MARINA SAN MIGUEL

 

MARINA SAN MIGUEL

Craig rode past the security guard, ignoring his shout, and cycled through the marina, admiring the yachts with a connoisseur’s eye.

The A VENDRE sign seemed to be aimed directly at him, but as he leaned his bike against the lamp-post a head popped out of the hatch. ‘You can’t leave that there.’

Craig grinned. ‘Not even if I’m a buyer?’

The man barked a laugh. ‘Oddest-looking sports car I’ve ever seen.’

‘Appearances can be deceptive,’ Craig said, pulling a supermarket bag full of cash from his basket. ‘I’ve just won the lottery – want to show me round?’

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There are many marinas in Tenerife, where we lived for fifteen years. Our friends owned a lovely old ocean-going boat, so this story is a tribute to Knotts Gypsy, in whom Dave sailed single-handed across the Atlantic. For 40 days we had no word - no indication whether he was alive or dead - then he came within mobile phone signal range and we watched from the beach in Las Galletas as he sailed past to San Miguel.

Thanks to CEAyr for the photo which prompted my memory and this story, and to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers. If you want to read other stories, or even to join in, go to her blog and click on the frog.  https://rochellewisoff.com/

QUAY-SIDE CAFE - a story in 100 words

 

QUAY-SIDE CAFE

Lockdown hit our quay-side cafė hard – most of our regulars began making their coffee at home, and our usual lunch-time office workers simply vanished.

 When regulations eased we invested the last of our capital in outside tables and managed until the weather turned sour. Storm-force winds, waves crashing right over the sea-wall – we were lucky not to lose the hut.

 On the first calm, sunny day we put the tables back out and advertised on Facebook – ‘Meals Half Price’ – we couldn’t waste all the fish we'd found tangled in the seaweed, could we?

 It was all gone before the Health Inspectors arrived.

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I'm all in favour of entrepreneurs, even those who bend the rules a bit as long as they don't actually break the law!

Thanks to Sandra Crook for the photograph - I wonder where it was taken? - and to Rochelle for hosting us on her blog:- 

https://rochellewisoff.com/

I was interviewed this morning for an article called 'Village People' in a local magazine, and managed to mention my books a few times :) Have you bought yours yet? They're all on Amazon, and a link to the latest is at the top of this page. If you live in UK and would like the complete Living Rock series at the author's rate of £15, just contact me via FB. They would make great Christmas presents!

 

THREE DAYS - a 100 word story

 

T

THREE  DAYS

It was three days before I dared to move. Three days sweating in the heat, three nights trying to sleep in a space not built for bodies, even one as small as mine, three days without food or drink.

 The first kick scared the hell out of me, metallic echoes ringing in my ears, but when no-one came I kicked harder, over and over, until I was free.

 I burst out into blinding sunlight – my first in God-knows-how-long – stepped over his stinking body and raided the fridge.

 Now I must find out where I live – I want my mum.

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This is my 700th blog post!! Actually I'm surprised it's not more - certainly I feel like I've been blogging for ever and a day - but the stats on my page can't be gainsaid.

Thanks as ever to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog, which has been going for WAY longer than mine - I wonder what her score is? Also thanks to Rowena Curtin for the photo prompt. To read other interpretations of the image, go to  https://rochellewisoff.com/  and follow the Frog link.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET to leave a comment, and maybe also to check out my LIVING ROCK books on Amazon - a link to ROCK FESTIVAL, the fourth and final book in the series is at the top of this page.

THE NICHE - a story in 100 words

 

THE  NICHE

 The cottage was so cheap Auguste said there must be hidden faults, and he was proved right on our first night there.

Roof-joists groaned as if about to give way, but inspection proved them sound; pipes whistled and banged for no apparent reason.

The just-beneath-hearing whispers in the kitchen were the worst, and I tracked them down to a niche that resembled a walled-up window.

“Break it open,” I begged, “Something’s trapped in there.”

“And you want me to let it out? No way.”

So I hung garlic in front of it – a lot of garlic – and prayed.

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Of course it's only a niche built to hold an oil lamp, maybe - or is it? Thanks to Dale for this week's image, and to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers. 

