Been Stalked

PHOTO PROMPT © Yvette Prior

He strode into the room with his usual giant strides. What he really needed was shot of caffeine after his afternoon siesta.

He smiled indulgently as the room was filled with the sounds of the gentle strumming of the harp.

Good coffee and music that was all that he needed. He was glad that that coffee was always brewing, all he had to do was come into this room and it would be set up for him.

He stood and inhaled appreciatively. Something was different today. He stood there tentatively and twitching his nostrils sniffed again. “Fee fi fo fum…”

***

  Word Count : 100.

Time for a coffee break at the Friday Fictioneers.  To read what's brewing with the Fictioneers this week click here

 I'd love read what you think about this post...

Under my umbrella

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

I am never going to that restaurant. There we were having fun on the karaoke machine and this waiter asked us to stop.  We told him to stop being cranky?

Then we all called him a killjoy. You know what he said?

“I love my music and I’d even say it’s not that bad a song.  Got a nice rhythm to it and before I worked here I might have even hummed it.  But if I hear ‘Under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh, eh, eh-eh’ one more time, I’ll seriously open the umbrella where the sun don’t shine.”

***

  Word Count : 100.

Its Umbrella week at the Friday Fictioneers.  I may come back with a serious flash in which I discuss the meaning of life.  But lets have some fun first.

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

Time Out

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

He was in my shop again, the heartless man, but I suppose he was only doing his job.

He coughed discreetly, clearing his throat.

 “So you don’t know why she would be in a park at such a late hour sir?”

“No.  We don’t have any friends as such in this town, except Franz and Bertha who live next door”.

Franz that bastard! Did he think I would never find out?

I knew he would remain silent, Bertha’s family was not known for forgiveness.

“The weapon remains untraceable too”.

The cuckoo sang as the red tipped hand reached the hour.

***

Here we go clocking another week of the Friday Fictioneers.

Word Count : 100.

Like last week am going for two submissions. The first one can be found here -> Inheritance

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

The Inheritance

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Growing up I was fascinated by my Grandfather’s Cuckoo Clock.   It was an intricately carved clock with ornate carved bone hands and natural walnut patina.  Every hour the cuckoo sound was played, the cabin door would open and dancers would come out.  

Granddad often joked that he would leave it to me in his will.  So when I moved away I wrote letters to him so that he would not forget.

I found other interests, friends and the clock faded from my memory.   But I continued to write to him.  Till one day a letter arrived from his solicitors.

***

Here we go clocking another week of the Friday Fictioneers.

Word Count : 100.

Like last week am going for two submissions. The second unrelated story can be found here -> Time Out

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

Lunatic

PHOTO PROMPT © Gah Learner

In hindsight I should have booked the weekend in Venice. Taken a Gondola ride with the gentle pulse of a gondolier’s oar setting the scene for romance. Finish the day watching the sun set behind the Venetian skyline. 

Instead I found this deal online for a prison complex turned into a boutique hotel. Only I missed reading the part about committing to an authentic experience. Which is all explained if you read the contract.

After working the prison yard we were too tired assign blame. The moon a reminder that only a lunatic would have signed up for this holiday.

***

The moon shines over another week of the Friday Fictioneers.

I am going for two submissions this week. The first one can be found here -> Moon Shines Brighter Tonight

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

The moon shines brighter tonight

PHOTO PROMPT © Gah Learner

The moon shines brighter tonight
I stand and gaze on its light
This our time on weekends
When we hit the town.

Those youthful days that I recall
In company of friends spinning yarns
Laced by nostalgia and a warm glow
That time brings to days gone by.

Our past years have been spent
In this very room where I now stand
Overlooking the hills in a distance
Our very own ‘room with a view’.

Not my first choice you would joke
How bare and bereft it seems now
Machines unplugged and humming no more
The moon shines brighter tonight.

***

The moon shines over another week of the Friday Fictioneers.

I am going for two submissions this week. The second one can be found here -> Lunatic

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

Reflections

PHOTO PROMPT © Nathan Sowers

After she left him Gaz stopped looking at himself in mirrors. He blamed his looks for her infidelity, had he been better looking she would have stayed. In the aftermath of the betrayal the house was shorn of all mirrors.

