Birthday – by Hugh W. Roberts
“Happy 100th Birthday, George. There’s no point hiding. I know you’re in here. Two cards for you. One’s from the Queen; not that she or anyone else knows who you are.”
Closing the door to the cellar, Muriel wondered how long it took for the smell of a decomposing body to disappear.
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Sacha Black challenges us to write something using the word ‘choke’ using just 52 words (no more, no less).
Choke – by Hugh W. Roberts
Olive Mackeson had died choking on a cheese and sweet pickle sandwich, shortly after pulling out the choke on the dashboard of her car, as her foot slipped off the clutch, forcing the car into the path of an oncoming truck.
Registration number of the car – K, one, one, L, M, E
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Sacha Black challenges us to write a story, poem, prompt, or theme, using just 52 words (no more, no less). This week we have to include the following words –
Time, Juice, Stack, Pigeon
Look away now if you’re one of the faint-hearted. I bring you, Flutter.
Their time had come.
Poor things. The odds had been stacked against them. They had no chance, but revenge was sweet.
As the group of pigeons prepared to feast, the first sunset of this new world was spectacular.
Human juice would at last flow. The eyes were the first to be pecked.
Thank you to the great Alfred Hitchcock for getting me through this tough challenge. Yes, I know they are crows and not pigeons in the clip, but pigeons didn’t feature in the movie, The Bird.
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Take a very close look at this photo.
Can you see that dark creature? It’s staring back at you. See its eyes?
Don’t look away from it. Stare at the creature for at least five seconds, and you’ll see exactly what it is.
Here, take another look. Remember, look at it for at least five seconds.
Did you stare at it for at least five seconds?
Did it reveal what it was to you?
Did you notice how it moved slightly?
No? Then take a final look. Remember, stare at it for at least five seconds. If you do, you’ll see it move slightly and reveal its secret.
Did it work? No? Then I’m going to have to tell you.
You see, that creature is the creak of the door. That faint sound you hear in the middle of the night wakes you up and makes you freeze, unable to move. That feeling terrifies you even though you’re not sure you heard a noise.
That creature is the creak of the trees as you walk past them. It’s the faint sound of those footsteps behind you. It’s the one ring of the telephone that stops and makes you wonder if anybody is really calling you. The chill passes through your body when somebody walks over your grave. That creature is the whisper you think you heard when you were all alone.
That creature only sleeps on the night of Halloween. That’s the one night you can rest, knowing you’ll be safe…unless…you stared at the photo for more than five seconds.
Did I not mention that the photo is cursed and that nobody should stare at it for more than five seconds or have read this post? Now you’re cursed. You see, that creature is me. I’m right behind you right now! Whatever you do, don’t look behind you. In fact, never ever look behind you ever again. Never! You see, if you do, then…
I am the creature.
Written in response to Sue Vincent’s The Thursday Photo Prompt #writephoto – Over at The Daily Echo.
Photo credits to Sue Vincent.
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I write poetry infrequently, but this idea came to me when I saw Sue Vincent’s #writephoto prompt at Daily Echo.
Before you read the poem, please be assured that I am very well, enjoying life, and haven’t touched a drop…yet.
This is the gateway to heartache
This is the gateway to my soul
This is the gateway to all of me
My thoughts, my secrets, my control.
Don’t enter this gateway
Don’t put a foot inside
For what will wake up and confront you
Will be sadness, my tears, not joy.
Find me a lock and find me the key
So I can protect you from all that is me
Build up a brick wall and pass me on by
So, this gateway to nightmares will no longer horrify.
I think it shows that these photo and writing challenges are a brilliant way to bring out the unusual in my writing.
I rarely write poetry because it is challenging, so I’d love to know what you think of this rare attempt.
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This is no joke. Sorry if you thought I was going to double you up with laughter. No, today I’m talking stereotyping! I thought it was a thing of the past, but it seems it’s as evident today as it has always been.
Take, for example, television. Have you ever noticed that in a pub scene on a TV show, the men seem to be constantly drinking pints or bottles of beer, while the women drink glasses of wine or a gin-and-vodka tonic?
How often have you seen a man in a pub scene drinking a glass of wine and a woman drinking a beer? Some may say it’s down to taste, but surely not all the men in Coronation Street only drink beer while the women always order a glass of wine?
I’ll give it to Emmerdale (another UK soap opera), as I have seen at least one female character (the vicar!) drinking a pint of beer. It’s refreshing to see, but I’ve yet to see any men walk in and ask for a gin and tonic! It’s always “pint please, Chas.”
