He watched his son storm off, all thunder and lightning. Seems it was always that way lately, always gray where he and his eldest were concerned.
When had the clouds come? When had the sun stopped shining? When had the ground beneath them cracked, shifted, to become a barren, parched landscape of lost moments, dying of thirst in spite of the insults and epithets that rained down daily?
Sometimes, just for an instant, he saw him again as a baby, crawling away with such delight, only to turn and cry because he’d gotten too far. Or as a toddler, racing free across the playground, only to demand daddy’s help on the slide or the swings. Even as a grade schooler, his son would come to him, seeking shelter from the bullies.
When had the weather changed?
He wished he had an olive branch to offer, some shade from the storm.
His colleagues assured him these tempests were normal, that eventually all would settle down again, that calm waters would return.
He knew they were wrong. He knew if he couldn’t fix this, couldn’t shore up their crumbling relationship, one day, his son would walk away and not come back.
This week’s required Flash Friday Fiction element was to focus on conflict, specifically a man-to-man conflict, incorporating the photo prompt (literally or figuratively) into a 200 (+/-10) word story. I opted for man-to-almost-man. What do you think of my efforts?
I hope you’ll join us over on the official Flash Friday site, where you can read (and comment on) others’ entries, as well as check out the fabulous tales from weeks past.
Ooh! Marvelous author and friend Tamara Shoemaker nominated me for the Liebster Award (which I also got in 2013)! Thanks so much, Tamara!
The Liebster Award is less an actual award and more a chance to meet/get to know other bloggers better (a prize in and of itself, right?). When nominated, bloggers provide 11 random facts about themselves, answer 11 questions posed by their nominator, and then think up 11 new questions to ask the three lucky bloggers to whom they choose to pass on the Liebster Award.
So…here we go!
11 Random Facts About Me (Different from the LAST 11 Facts. Man, this is hard.)
1. I have the worst memory ever. Like, really. Locations of items and numbers stick in my head, so people are always asking me where their shoes are or what so-and-so’s phone number is. But as to my own childhood? It’s mostly a blur.
2. One time, when I was selling Girl Scouts cookies, as I was waiting for a potential customer to answer the door, for some crazy reason I stuck my tongue on their railing. In Iowa. In February. Needless to say, it froze there. I remember panicking, thinking the homeowners were going to open their door at any second and see this little girl with her mouth adhered to their personal property. So I did what any (ir)rational child would do: I ripped my tongue off of that sucker. Yes, it bled.
3. Any memories of my childhood, such as the Girl Scout one above, tend to revolve around getting hurt, whether emotionally or physically.
4. I have never had a car accident for which I was at fault, EXCEPT when backing up. I’ve backed over my son’s stroller, my son’s bike, my son’s basketball, my daughter’s chalk bucket… I backed THROUGH the garage door once. Unfortunately, my streak of never backing into anyone else’s car ended this fall. At least it was a parked one. Oops.
5. I have at least a thousand books in my TBR pile here at home. I kid you not. (Don’t even ask how many I’ve acquired via Kindle, either.)
6. My husband and his grad school roommate were the creators of the Oracle of Bacon, the famous online version of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game. The site ended up being featured in a number of magazines in the mid 90s, and my husband even got to fly out to California to meet Kevin Bacon.
7. OK, that last one wasn’t really about ME, was it? Seriously, how much do you people need to know? Um, my favorite kind of cake is carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Not that I’m eating any lately, since I’ve given up sugar and all. But I am salivating now at the thought of it.
8. When I was a kid, my first career goal was to be a banker, because I thought bankers had all the money they wanted.
9. I was a huge Michael Jackson fan in the early 80s. Thriller was the first album (yes, I said album) that I ever owned. I can remember dancing around in our living room to Billie Jean PYT. I even had a Michael Jackson poster that I used to kiss goodnight. OMG, I can’t believe I just admitted that! But by 1986, the love affair was over. I’d moved on to George Michael.
10. I grew up in Iowa. Contrary to my husband’s taunts, however, I never lived on a farm, nor did I reside in a cornfield. I did detassle corn for pay. For half a day. Never again.
