It’s Friday, time for another Friday Fictioneers Flash Fiction story featuring Alice Pendragon and her best friend Billy! This week they’re both taking part in a swimming competition.
Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting the challenge and to Terri Smeigh for this week’s photo prompt.
Photo Credit: Terri Smeigh
****
The Swimming Competition
The highest school team goal scorer wore a smug smile as he strolled over.
‘Hi Alice, fancy a pizza?’
I was one of the few girls he hadn’t hit on yet. ‘Sorry, I’m swimming.’
‘What about the Saturday market? Help me choose my sister’s birthday present.’
Jack is dense, but persistent. ‘I’m swimming.’
‘Everyone knows Billy will win.’
I nodded, Billy’s the best. ‘We’re training together.’
‘So, when he beats you, we can go on our date. What about a movie on Sunday?’
‘On Sunday I’ll be celebrating with Billy, his victories are mine too,’ I said and strode away.
It’s my second time taking part in theSunday Photo Fiction. Below is the picture which inspired me to write the following 100-word flash fiction, although according to the rules, you can write up to 200 words. Thank you Susan for hosting and Terri Smeigh for the photo prompt.
****
Photo Credit: Terri Smeigh
Happy Anniversary
My husband raised his gold-rimmed champagne flute. ‘Happy anniversary, darling.’
I smiled, in spite of the partying and the other women, because I had learned to play my part.
A reporter approached as planned. ‘Senator, a few words for Celebrity Night?’
‘I’d like to thank my wife for twenty years of love and support.’
‘It’s been a pleasure, my love,’ I replied, although I wished we were back at the highway diner where he proposed.
He promised eternal love and I believed all our dreams would come true. Be careful what you wish for, I thought as my heart wept.
It’s my first time taking part in the Sunday Photo Fiction. I came across the picture which inspired me to write the following 100-word flash fiction, although according to the rules, you can write up to 200 words. Thank you Susan for hosting and Fandango for the photo prompt.
Photo Credit: Fandango
****
The Nightmare
I watch his thoughtful face on my phone screen as I describe my nightmare.
“I’m walking along a narrow path lined with tall, sturdy trees, but there’s a bend ahead and I can’t see what lies beyond, so I slow down then stop, because I’m terrified. That’s how I feel, paralyzed. What does it mean?”
He smiles. “I’ll tell you what happens next. You keep walking until you’re standing by my side, and together we walk down the aisle towards the man you love.”
“Are you sure, dad?”
“Absolutely, my princess.” He sighed. “Your mother would be so proud.”
Today I was thinking about how sometimes we wish things would happen and we think it’s enough just to wish for it, but we do nothing specific to find it or make it happen.
Perhaps taking action after making a wish will help it along!
And be careful what you wish for, be precise in your formulation and make sure it’s ‘exactly’ what you really want, because it may well happen in your very own words…
I was thinking about how easy it is to lose my temper, get angry, or feel upset and vulnerable. So, I was tempted to build a safety wall to protect my fragile emotional response and keep my feelings safe, but I realised I run the risk of becoming as hard as the wall I wanted to build.
I can be hard, like a wall, or soft like a tiny flower.
I can refuse to let feelings in, or perhaps a better strategy is to embrace these feelings, accept them and move on to the next, after all, they won’t last forever.
Be soft, let the feelings flow in and out. Don’t keep them in or lock them out.
It’s Friday, time for another Friday Fictioneers Flash Fiction story featuring Alice Pendragon and her best friend Billy! Last week, they saved a young man from committing suicide. Today he’ll tell them what was troubling him so much in life to prefer death.
Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting the challenge and to Roger Bultot for this week’s photo prompt.
I recently read a beautiful novel called The Two Hearts of Eliza Bloom(read my review here) by Beth Miller, about a Jewish girl living in London, in an orthodox family, who married a non-Jewish man, against her parent’s wishes, and the subsequent upheaval in both their lives. It’s an emotional and non-judgemental, yet moving account of what happens when families are in disagreement over their children’s marriages.
It’s a topic that is close to my heart, not because I’m Jewish, I’m not, but I could have been. We do not choose where we are born, or our parents’ religions, nationalities, skin colour, or mother tongue. It’s relevant to me because my parents have held hostile attitudes towards my husband for the last 39 years, since we started going out, which brought, and still brings, many senseless and unfair complications to our family.
This flash, was written bearing in mind the damage such inflexible and unreasonable attitudes can cause in a young man who is in love and yet would go to extreme lengths not to upset his family.
****
A Visit to the Synagogue
The young man whose life they’d saved took them to a brown stone building.
“The woman I love isn’t Jewish,” he said staring at the synagogue.
Alice shrugged. “Neither are we.”
“Then you wouldn’t understand.”
“Try us,” said Billy.
“I must marry a Jewish girl.” Tears filled his eyes.
“Have they met her?” asked Alice.
“They would never allow it! And I’d rather die than live without Helen.”
“We understand.” Billy squeezed Alice’s hand. “If your parents realized how much they meant to you, so much that you’d rather die than upset them, I’m sure they’d want to meet her.”
****
Billy is right. If the young man’s parents realised how much their intolerance and demands were making their son suffer, due to his love for them, they would surely reconsider, but unfortunately, parents aren’t always willing to accept that their children grow up and should be allowed to make their own decisions, and even their own mistakes.
National Poetry Writing Month is a poetry writing challenge to write a poem a day, which takes place every year in April. Follow the link to find out more, be inspired, get daily prompts and meet other poets!
Day 24 poem, The Meeting Place, was inspired by a bronze sculpture that stands at the south end of the upper level of St Pancras railway station in London. Designed by the British artist Paul Day and unveiled in 2007.
National Poetry Writing Month is a poetry writing challenge to write a poem a day, which takes place every year in April. Follow the link to find out more, be inspired, get daily prompts and meet other poets!
For Day 23, I’m joining in with Sue Vincent’s weekly #Writephoto prompt. Writers and bloggers are invited to use the image as inspiration to post on their own blogs, poetry, prose, humour… light or dark, or whatever you choose.
Click on the banner for more information about this fun weekly writing prompt!
National Poetry Writing Month is a poetry writing challenge to write a poem a day, which takes place every year in April. Follow the link to find out more, be inspired, get daily prompts and meet other poets!
For Day 22, 22nd April, Earth Day, my poem is an acrostic combination of a tanka (Earth) and a haiku (Day).
Rereading Jane Eyre 