Post Delay

Sorry folks!

Due to a migraine beyond my control, I didn't get the next installment of Fire finished last night. I started it earlier in the week, but it's only about halfway there. And I'll be out of town working today so I can't get back to it until tonight.

I promise to get it finished tonight and it'll be up first thing tomorrow morning.


In the meantime . . . here's a couple of shorts I've done for my Scribes group recently. Every couple of weeks we're given a prompt and the challenge is to limit ourselves to 150 words.

Prompt: Write a bad novel opening in the tradition of "It was a dark and stormy night". Bonus points if it's all in one sentence

It wasn’t a dark and stormy night, but it should have been, thought Lady Fairweather as she smoothed the slippery, silk folds of her deep cerulean blue evening gown with her soft white hands, hands that not one of the Duke’s hundred guests would ever guess had only hours before been caressing the brawny, well muscled chest of the stable master, a man who deserved the title of master on so many levels, although it had been his excellent work with the horses that had gained him the position in the first place despite the rumours that followed him, a tidbit of illicit gossip regarding the wife of the Earl of Bothwith and what she and the stable master had been caught doing by the sister of the Earl, who had gone in search of the stable master, although the excuse she gave was that she had thought to go riding and was in search of a horse, even though everyone knew what kind of “riding” she had in mind and it had nothing to do with horses, unless you wished to describe the stable master as a stallion, and Lady Fairweather now knew first hand that such a comparison was more than warranted.

Prompt: Hindsight

If only I had done things differently, things might have turned out differently. Who can say? Even the fortune the gypsy tells you is not carved in stone. Once you know your future, every step you take opens up new possibilities. I could use a new possibility right about now.

If only I had gone straight, instead of turning right, things might have turned out differently. But straight was the expected path, safe, normal, and right was an adventure into the unknown. I’ve been playing it safe all my life; I was tired of playing it safe.

If only I’d listened, instead of ignoring the warnings, things might have turned out differently. But hindsight’s always twenty/twenty and by then it’s too late.

If only I’d stuck to the path, instead of cutting through the woods, things might have turned out differently. I might not be lying here . . .dying.

Prompt: Infidelity

The staccato popping sounds behind the glass door began to slowly taper off.

“Three, two, one – done!” Jessie yanked open the door to the microwave and grabbed the steaming bag of popcorn. With finesse she ripped it open and dumped it into a bowl, sprinkling it with the shaker of cheese flavouring.

“I thought you were a loyal Orville Redenbacher fan?”

“The store was out of the cheese flavoured popcorn, so I got this instead.”

“It’s not the same thing,” Howard told her.

“No, but it’s close enough. Want some?” she offered.

Howard shook his head. “No thanks.”

Jessie stuffed a handful of popcorn into her mouth and started munching happily.

“Ouch!”

Howard rescued the bowl as she put a hand to her mouth. “What happened?”

“I think I broke a tooth!”

“Ah,” Howard said wisely. “The price you pay for your infidelity.”

Jessie threw a handful of popcorn at him.