Inspired by the latest prompt for Friday Fictioneers from Rochelle Wysoff-Fields of Addicted to Purple I throw my hat into the ring and offer you my take on the prompt for this Friday, 4/22/2016.
© Madison Wood
Things Unseen
Betty walked out in the cool of the morning and called to her horse. Oddly he wasn’t there. Scanning the pasture she spotted Jeb and began her trek to him. Calling out again she thought she heard him groan.
The grass was very deep as she made her final approach and reaching out to stroke his nose she whispered, “Well, Jeb what seems to be the problem this mornin’?” Taking another step something snagged her pant leg and Jeb reared up. Betty sucked air as she felt the wire tighten; barbs pierced her jeans.
“This is gonna hurt.” she thought.
~*~*~*~
Words: 100
For some really great takes on this weeks prompt please click the little blue frog below!
Life on the Farmlet 
Oh, that danged bob wahr. No defense from dat fence!
Yes, the lazy asp! He lie in wait for’n ankle ta bait. 😉
Dear Lynda,
This one hurts to think about. Nice slice of life story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Dear Rochelle,
Yes, it does… was the pun intended? ‘-)
Shalom,
Lynda
Puns are always intended, even when they’re accidental. 😉
Yep it’s gonna hurt, like it, the story I mean of course.
Of course! Thank’s, Mike. 😉
And I liked pigs trotters, but not pickled, braised or stewed trotters is best.🙂
Mike, are you referring to my story on Pickled Pig’s Feet and New Year’s traditions?
As it happens, I believe you were! I don’t know why my comments are closed over there but I will fix it now that you alerted me to the problem. Thanks, Mike!
Oh, that was good.
Thank you, Jellico84, I’m glad you liked my little tale.
I’ve seen that happen to a horse and it’s not pleasant. Well told
Thank you, Mick.
Horse or human, it can be a horrendous event. I see barbed wire left out in the grass all the time where I live and always wonder how it happened to be left there. I suppose this week’s prompt gives us a clue.
Yikes.. I can feel the spines stinging…
Then I did my job well. Thank you, Björn.
Ouch, sorry Betty. Good take on the prompt 🙂
Thank you, IfeomaO!
I still bear the scars of falling 10 feet out of a tree onto a ‘bob wahr’ fence when I was 10. It made quite a mess. Betty was right, it did hurt… My mother was more upset about the torn pants till she saw the damage underneath!
Oh, Kate! How awful.
I have never been hurt badly by the stuff, but my aunt’s tangle with ‘bob wahr’ left her the recipient of over 100 stitches. Nasty stuff!
45 years on, the scars are all but invisible, and it didn’t stop me climbing trees so it can’t have been that traumatic. I think perhaps the injuries were more extensive and messy than serious, and I can remember digging my heels in very strongly when stitches were mentioned. AND I got a good whack on the seat of my pants afterwards, one place still undamaged, unfortunately from my point of view… 🙂
Why was it that when we got damaged doing something we shouldn’t have, that our parents felt the need to whack our backside? You would think that it was superfluous in view of the fact that we’d been hurt by our own actions!
Only once did my mother spare the whacking. I had been riding a friends bike, because mine was locked in the shed for riding after dark… I got hit by a car and went sailing through an intersection! The friend’s bike was toast and my exposed knees, elbows, and knuckles where reduced to hamburger.
There is more to this story, but suffice it to say, that she looked at me and said: “I aught to give you a whippin’, but I think you’ve learned your lesson.” Oh yeah, lucky me. LOL!
Our parents knew the value of imprinting significant lessons through channelled physical experiences. Also known as spanking or a clip over the ear. Lesson: if you’re going to climb tall trees a) do not fall out or b) if you do, don’t rip your pants and finally c) don’t scare your mother. It worked.
“… and finally c) don’t scare your mother.” LOL, Funny!!!
(Thank you for the Birthday laugh to start my day!) 😀
Happy Birthday, I hope you have a wonderful day! XXXX
I did!
