Friday Fictioneers: shopping cart escapades

By now you know the rules, and if not, please do visit Rochelle at Addicted to Purple HERE.  A special thanks to Janet Webb for the use of her photograph today!

Playdaycopyright – Janet Webb

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~ Shopping Cart Escapades ~

(A tiny scene presented in 100 words)

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“Who’s bright idea was this anyway?”  Aldi chides.

“Yeah!”  Belle whines,  “My wheeeels are rustinnng!”

“Be quiet you two!”  warns Safeway. “Who was to know it would rain like this?”

“It’s getting light out, we really need to roll!”  advises Aldi

Belle,  “We’re gonnaaa get cauuught!”

Safeway and Aldi in unison:  “Quit whining Belle!”

Safeway, “You thought this was a great idea when we talked about it last night!”

Weeka-weeka-weeka-wee…

Belle, “Ohhh!   We’re all ruuusted!”

“Just get in the parking lot, Belle!”

 

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Later…

Jeffrey! 

Why were these carts left out?  And don’t tell me they let themselves out to play!

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WORDS:  100

For more great stories from this prompt look HERE!

Friday Fictioneers: the choice

THE CHALLENGE:

Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and end. (No one will be ostracized for going a few words over the count.)

THE KEY:

Make every word count.

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Special thanks to Rochelle for her work in organizing this week’s prompt, and to Rich Voza for the use of his photograph.

Three doorsCopyright – Rich Voza

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The Choice

Lorna looked at the three doors and panicked.

Then reasoned, white is heaven, red is hell, but where will the other door take me?   I always thought God made the judgment and the final decision!  She returned her thoughts to the middle door and remembered the passage about those who were neither hot nor cold in their faith.  Perhaps that door was theirs?

After a while, she walked over to one of the doors, opened it, and stepped through…

OH!  She cried out.

Why the conundrum?   He said.  All the doors lead here, but none would’ve opened without your faith.

WORDS:  100

For more great takes on this prompt please look HERE!

NOTE:  As I wrote my post for Friday Fictioneers my story came easily.  It was quite honestly the first place my thoughts went to, when I saw the three doors in the prompt this morning.   So please be advised that it is not my intention to preach, but it is the way I think. 

Friday Thoughts: defining reality from fantasy

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR READING: 

Gently form your tongue into a point.  Now, firmly place it into the side of your cheek.

YOU MAY CONTINUE READING

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As a child I could easily suspend reality and believe that a flying bear in my dreams could sprinkle fairy dust over me, and then taking my hand float me away from my sadness.   Flying over the familiar dry fields that surrounded my home in California was an effortless and very real thing to do.   I believed without hesitation that my toys came to life when I wasn’t looking, and when a bit older, that the stories on the Twilight Zone must have some basis in truth.

Toy Story is a perfect example of this animistic view.  The sense that objects can move unbidden, for good or evil intent, is a natural phase of our growth and understanding of what is real or unreal in our natural world.  When we are very young we are certain that our toys can move and objects that scare us can come to life.  Then when we were about 7 to 10 years old we knew better, and yet, we could freely suspend reality to get into a good fantasy and believe, if for only a while, that it was true.

I am a grown-up.   And although I am certain that the truth of the matter is this:

Inanimate objects do not move or have life.

I nevertheless do imagine it at times.

And I ask you:

Is a flight of fanciful imagination now and again such a bad thing?

Disney certainly never believed it was a detriment to our maturity.

Anaisa Franco doesn’t think so either.  In her feature on the Creators Project she seeks this very thing. She brings life to her thoughts and the inanimate objects she creates through her art.

For my taste she borders on the scary side of animism, but I still like her work!

This video keeps disappearing on me, I don’t have any explanation  for it, the code just spontaneously combusts!  If it happens again, then please go HERE to view it on Youtube.   Thank you!   🙂

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And so it is, that I still carry some vague notion that my little statues in the garden are somehow endued with a life that is unseen.  And although I have never really seen them move, save through the eyes in the back of my head…  I do enjoy these fantastical slips into childhood,  and then pen them to paper in my stories.

For over ten years I have had a little trio of friends in my gardens.  They are a lion I named Aslan, and a mother squirrel with baby.  They traveled almost 3,000 miles with me from California when we moved.

Over the years the little guy happily sat with his mother in the shadow of Aslan.  Knowing no fear he stood bravely by when the Big Dog came barking and growling fiercely at him and his mother.  He remained stalwart when taking insults from the other squirrels, who often pushed him over, and then waited patiently for me to come by and set him right again.

And so it was this morning, that I was taken aback when I found my little squirrel’s head laying crushed in the stone drive.

He is not real,

He is plastic,

and yet I find him eerie to look at in this state.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHe was a good little squirrel and I shall miss him in the gardens.

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What do you imagine happened to Rocket? 

Your version can be firmly rooted in reality or you can take the fantasy stance.   It is your choice.

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NOTES: In my writing I freely use animistic, and animism to relate to my childhood feeling that inanimate objects could move under their own power, and thus had a life of their own.  In one sense of the word, Merriam Webster defines it in this way:

“[the] attribution of conscious life to objects in and phenomena of nature or to inanimate objects”

Friday Fictioneers: The game

Friday Fictioneers is a weekly writing challenge using  a photo prompt.

THE CHALLENGE:

Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and end. (No one will be ostracized for going a few words over the count.)

THE KEY:

Make every word count.

As always, thanks goes out to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, at Addicted to Purple for encouraging us, and a special thank you to John Nixon for the use of his photograph.

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The Game

the_second_hand_shop-1

When Moira’s memory began to fade she became shy about going into public, so Henry devised a game to get her out of the house.  He began taking her little treasures to the second-hand store.  Bringing in one of her curiosities Sally the shopkeeper would hold it aside.

Moira seemed to enjoy her weekly visits and sure enough, she would spy her item, and her face would light up.   “Oh,  Look Henry, I used to have one of these!  Do you remember it?”

Today, Sally noticed him alone and hesitating at the door.  Crying she whispered,   “I’m sorry Henry.”

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WORDS:  exactly 100

For more great stories on this prompt look HERE