Paradise Lost

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

“I am struggling here”, the brittle-tongued voice sounded on the verge of tears.    

               

“Oho!” I replied, hoping my answer conveyed some empathy while I struggled to identify the caller. 

Meanwhile on the other end of the line and emotional battle was raging.

I heard disjointed words between the sobs.

“Holiday bawaah...”

The story coming through indicated a holiday booked online that promised Paradise along with all the accompaniments that Paradise entailed. And now there was trouble in Shangri–la.  The island lacked modern communications.  There was no mobile internet.

“I can’t even Instagram my food waaah...”.

I cut the line.

***

Written for Friday Fictioneers Word Count : 100.

Back again at another day in Friday Fictioneer's Paradise.  The photo for this week is that old communication device, the payphone.  The news in Australia is that the payphone could be dead by the end of the year.   I mean all you can do on that is make a phone call.  Soon it will exist only in a museum.

To read the other stories this week click here

Resurrection

PHOTO PROMPT © Janet Webb

Each day I light a candle in your name.

I dip my hand into the jar when the sunlight demurely steps out of the window and darkness lays a claim to the room. The tiny silvery sphere sparkles in my hand. I close my hand and expel the hot air from my mouth.

The incantation slips out of my mouth and ancient words long forgotten fill the room. The folio flutters and your presence fills the room. We celebrate our love again.

I have filled the jar a countless time. Claiming souls to charge the spheres terrifies me no more.

Written for Friday Fictioneers Word Count : 100.

I think I spent more time this week on deciding the title of my story. I thought about Eurydice the wife of Orpheus.   But then it wasn't a true resurrection story as she vanished back into the underworld.  I thought about using Ishtar and Persephone but in the end this was not about them.  So a revenant then, a person that returns as a spirit after death.  In this case maybe recalled by supernatural magic.  Maybe just stick with resurrection.

To read the other stories this week click here

Clipped

PHOTO PROMPT © Claire Sheldon

It was a sure fire scheme, an opportunity in a mineral rich country awash with investments and the discovery welcomed by the mining giants.

This was an unprecedented offer in the mid 1990s when the economy was still limping after the global recession that came swiftly after the Black Monday of October 1987. 

For twenty years he had tracked the progress of the bonds.  Recent rumours were worrying but his broker reassured him.  Then he received a packet by mail.  The mine had gone bust but surely the investors would value the paper clips made from the mined iron ore.

Written for Friday Fictioneers Word Count : 100. 

Here we are back again for another round.

To read the other stories this week click here