Let’s turn our attention to the news. I know many people don’t watch the news on TV because it’s always depressing, but take ‘Breakfast’, the BBC’s early morning news programme.
Why does the man always sit on the left of the screen, while his co-presenter, a woman, always sits on the right? Is it some kind of power struggle? Why can’t they occasionally swap positions?
This leads me to wonder why it always has to be a man and a woman when two people read the news on TV. ‘Breakfast’ occasionally has two women presenting the show, but I’ve never seen it with two men. Why? Is it not acceptable for two men to present the news together?
It’s precisely the same over on ITV. The man sits on the left of the screen while the woman always sits on the right.
Have you noticed that the male presenter seems much older (not you, Charlie) than the woman presenter? Very rarely is it the other way around? Is there a reason for that?
Let’s move on to driving. Yesterday, while waiting to cross the road, I counted the cars that drove past, where a man and woman were sitting in the front of the vehicle. Would you be surprised if I told you that it was the man who was driving in just about all of the cars?
I saw it while on holiday as well. The man usually drives a hired vehicle while the woman sits in the front passenger seat.
It happens in our family all the time. We go to pick up my sister-in-law and her husband, and I can guarantee that my sister-in-law will sit in the back seat while her husband will sit in the front passenger seat.
The same goes for my niece and her husband. When they come to visit us, he always drives, regardless of whose car they are using.
Take two couples going off on a car journey together. Why do the men always sit together in the front while the two women sit in the back of the car?
Sport also suffers from stereotyping. Today, I was delighted to hear that Tom Daley and Dan Goodfellow won an Olympic bronze medal in the synchronised 10m platform diving.
On TV, ‘Breakfast’ mentioned it all morning, and the interview with Daley and Goodfellow was aired far too many times. They even interviewed a friend of Daley and Goodfellow’s, who talked the audience through the last dive more times than I care to remember.
However, where were Clare Balding and Co when Ed Ling won an Olympic bronze medal in the men’s trap shooting for Great Britain? Was he not worthy of an interview, Ms Balding? And why, unlike Daley and Goodfellow, did he only get a few seconds of a mention on ‘Breakfast’? Ed, if you’re reading this, then, unlike the BBC, I’d be delighted to interview you and celebrate the fact that you won an Olympic bronze medal.
Finally, let’s turn back to drink. How many of you ladies enjoy drinking whisky? Does anybody out there consider whisky to be only a man’s drink? Why am I asking these questions? It’s something that recently came up in conversation.
It seems I’m as guilty as most others at stereotyping. Reading through this post, why did I put an exclamation mark after the word vicar? Do vicars not drink alcohol?
Do you have any examples of stereotyping in today’s world? Does it bother you, or is it something we just take for granted?
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I’d just sat down to a nice cup of coffee.
Two sugar sachets are on the saucer. The teaspoon looks rusty and dirty from too many dishwasher washes. Never mind, the coffee looks good, and it’s a beautiful day here on Mumbles seafront.
I take my first sip, and then it begins.
“Hello, Brian, can you hear me……I’m on the mobile……can you hear me, Brian?”
Bit of a pause.
“Brian, can you……what?…….what did you say, Brian?”
Longer pause.
“I’m ringing to find out if…….Brian, are you still there?”
Bit of a pause.
“OK, I’m waving now. Can you see me?”
Pause
“Well, I’m waving. Hold on, I’ll get Margaret to wave.”
Margaret starts to wave her hand.
“Can you see us?”
Pause
“Well, I can’t understand it; we’re both waving. Are you there, Brian? Can you hear me?”
Pause
“Yes, I was ringing to find out if it was working?”
Pause
“No, I said, I was ringing…….Brian, can you hear me? Perhaps you can’t hear what I’m saying?”
Pause.
“OK, I’ll get Margaret to wave again. Hold on.”
Margaret waves again, and a small girl passing by, licking an ice cream cone, waves back at her.
“Can you see her waving, Brian? I’m waving now as well. Can you see us?”
Pause.
“No, I’ve been to the Opticians. My eyes are OK. I wasn’t ringing about that; I was ringing about the……”
Longer pause.
“No, my eyes are fine. They said I could continue with the glasses I’ve had for the last… hello…Brian, can you hear me? Are you still there, Brian?”
He looks at the phone.
“I think he’s gone, Margaret.”
He puts the phone back to his ear.
“Brian, are you still there?”
By this time, I had gulped my coffee down, wanting to get away, but then he looked at the phone again, and this time he closed it up, since it was one of those clam-style phones. I thought about getting another coffee and maybe a cake to continue my people-watching, but then his phone rang.
“Hello…Brian, is that you? Can you hear me?”
