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23.2.17

NURSE FIONA - flash fiction

NURSE  FIONA

Fiona settled at her desk to complete a job application, and was dithering over the question, Why are you leaving your present job? when she heard a faint sound from the corner bed.
She soothed the old woman’s restless hands. ‘Are you in pain, Mabel?’
‘No, dear. Just sit with me. I see it’s snowing – like when I met Arthur.’ She giggled girlishly. ‘I threw a snowball to catch his attention.’ Suddenly her head lifted. ‘Arthur?”
Fiona caught the briefest glimpse of an old man before Mabel’s hand relaxed in hers.
After completing the formalities she tore her application into tiny pieces.
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This week's lovely photo was taken by Sarah Potter and reproduced as a prompt on Rochelle's blog https://rochellewisoff.com/ . From there you can follow the Blue Frog trail to read other interpretations of the picture.
I would like to thank the 25 other writers who commented on my blog last week - the most I have ever had for one story - most of whom liked the photo of mine which Rochelle used.
If you like my writing, you can find another of my stories on this site  http://visualverse.org/  which also uses a pictorial prompt,, but although the word limit is greater there is a time limit of an hour - one hour!


15.2.17

THE HIGH LIFE - fiction in 100 words

THE HIGH LIFE

Karl wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he was good at football – very good – and was quickly snapped up by a major team.
He was regularly front-page news, blinking in flashlights outside nightclubs with a series of stunning girlfriends. 

His team managed to keep his worst excesses out of the papers – he was their golden boy as long as he kept scoring goals with his world-famous headers. His life was the envy of many – until he developed a blood clot on his brain.

Deprived of the adulation on which he thrived, his downward spiral was swift, and ultimately fatal.
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This week's photo is one which I took myself ! I was out for a walk one morning in Tenerife when I spotted this macabre still-life. To read how other writers inerpreted the image, go to  https://rochellewisoff.com/ and follow the link.
This story is not the only one I've written this week - I am delighted to tell you that on  http://visualverse.org/about-visual-verse/  you will find my name in the list of authors.

8.2.17

RATS & COBBLESTONES - Flash Fiction in 100 words X2

RATS

Twenty years we’ve lived here, but I’ve never felt comfortable.
I imagined the kids drowning, but of course they were soon swimming like ducks, and when Derek bought a narrow-boat they were ecstatic.
Admittedly the gently sloping gardens are lovely, but every passing boat brings gawping strangers and, since a photo of me in a bikini appeared on Facebook, I’ve stayed indoors.
Then last week it rained, in biblical proportions.
“We’re safe,” Derek declared, sitting Canute-like beside the canal bank, but had to admit defeat when a rat swam past him, heading for our terrace.

When the water recedes we’re selling up.
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For some reason I thought yesterday was Wednesday, so when I saw the next photo on Rochelle's blog I thought it was the Friday Fictioneers' prompt. So here's the story I wrote yesterday - two for the price of one!
Please feel free to comment on both before you follow the links from    https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/   to read other stories.
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COBBLESTONES

The villagers protested but the mayor carried the vote – the cobblestones that rattled his Rover’s suspension would be covered with pulverised gravel from his quarry, which the village could have at cost.
Within days every carpet was grey with dust, and the men covered their drinks whenever someone drove past the bar. Complaints poured into the Mayor’s office, but he shrugged, “What can I do?”
Then the rains came – a true tropical storm that raced down the steep village street and washed every grain of grey onto the beach, leaving only ancient cobblestones to gleam under the next day’s sun.
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And yes - the theme of rain seems prevalent this week - must be due to  the weather in Sussex :)


1.2.17

EXOTIC FLOWER - FLASH FICTION in 100 words

EXOTIC  FLOWER

Malee’s only way out of poverty was to marry a rich foreigner, and her photograph on the Agency’s website caught Vincente’s fancy – after one carefully orchestrated meeting he proposed.
His apartment in Malaga wasn’t the palace he had described, but Malee told herself she was fortunate – Vicente was a considerate husband, she had found a shop that stocked familiar ingredients, and beneath the trees of the park she almost felt at home.
Then winter came, and the park was buried in snow. Malee spent her days sitting by the window, an exotic flower dying by slow, cold degrees in a foreign land.

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The recent snow in the south of Spain has been an unwelcome surprise to many locals and expats alike - for someone from a warmer country it must have been a horrible shock.
This week's photograph was taken by Roger Bultot and posted on Rochelle's blog  https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/  From there you can follow the Blue Frog link to read how other Friday Fictioneers interpreted the prompt.