There’s something so absolutely dogged about barbed wire isn’t there? Almost as though it has a mind of its own. Nicely done.
Thank you. 🙂
Exactly, Sandra. Our house is built on very old farmland (back to the early 1800s) and along with the other ancient things that perk up to the surface in our yard are small sections of antique barbed wire. My geese find them and then wash them in their water bucket. Thankfully, they have never swallowed any! We also have a whole coil of the stuff in a dry creek bed with a big tree growing right up through the middle of it. How did it get there?
Normal life happening! Nice
Thank you, Spicedmullings. It is a shift from my usual style.
Like you, I wonder why people leave barbed wire laying where it later gets snagged up – usually in the mower. We find a lot of wire and metal discards down in the woods. I pick it up or dig it up and haul it off. Many times I’ve been snarled up in the stuff while following Daisy deer around. Usually, it’s of a morning when I’m not wearing appropriate clothing to be snagging through the woods -like my yoga pants!
Lori, yes! It is crazy the things I find in our woods and I get it about some of it. We have a bunch of the old stuff along the limestone creek’s edge. The fence posts rotted, fell and deposited the old wire in the leaves along the bank. (finding it all and cutting it loose is a job for another day) But as I told Sandra, there is also a whole coil of the stuff in a dry creek bed with a big tree growing right up through the middle of it. How did it get there and why was it left?
It is always best to be wearing jeans when trekking through the woods! They still get snagged, but they are substantially stronger than yoga pants… or bare legs in shorts as I did once. 😀
Ouch, for the narrator and the poor horse. And any other human or animal getting snagged in the stuff. A good story, very vivid, I saw the scene.
Thank you, Gah! It was very vivid. When I posted Sight Unseen I thought it wouldn’t evoke much, but I have been very pleasantly surprised this week.
OMG, Lynda; didn’t my guts do a turn when I first saw that coil of wire hanging there… But y’know, more and more often these days, I kick myself for having set something down, only to come back later and realise I’d not finished with it… However – having tangled with the top row of a fence when I was a kid – leaving a roll of barbed wire hanging around is definitely not something I would ever do. Talk about having something come back to bite ‘cha! I really FELT this post; a great piece of writing!: )
Thank you, Deb.
“But y’know, more and more often these days, I kick myself for having set something down, only to come back later and realise I’d not finished with it…”
I truly understand this. Scary isn’t it?
I always wince at the sight of barbed wire. This story made me feel it. Ouch! 🙂
Sorry to make you feel the pain, Josslyn! I guess I did my job well. 😉
Hurt indeed. I think I felt it.
Yes, it is certain that she did. Dawn, I feel for the horse too, being stuck out there all night. 😦 Just a bad situation all ’round.
Youch!!
Quite suspenseful, Lynda
Yes “Youch”, Laurie! It even hurts to think about, doesn’t it? I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
We have plenty of barbed wire here in Texas, but I much more commonly get sliced and diced by the sharp thorns of greenbrier vines:
https://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/greenbrier-in-autumn-part-1/
Yes, Steve~ I too have had a few tangles with greenbrier vines. They are nasty things! That is an absolutely nasty looking specimen!
At least that one was tan so it stood out from the foliage. Most of the year the greenbriers are green and they blend right in with the low foliage of other green plants. I’m sorry to hear you’ve had your run-ins too.
I always wear jeans tucked into my mud boots, but even then those pesky hiders get me! Hm. Hiders has a double meaning in that sentence. 😉
That’s a good play on the word hiders. Greenbrier thorns have prodded your subconscious into creativity. You might as well derive some benefit from the hiding and get that wordplay out in the open.
Great story, Lynda. Ouch! We have very old barbed wire around the farm and I try to avoid it as much as possible 😉
Thank you, Dianne! When/if we ever get to move to our property it is our plan to remove all the old barbed wire, when we find it, and get rid of it. As far as we can tell there isn’t much left… but who can tell until you encounter it? Yikes!