To distract him I asked him to volunteer at the children’s cancer ward. His kindness and goofy humour won the hearts of the kids. As his confidence soared Gaz reflected that he was better off without someone who could not look beyond his appearance.

But that mirror was needed back, the children had been teasing him about his uncombed look.

***

The mirror tells me it is time for another week of the Friday Fictioneers.

I am going for two submissions this week. The first one can be found here -> Fairy Tales

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

Fairy Tales

PHOTO PROMPT © Nathan Sowers 

I recognised that mirror the moment I saw it.  My source was correct, there was treasure to be found in that market.

I disguised my eagerness and even appeared to be doing the dealer a favour by taking it off his hands.  Those goblins would sell their mother for the right price.

I couldn’t wait to get it inside the house, so I hastily unwrapped it and propped it up against the wall.

“Mirror, mirror on the wall do you have any gossip for me at all?”

This mirror was going to make my gossip column number one in Fairyland.

***

The mirror tells me it is time for another week of the Friday Fictioneers.  

I am going for two submissions this week.  The second one can be found here -> Reflections 

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

Evening Hymn

PHOTO PROMPT © Carla Bicomong

In the evening, as dusk descends we find ourselves on the banks of the river along with thousands of others.  The air is thick with incense, scented flowers and clanging bells. 

Why am I here?  Just to light a lamp and float it on the river?  Is there any meaning to my action?  These are questions that remain unanswered.

Yet when we chant the evening hymn I feel my troubles dissipate away.

I pay my salutation to the light / lamp

That brings auspiciousness; prosperity, good health,

 An abundance of money and wealth,

And the destruction of the intellect’s enemy.

***

Here we go go again with another round of  Friday Fictioneers.  The floating lamps had me thinking of the floating lamps aarti in the river Ganges and the chanting of the hymn Shubham Karoti Kalyanam.

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

Smoke and Mirrors

PHOTO PROMPT © Yvette Prior

I breathe in the stale smell of regret permeating the room.  That and the fumes of alcohol mixed with cigarette smoke.

It wasn’t always like this you know.  Food was a passion and these pots that now lie empty were always in use.  She was not concerned with calorie counting and dieting fads.  And while she laughed off comments made in front of her, the online trolls typing hate online got to her.

Perfect in my eyes but she saw something else in the mirrors.

“Lose 63% more abdominal body fat”

It was not just body fat that she lost.

***

Almost did not make it to this week's Friday Fictioneers.  But I decided to have a go at the very last minute.  Body dysmorphia is real.  So many young people these days are preoccupied with an imagined physical defect or a minor defect that others often cannot see.

To read other stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

I'd love read what you think about this post...

The Festival

Copyright Ronda del Boccio

She is planting seeds in the pot. She struggles yet insists on doing it.  This time she has a young helper whose enthusiasm makes up for his lack of gardening skills. 

The helper brims with questions and she answers them more patiently than I would.

She tells him about the seven types of grains that are sown in a pot ten days prior to the festival.

“A harvest festival? But we are not farmers Grandma”.

“Maybe not child but it reminds us that we are nothing without nature’s bounty”

I join them to sow the seeds that bound us together.

***

Welcome to a green Friday Fictioneers.  When I saw the photograph I was reminded of Harela, a harvest festival from the beautiful region of Kumaon where I come from.  The festival may have it's origin in agricultural communities but it is celebrated in the urban areas too.  An eco-friendly festival long before the word was coined.

To read other green stories by the Fictioneers this week click here

Kindling My Creations

So I decided to use some of my blog entries and put them in an e-book. One I wanted put out an e-book and these post were there to be used. I thought it would be a more convenient way of reading instead of navigating the blog. The first one was Fridays on My Mind, which is a collection of 50 flash fiction stories.

I also converted my A to Z poetry challenge into an e-book that can be found here

A to Z Poems.

The poems are accessible from this blog anyway.

The e-books are free for Kindle Unlimited users.

My Amazon Author page can be accessed by this link.