress.com/, promotes this prompt Two for Tuesday.
I have two granddaughters and decided to showcase them today.
Katherine, aka My Girlfriend, will be 18 in September. She was my first grandchild. When Kat was born, her dad was preparing to ship off for Iraq with his National Guard unit. He was still in the States a few hours away but not present for the birth. Luckily, he was granted a few days to come home to meet her, then was off on duty for her first year and a half. I was present for her birth and got to “cut the cord”. She’s the ‘little one’ in my logo and on my site.
Her parents-my daughter and son-in-law- are excellent parents. Their girls are into softball, band, and camping/homesteading.
My youngest granddaughter, Evelyn, aka Boobles, came 7 years after Kat. Her dad was home for her birth.
We are an extremely close family who see each other almost every day and camp together in the summer.
Kat just went to a senior prom with her boyfriend who’ll be heading into basic training for the Air Force in July.
Evelyn and I see each other every day when I get her aboard and take her off of the school bus. She and I have been writing a children’s book together. I homeschooled both girls during “the pandemic” and will have Evelyn full-time for homeschool in the near future when her teachers no longer are trustworthy ones according to her parents’ assessment.
I’m blessed beyond words.
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