Not wanting to find out what he wanted to know was working; Toby and I made a rapid departure.
We enjoyed a lovely, quiet walk home along the beach without the sound of any mobile phones going off.
Have you ever overheard a one-sided conversation? What was it about?
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Everyone else had gone. The remaining four looked out the window and watched as it crossed the road.
“Stay very quiet,” whispered Roland. “It won’t find us here, provided we remain quiet.”
Maureen started to shake.
They watched silently as the sheep walked to the front of the house.
“Move to the back of the house. We’ll make our escape from there,” ordered Roland.
Upon opening the back door, the last four human survivors knew this was their final day. In the field now in front of them stood one hundred man-eating sheep.
The tide had turned.
***
This was written in response to the “Why Did The Sheep Cross The Road?’ writing prompt set by Sue Vincent at Daily Echo.
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Juliet had watched all day as each woman entered the door that only unlocked itself on Leap Day.
Some came back smiling, while others would come back through the door crying.
It was her turn, and Glenn was waiting on the other side.
“Yes” was the word she heard when she proposed, but Juliet never returned through the door.
People waited for her, and there was still no sign of her four years later.
The two women married each other. Juliet stayed to rest in peace with her beloved Glenn.
***
Written in response to the Beyond The Door challenge set by Sue Vincent at Daily Echo and the Writespiration #81:’ When Something’s Not What It Seems’ challenge set by Sacha Black.
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What? I almost married Lara Croft? OK, I don’t mean ‘the’ Lara Croft, do I, just somebody else with the same name as her?
Well, no, I mean the most famous Lara Croft there has ever been. She is a full- has the body most men desire and most women envy.time tomb raider and
Our relationship started in August 1997 when a friend loaned me a copy of “Tomb Raider” for the Sony PlayStation 1. I’d had the PlayStation for some months but was already bored until my friend introduced me to Lara Croft.
When I inserted the game disc into the PlayStation and pressed the play button, I fell in love with the only woman who would ever pull at my heartstrings.
I would spend countless evenings, nights, and weekends with Lara. It even got to the point that I would no longer go out on a Saturday night. Instead, I would spend the evening at home with Lara while my friends danced the night away, having fun, socialising, meeting new people, and enjoying each other’s company, while I only had eyes for Lara.
She’d take me to far-off places worldwide, Peru, Mongolia, Egypt, and India, to name a few. She’d protect me from killer bats, bears, lions and weird monsters I never knew existed. I followed her everywhere and ensured nothing horrible happened to her while on our travels.
I even remember that Saturday afternoon, I sat down with her at 5:15, and before we knew it, the clock told us it was 4.05 Sunday morning. But it didn’t matter then, as we were both in love and saw each other daily.
The day we got engaged was beautiful. By now, I knew I had met the perfect woman, and I was sure that Lara felt the same way about me. Why wouldn’t she? After all, I’d spend all my free time with her and tell my work colleagues about her. I know some of them envied me for having caught myself one of the most beautiful and sexiest women in the world, but others were happy for me and wanted to hear more about the adventures Lara and I were having.
I begged Lara to let me buy her an engagement ring, but she was having none of it. Well, not at that moment anyway, as she had dangerous work and would never forgive herself if she lost the ring while working. She promised me I could buy her an engagement ring just as soon as she had solved the mystery she was working on. But that day never came, and it wasn’t long after that when things started to go downhill, and our wedding day kept getting further and further away.
I’d gone everywhere with her on her first two adventures. While she worked at solving mysteries and puzzles, I earned the money that would pay for our wedding and first home together. We both knew that nothing could part us when she started her third adventure, but how wrong we would be. I’ll be honest and say that her experiences were getting too difficult for me. But that was because I’d started going out again, socialising, meeting friends, having a real laugh, enjoying the world around me, catching up on gossip, TV and the movies. Meanwhile, Lara continued her adventures without me, never wanting to accompany me.
“Most of your friends don’t like me”, she’d told me the day it all went pear-shaped, and I’d realised she was right. I also learned that Lara had put quite a big gap between my friends and me and that I was almost losing them and my life! Not only that, but she’d also put a strain on another relationship, the most important one, the one I’d had since 1993 and, to this day, is stronger than ever. Would my partner ever forgive me?
I finally ended my relationship with Lara and called off the wedding. I thought she’d be distraught, especially when I told her I was also selling my PlayStation. But she simply walked away with the man who had purchased the PlayStation from me, and I never heard from her again.
Do I have any regrets about what happened? No. I’m happy I found my life again and have never been tempted to contact Lara…Ever!
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