11. I adore cats and have since I was a baby (according to my mom). We currently have two felines and I’d have a few more if I could get away with it. But more cats would equal one less husband, I’ve been warned. So I satisfy myself with daily purrs from Presley and Scilla (whose picture you can find on my Contact Me page).
11 Answers to Questions from the Nominator (Ms. Tamara):
1. What would you say that other people say is your best talent?
Bwah ha ha – I just asked my son what my best talent was, and he said, “TALKING.” My husband and daughter would likely concur. My mom, too. I was hoping for something like, “Your sparkling wit,” or, “Your amazing generosity.” But the crowd has spoken. And what they say is, I talk a lot. A lot.
2. What is your favorite genre to read and why?
Romance, hands down. Has been since I was a kid. I just love the notion that no matter what crazy plot twists life may hold, there’s one person with whom you’re destined to end up, and that nothing will tear you apart. That idea was very soothing to a child of divorce–and still holds great appeal to me today, too!
3. If you could take the place of any hero/heroine in any book/movie, what would it be, and why?
Wow! What an awesome question! I suppose I’d pick Pride and Prejudice’s Elizabeth Bennet, because she’s smart, witty, and feisty, AND ends up with Darcy.
Colin Morgan
4. Who’s your favorite? Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Armitage, Colin Firth, Martin Freeman, Gerard Butler? Why? And if you hate all of them, explain yourself (because there is no excuse). 😉
Why should a lady have to choose? I’ll take them all (don’t tell my husband)! Except Gerard Butler, actually. I’m sure he’s a nice fellow, but he just doesn’t do it for me. OK, really what I meant is, I’ll take them all to dinner. What a rip-roaring good time THAT would be. For me, at least. I do have to ask, though–where’s Colin MORGAN on that list, Tamara?
5. Who’s your favorite? Jennifer Lawrence, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emma Thompson? Why? And same as above, if you hate all of them, explain yourself. 🙂
Hrm. An interesting array of actresses, all of whom I like for varying reasons. I suppose I’ll go with Emma Thompson. Love the whole British thing, plus she was marvelous in Sense and Sensibility.
6. Pretend you’re making up a new language. What would be the phrase for: “You steal my heart.” Tell me your process.
Furari cor meum. Oh wait, that’s a real language. Du stehlst mein Herz. Rats. Another real language again. My process is, why do we need another new language? I have a hard enough time with the one(s) I know.
Fine, here: “Ye steal me heart, matey.” Because we all know there’s NO better language than Pirate.
7. Explain why The Princess Bride is one of the greatest movies of all time.
There is no explanation. There is just fact. The Princess Bride is THE greatest movie of all time. Epic romance, witty repartee, impossibly funny giants, Spaniards, and Sicilians (oh my!), and a man as devastatingly handsome as Cary Elwes? The chances of there ever being anything better? Inconceivable! (Also, I met Wallace Shawn in UVa’s Alderman Library once. True story.)
8. What is your go-to activity when you’re bored/unhappy/sad? Why?
Eating. Because I excel at the self-delusion that eating feelings buries them. You’d think after 42 years of trying and failing at that, I’d opt for some other coping mechanism. Nope. Excuse me while I go snarf some macaroni and cheese now.
9. Tolkein or Lewis? Why?
Um. Um. I fail at this question. Because they are two of the giants, and I’ve read so little by either. (Ducks for cover.) I have seen a number of the movies based on their works, but I hardly think that counts. So, well, again, both. Why not?
10. Favorite mythical creature? Why?
I’m rather partial to Santa Claus, because he seems a right jolly old elf. Generous, too. I don’t really have a better answer–I like a great many mythological creatures, although I would say each has its pros and cons. Could I go with Doctor Who? Because at least then I’d get to time-travel.