How has your week been? I've been procrastinating, putting off the onerous task of learning how to publicise my books. It has to be done if I am to have any hope of people reading them, but I do wish there was an easier way :(  

If you haven't caught up with them yet, they are all available on Amazon - the link to my latest book is at the top of this page. Rock Festival is the final book in a series, which pulls together threads from the first three books - A Volcanic Race, Wolf Pack & Landslide. Buy the whole set to immerse yourself in another world - a world where the dangers are prehistoric and volcanic, not Covid-related!

MOVING HOME - a story in only one hundred words.

 

MOVING HOME

 Archie wouldn’t let me put him down – not surprising with all the upheaval – and I managed one-handed till Dad needed help with the sofa.

I thought his high-chair would be the safest place, and I was only gone a minute, two at the most, but when we came down Archie had gone.

 I knew who’d taken him – the bastard must have been watching us, waiting for his chance to snatch him.

 It was three days before he called, and I could hear Archie in the background. “My mother already loves him,” he said, “You won’t hear from us again.”

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Thanks to Roger Bultot for this photograph which instantly prompted a story, but Other Life in the shape of a friend for lunch got in the way and I've only just got round to writing it. I was briefly tempted to write a different story, as the pile of rubbish is reminiscent of the state my garden has been in this week while a new kitchen was installed, but I resisted the temptation to burden you with my life story!

What I will do is ask you to buy my latest book by clicking on the link at the top of this page. ROCK FESTIVAL is the fourth and final book in my Living Rock series - the first three books, A VOLCANIC RACE, WOLF PACK & LANDSLIDE are also available on Amazon. The series is a fantasy - not everyone's cup of tea, I know - but Rochelle has read them and enjoyed them, so they must be worth a try! 😊

NOT OPEN - a story in 44 words.

 

NOT OPEN

“How much did you take today, Joe?”

“Nothing, Ma – ain’t seen a customer all day.”

“What – not one?”

“Nope – can’t understand it – I made a new card for the door, an’ all.”

“Oh Joe! Your dyslexia will be the death of me!”

 

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With apologies to anyone who suffers from dyslexia - a condition that can impact on all aspects of life.

This week's short story is REALLY short because I couldn't see any way to pad it out without losing the impact of my first draft. To read stories of twice the length written by other Friday Fictioneers and prompted by Rochelle's photo, go to her blog at  https://rochellewisoff.com/

MEANWHILE - may I remind you that the fourth and final book in my LIVING ROCK series, ROCK FESTIVAL, is now available on Amazon, along with the first three - A VOLCANIC RACE, WOLF PACK & LANDSLIDE.  To read an extract, scroll down to my blog dated 28th August. And then buy a copy, read it, enjoy it and LEAVE A REVIEW!! PLEASE!!

BACK THEN - a story in 100 words

 

 BACK THEN

Grandma was always reminiscing about her youth.

Everything was better ‘back then’ – neighbours looked out for each other, you bought food locally and cooked it yourself, roads were safe to walk along, people read books instead of screens.

We’d smile indulgently and go home to order pizza and watch TV.

 Then the plague came. We helped our neighbours, discovering that the village greengrocer stocked more than we realised, and the corner shop always had toilet rolls. We took our exercise along undiscovered lanes, and someone set up a book swap in the bus-stop.

 We were almost sad when it ended.

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Just found ten minutes to write a story to go with CEAyr's image. Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioineers so diligently for so many years!  https://rochellewisoff.com

We are in the throes of buying a new kitchen. The one we inherited was installed by the previous tenants themselves, on the cheap, and after two years in this cottage we are still not happy with it. So the time has come - savings aren't earning anything anyway!  Next Monday the contractor moves in to make a proper mess, which in our tiny cottage means we will be eating out for a week, purely in self-defence, you understand.

And one more thing - I HAVE PUBLISHED THE FOURTH AND FINAL BOOK IN MY SERIES!! If you click on the LIVING ROCK blog entry for last week, you can read the prologue, which I hope will encourge you to buy my books, all of which are on Amazon. And if you have already read the first three, click on the book cover top right to buy ROCK FESTIVAL.