Hot Sauce

PHOTO PROMPT Copyright – Marie Gail Stratford

Our school’s groundsman Patrick was a straight meat and two veg man.  In the years before he retired I never saw him venture outside the confines of his traditional fare.

So when I bumped into him at the local Asian grocery store, I expressed my surprise.

“The wife wanted to get some ingredients for tonight” he sheepishly replied.

Wife? The bachelor boy had succumbed to the charms of a young Asian bride.

I glimpsed our old librarian Miss Wordsworth.  What a bit of gossip to tell her.

“Yes, Miss Wo.., er, Emily and I got married last month” he gushed.

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100

A photo prompt of my favourite sauce and I nearly didn't write a blog entry this week.  Writing motivation is a separate story in itself.  Actually the Siricha Sauce was in the news recently but I decided to go another way.

A Taxing Time

copyright-adam-ickes

In the end it was the Troll that did the damage to the Gruff brothers.

Yeah I know you’ve heard that story where Big Billy Goat Gruff slammed into the Troll and tossed him into the raging stream.

What damage you ask?  Well while it’s true that the Troll liked nothing better than to eat a nice juicy Billy Goat, he was also the resident toll collector.  So when Billy dumped the Toll collector into water the revenues stopped coming in.  The Gruff brothers ate the books but IRS charged them for tax evasion and put them out to pasture.

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100


It's that time of the year again when a person's fancy turns to lodging tax returns.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

PHOTO PROMPT – Copyright – Kelly Sands

As he lay upon the grassy knoll and gazed at the clouds above, Kevin was aware of a face looking down upon him.  He recognised it from the visions he had, the voice booming down like the distant rumbling of thunder.

“Kevvo mate how ya goin?  Ya lazy drongo get off ya bum and do something ya slacker”.

Really?  The big guy in the sky nags likes all the Sheilas in his life.

“Don't get your knickers in a knot big guy, it’s all good”.

Kevin blew a cloud of smoke in the air.

“Damn this shit is good”.

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100

I might not approve of what Kevin does but then fictional creations have a life of their own. Have made an update to the story to change it from the obvious to an implied reference now.
Here is the the link to the reference to the Beatle's song

The Kingdom's End

Copyright – Claire Fuller

My father was a king who ruled with an iron fist.  Set up on a pedestal by his doting queen who remained blind to his transgressions.  We were his underlings catering to his every whim. 

My sisters fled first, from this kingdom of fear, breaking the shackles that enslaved their minds.  Only I remained to serve till I too broke free.

Yet I would return after the decay had set in.  Still on a pedestal but the passage of time had not been kind. His past exposed and the image tarnished.  The edifice was crumbling and restoration now beyond hope.

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100

An old king lost his crown and a lot more this week.  I thought the tarnished statue an appropriate starting point for this week's post.

The Wishing Tree

Copyright Madison Woods

It grows in the backyard, our very own Kalpavriksha, the tree of fulfilment of wishes and desires.

We noticed it the day we moved in, the cylindrical trunk with thick tapering branches, like an ‘upside-down tree’. The bark greyish brown variously folded and seamed from years of growth.

‘I am bored I wish I had friends here’.

Explore the tree we said and up in its branches the neighbouring boys came into sight and the start of summers of friendship.

Our mind is the Kaplavriksha, rather than asking for a wish: you could actually make it happen if you so desired.



**



Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100

When you think about it trees appear in myths and legends from around the world. They form the bridge between worlds, real and imaginary, as sources of life and wisdom, and as a symbol of life and fertility. And the basis of this week's contribution by the Fictioneers :-)

The Cup of Life

Copyright -Mary Shipman

He felt butterflies in his stomach as the stacked houses of the old Favela came into view.  Eyes bored into his back as he walked through the gates. 

Memories from the past came up as he saw people congregate in the streets laughing and yelling.  The children were playing in the soccer field of dirt and stone where he learnt his skills. 

He turned into the narrow street and its stench of raw sewage and fried food.  The crumbling apartments block where his family stayed, housing rooms with broken walls and occasional rodents.   Soccer had liberated his family from penury.    

 

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100  

I was going to take a break too, just like our fearless leader, but then this is Soccer World Cup time.  Which presents a perfect opportunity to pay a tribute to all those wonderful soccer stars who came from the Favelas 

And this is probably the best World Cup song of all time.

Tooth and Wisdom

 Copyright-Ted Strutz

I shivered as a gust of cold air blew in through the latticed window.  Outside the dark clouds rolled in like a black sheet on the horizon.  I could see people scurrying for cover in the street.  In this town by the lake the weather can change within minutes. 

The clouds burst open upon the stragglers and rain whipped their faces.  And the wind howled from ever-changing directions.

A malodourous stench announced my patient.  Of all the dental shops, in all the towns, in all the world, he walks into mine.

“Count Dracula just in time for your dental checkup”.

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100  And with a passing nod to Rick

Pictures of the Floating World

My life can be summarized as Ukiyo-e, or as they call it pictures of the floating world‘.  Living for the moment, devouring the pleasures on offer, drifting without a care in the world. I am no yamabushi ascetic on gruelling mountain pilgrimage in search of enlightenment.

My search is for beauty, the inexpressible ethereal loveliness that haunts my desires.  If I were an artist like Katsushika Hokusai I’d capture my adoration for my current object of affection just as he did with  “Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji”. 

Relationships?  I bid them Sayonara and light a candle to them each night. 

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 100

A late entry this week but one that got me looking up Japanese art and poetry  and for that I am very grateful.

Totemo kansha shite imasu.    

Prince Charming's Quest

Copyright -Jennifer Pendergast

She stood in the courtyard, shivering, enveloped by the cold damp air and looked outside the portal.  A warm summer day lit up by bright sunshine.  So different from her world inside stone walled castles, towers, turrets, spiral stairways, giant halls, rich tapestries hanging from the walls, suits of armours, ruby encrusted crowns.

A world hidden behind moats, colossal drawbridge and ramparts guarded by the King’s troops.  A world attained when Charming found her through that glass slipper left behind.

And now he too was gone. I am sorry, he said,  but I was really looking for a Cinderfella.

**

Written for Friday Fictioneers. Word Count : 99



It's got to be a fairy tale week with the photo conjuring up images of Kings, Queens  and fairy tales.  Or maybe not ;-)