Mommy and Me and Sally Make Three

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Mommy and Me and Sally Make Three

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“They’re three for a quarter, Mommy, please.” Ronnie eyes pivoted from the multilayers of colored balloons tacked to the barker’s wall, to his mother, and back again.

“No Ronnie. I know I said it was your money and you could spend it any way you wanted. Throwing darts is pub-like behavior. I will not have you turning out like your father.”

Bowing his head in surrender, Ronnie scampered away. Mom continued strolling through the carnival aisles, just her and the little one, Sally.

A clown was selling balloons. They were huge! Instantly Ronnie knew what to do.

Emptying his pockets, Ronnie purchased every balloon.

“Sally, these are for you!” and Ronnie gently tied each balloon to the tiny girl’s wrists.

Sally giggled in delight… suddenly her own carnival ride.

Mommy screamed, but it was too late.

Tugging on the hem of his mother’s skirt, Ronnie innocently looked up, “Let me get her, Mom. Can I throw darts, now?”

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Written for The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge. (This one could not be entered. I could not hone it down to 99 words without losing storyline.) 

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No Recess for Robby

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No Recess for Robby

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“… and one more word, No Recess. Am I understood?”

That was Ms. Fletcher. “Am I understood? this and Am I understood? that.”

Robby had learned quickly learned the proper answer that followed… “Yes, ma’am.”

Third grade was the worst.

Now there was homework. Snack time was for babies. Recess was earned. (In our class’s case, NEVER EARNED.)

Robby’s mother was sympathetic. “Hang in there. It’ll get better.”

Robby’s brother was the problem-solver. “You’ll never win them all, Robby. But winning one can be worth it”.

Robby walked to school today ‘A Winner’.

Inside his backpack… a whoopee cushion.

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Written for The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge. Requirements: March 8, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that features a balloon. It can be a party balloon or a hot air balloon. How does it add to your story? Go where the prompt leads.

Never So Simple

“Mamma… Mamma… The raven is back!” Mika ran breathlessly onto the back porch of the small trailer where her mother was removing the last fleshy remnants from the hides hanging from the rafters.

“Don’t worry child. It’s grown hungry and is raiding the fields just like the other birds.”

“But Grandmamma said…”

“I know what she said.” Mama clutched me close to her bosom. “Unci believes in great meanings from all the forest animals.”

“Does that mean it’s not true?”

“Grandmamma would never lie to you, Mika.”

“So, it is true.”

“The truth is never so simple, my child.”

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Written for The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge. Requirements: March 1, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes a raven. It can be in nature or used to describe humanity as a metaphor. Follow the bird. Go where the prompt leads.

Providence Is in My Hands

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Providence Is in My Hands

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Slowly and steadily Steven maneuvered the one-wheeled cultivator through the freshly tilled earth. After each carefully calculated pass, he methodically removed every stone and pebble the tines had exposed. For this year’s harvest there could be no impediments.

Picking up the malodorous bucket and his father’s haversack from the top of the preceding row, Steven continued to mimic the planting ritual he had seen his father do in years’ past.

Systematically pacing off ten-foot increments, Steven knelt, laid the head of a sun perch, and encircled it with the three sisters.

As new head-of-family, providence was his to command.

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Written for The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge. Requirements: September 21, 2017 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about what it is to gather a harvest. You can use the phrase or show what it means without using the words. Go where the prompt leads.

A Father’s Blessing

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A Father’s Blessing

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“Pap-pa, Esmeralda. She’s the one I’ve been telling you about.”

Freddie lost his father.   Lost?  No… He just left.

And Freddie appeared.  Assisting with weeding and mowing… shooting hoops in the driveway… caring for the Dane when I’m away.

The two are aglow.

For a bride, so many traditions.  Something old… new… borrowed… blue.

Nothing for the groom. Marriage license. Money. Rehearsal dinner. More money. Honeymoon. Even more money.

If a groom has no roots of his own… it’s hard to grow.

I wonder… my fingers encircle the ring I’ve worn faithfully since Sara’s passing.

“Freddie… if you’d like it.”

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Written for The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge. Requirements: April 13, 2017 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write about a ring. Keep the definition to that of a piece of jewelry. Whose ring is it and what’s its significance? Go where the prompt leads.

Egg-actly: The Beginning

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“540 billion years ago.”

“You’re quite sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. The computers confirm it.”

“But wasn’t The Big Bang 14 billion years ago?”

“Yes! Isn’t this exciting?”

“But how are you going to explain it?”

“Scientifically, of course. Everyone knows- even in the beginning- you can’t make something out of nothing. The Law of Conservation. We just never knew what was here pre-Big Bang.”

“And now you know?”

“Indubitably. For a bang like that, there had to be a massive built-up of pressure. Probably gases. And then something causes an igniting.”

‘So you’ve found it?”

“The primordial eggshell.”

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Written for The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Challenge: Requirements: April 6, 2017 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write about a creation myth. You can write your own, use one in a story or create tension (or comparability) between science and culture on the topic of creation. Go where the prompt leads leads.

Hello… Good-Bye

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“Good morning.”

Standing at my door, I greet every one of them.

Most years, by now, they greet me back.

Not this year.

“I glad to see you today. I missed you yesterday.”

Agnes had been absent… again.

Her parents- between homes.

I wish I could do more.

Was that a small smile?

Here comes Aaron, the perpetual fist-bumper.

He always pulls his fist away before contact.

Small moments of coolness are important.

I grin… Then I step forward and bump fists before he can retreat.

He grins and sprints down the stairs.

“You cheated!” he yells in flight.

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Written for The Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction Writing Challenge. Requirements: March 30, 2017 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a hello or a goodbye. You can pick any greeting that grabs you from howdy to fare thee well. It will be interesting to see how the collection intertwines the opposite greetings. Go where the prompt leads you.