Tag: life

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

Going Home

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

It’s the weather. Yes. The cold. Those clouds pressing down like they’re trying to squeeze the life out, making the houses look…broken. They’ll bounce back in spring. It’ll be like it was.

Ellen peered out the window. 

Everything was dingy, as if a piece of tape, loaded with dust and fingerprints had been stretched across the view. 

How long had it been? Ten years? Fifteen? More? 

Fingers shaking, she unclasped her purse and stared down at a framed photo: A smiling man with warm gray eyes and white hair.

“Oh God,” she breathed. “Let it just be the weather.”

As always, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

The Painting

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

It stands above them and everyone is drawn to it. After a few drinks, folks swear it has changed; it’s different than last time. “Yeah, sure it has,” their companions rib.

The man in the canvas watches, listens. He absorbs their wild lies, heartfelt truths and mundane facts. In the morning, when the light is good and the room empty, he paints them around himself.

“Whosh the paintah?” A woman slurs. 

The bartender adjusts her glasses. “Last name’s El Mundo. First name, Todd? Todo? That’s it. Crazy foreigner. Nothing like that around here.”

The man in the canvas just smiles. 

As always, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

House That Again?

PHOTO PROMPT ©Sandra Crook

House That Again? 

“It has good bones, but if we buy, this place’ll need an overhaul.”

“Nonsense, Pete, it’s perfect!” Tia spread her arms and twirled around the room. “I wouldn’t touch it for the world. Look at that ceiling, like pages of a book spread open! And those gorgeous windows. And that chandelier—.”

“Let me guess? Exquisite?”

Tia scrunched her nose. “It has to go. And that lamp. And purple lights? Who wanted that? And this carpet will need ripped out. And—.”

“Perfect, huh?”

“No house can stay static forever, dear! How silly of you. Houses have to change with the times!”

As always, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

Restless

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

What happened? I don’t recognize who I am or where I’m trying to go. I can’t slow down. The whole world’s on the run and I can’t catch up or cut their speed. If I only knew how to fight it—but I don’t—so I’m sucked through panic’s straw, vacuumed into a ceaseless swirl of movement. No anchor to drop. No rope to throw. I’m tossed into a war of activity—always going—never sleeping, slowing, pausing. Running always, ever. 

And pulsing between exhausted beats, my gasping heart begs for the cure. It knows: All I need is rest.

As always, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

Making the Best of It

PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio

Alissa unlocked their apartment door, tears stinging her eyes. Stupid car. Goodbye anniversary dinner; a grocery trip was out of the question. 

She stared at her sparse ingredients. 

Ohhh! Lentil bread? Lentils, cottage cheese, baking soda. Doable. And that onion soup mix…with risotto…yes. She dislodged a chicken breast from the freezer and began to cook.

“I figured we’d have to eat out!” Russ’s booming voice an hour later startled her. He gaped at the china and candles.

Alissa laughed. “Out might be good…” 

“No way.” He kissed her. “You’re miraculous. And food made with love is best. Always.”

As always, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction

I See…

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

You’ll never believe when I tell you—no, I can’t; I won’t; it doesn’t matter—describing isn’t the point. The point is: I can finally see. 

Sight should be the basic starting point, but it wasn’t. Eyes clouded, I spun myself sick, running round and round, saying I was growing, while secretly knowing I wasn’t. Not an inch. My goals were in reach, but I couldn’t see them. I nodded nicely to nothingness, pretending the emperor had clothes, shushed from infancy into believing what others told me. 

But here on this hill, peering across ages and oceans, my vision appeared.

As always, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

Filled with Less

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

It was windy the morning when Ellie realized she might not belong there anymore. Her mind wandered, like footprints across an empty beach. She stared inward, losing track of what—if anything—her actual eyes saw. 

“Don’t hem and haw,” Carl had warned. “Fans won’t wait!” But it only made her burrow deeper. What’s the use of a life if you can’t take time to ponder it? Everyone wants more, the next flashy thing, but what’s wrong with being content? Not content. Not anymore. Content. 

Content with waves, wind, long empty stretches of sand—and thoughts. The joy of less.

As always, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

Goodbye

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

Goodbye

Sierra waited until her mother’s back spun into view. Then she swallowed hard and ventured cautiously, “Will we ever come back?” 

Mama’s shoulders froze, then drooped. She’d been whirling around all morning, like the wooden top Sierra had lovingly packed in a box labeled Knickknacks, but now Mama pivoted slowly, wobbling slightly.

“Here’s hoping! We never know, do we?”

Sierra stared at her, trying to decipher the message beneath the stubborn optimism in her mother’s eyes. Finally, Mama sighed, sank to the floor, and clasped her legs to her chest. “I doubt it.”

“It’s okay, Mama. That’s what I thought.”

As always, many thanks for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

Still, Alive

We stand, looking up. The glass display is motionless, but it feels alive with whispers of hidden stories and memories. Like mine.

I’m a child, standing on the jungle’s edge in ankle-deep Amazon river water. The vicious sun bites our shoulders, and our feet seek refuge in the wet sand as schools of minnows swarm about. Into the water, we lower emptied florescent tube lightbulbs with farofa—yellow-brown like the Chihuly—collected in the unbroken end as bait. Soon the bulbs teem with the tiny fish. Dinner…

“Thoughts?”

“Extraordinary.” I muse. “It speaks a language I haven’t heard in ages.”

As always, many thanks for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!

Posted on in 100 word fiction, Friday Fictioneers

What to Serve with Pie?

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

“Pie? Again?” Janie leaned on her elbows and scanned the kitchen. “Every night, the same. Pie. And nothing to show for it except dirty dishes and messy counters. Ugh. I could make cookies, macaroons, truffles, crème brûlée! But nooooooo. Pie. Pie. Pie.”

“Uh, Janie?” Sharon glanced up from her rolling pin. “You ever think of getting a different job?”

The younger girl shrugged. 

“I don’t think you’re gonna cut it here—unless we start serving whine with our pies.”

“Ohhhhh! That’s an idea! I love wine.”

Sharon popped a pie into the oven. “You certainly do, hun. You certainly do.”

As always, many thanks for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers! Stop over and read a wonderful array of 100-word-fiction pieces based on this photo prompt!