11. What was your favorite childhood story? What was so fascinating about it?
Wait, didn’t we already discuss the fact that my memory stinks? And now you’re expecting me to recall stories from years ago in enough detail to be able to tell you why I loved them? Like that’s going to happen. I do remember being absolutely enthralled with Charlotte’s Web and The Secret Garden. When I reread Charlotte’s Web recently, I was surprised again at how very sad that story is. I mean *spoiler alert*, the spider dies. DIES. And yet I loved that book so much that I asked everyone for a copy of it for my 9th birthday. I ended up owning three. The Secret Garden is a little fuzzier, plot-wise, since I haven’t read it in thirty years. But I loved it so much that I bought an annotated version of it just a year or so ago, which is moving to the top of that 1,000+ book TBR pile now.
11 (Occasional Two-Part) Questions for the Next Unsuspecting Victims:
1. If you could visit any time period in history, which would you choose, and why?
2. Do you believe in ghosts and/or other paranormal things/events? Why or why not?
3. What was the best book you read in the last year? Why was it so great?
4. What genre is your LEAST favorite to read? Why?
5. If your life story were to be made into a movie, who would you want to play you, and why?
6. Which celebrity would you be most interested in having dinner with? Why?
7. You’re stranded on a desert island and only have access to five books. Which would you take
8. Do you believe in the concept of a soul mate? Elaborate.
9. What is your favorite form/genre of fiction to write, and why?
10. Cats or dogs? (If you don’t like either, why not? What’s wrong with you!?)
11. And finally, the most important question you will answer today: What’s your favorite kind of pizza?
It’d been a long time since she’d taken off her shoes and stockings to walk across the sand. A long time since she’d dipped her toes in the freezing waters, felt the rocks underneath her heels, the salt spray across her face. Forever since she’d let the sound of the surf lull her into thinking life could be smooth, easy, as predictable as the tides.
But every day, she stopped.
She watched children scampering across the dunes, their exuberance bringing smiles to all around them. She watched older ladies sunning themselves, their hats and sunglasses vain attempts to protect youth long since gone.
And she watched lovers, strolling hand in hand across the ocean’s edge, reveling in the lapping of the waves over their feet as they clung to each other, certain nothing could be better than this.
She’d been that once. A lover. Young. Beautiful. No cares in the world.
Until the day he drowned. Not her lover. Their son.
She’d only looked away for a moment, but a moment was all it had taken.
Now every morning, she paid homage to atone for her sin, attempting to cleanse herself from the unbearable grief.
This week, we had to focus on setting in our short (short!) stories of 200 (+/-10) words, and the setting given to us was BEACH. I’d love to know what you think of my offering. And please swim on over to Flash Friday Fiction to read and comment on the many other wondering stories – or submit one of your own!
It was an accident, I swear. I didn’t mean to break it, the Coliseum, but, well, you know–I’m clumsy. The boss is always saying so.
Was it my fault they hadn’t secured that skeleton well enough? Or that I tripped over an extension cord and knocked down the entire Powhatan wigwam?
They’d docked my wages for months after that one.
It’s OK, though. I love this job. Where else could I see places I’ll never really see, experience things I’ll never have a chance to, even if only in 1:32 scale?
The people are amazing here. The languages I hear, the excitement on faces, the running, the shouting. The engagement. Families, couples, children–they all engage with each other, engage with the exhibits. They are so alive. Even the wailing babies don’t bother me.
Better than the silence I face each night at home.
I wonder what their lives are like, these people who don’t notice me. I pick up their trash, chase after their leavings. I ensure their visit is clean. Sparkly. Fresh.
There is no dirt here. There is no seamy underbelly in a museum, just the pictures we want to see, the ideas we want to hold true.
Woo hoo! It’s another round of Flash Friday Fiction, but we’ve got new requirements: not only did we have to focus on a character (this week, a janitor), but we also had more words in which to do so, 200 (+/- 10), in fact.
What do you think of my offering? I hope you’ll head on over to Flash Friday and read/comment on the other stories. There’s some amazing story telling (in miniature) happening over there every week!
I haven’t entered many contests – fewer than five, I believe – but this is the first time I’ve been a finalist and actually won something. What a thrill!
I’m looking forward to attending the CRW’s Pages to Publication conference in March, where we will get to meet the contest winners, as well as others who placed in their categories.
