CHAIN GANG - a 100 word story

CHAIN GANG

We needed six kids holding two chains each, and one to start us off.

Big Carl would grab his chain and run like crazy while our skinny legs struggled to keep up. Muscles screaming, hands burning, round and round, faster and faster, till Carl yelled ‘Now!’ and we lifted our legs and flew.

I let go once, and my loose chain took Carl’s tooth out. Skinned knees were nothing compared with the shame.

Thirty years on, Carl’s big heart gave out. When we wedged our shoulders under his coffin, all six of us were certain we heard him shout, ‘Now!’

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Douglas M Mckillroy's photo is probably of something much more industrial than a children's ride, but this is how I've interpreted this week's Friday Fictioneers' prompt from Rochelle, our glorious leader. Go to her blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  to read other stories from our group.

What glorious weather we're having in England this week! And it's more of a treat because it's a rarity. Needing some photos for a book cover was my excuse to take the day off and get the bus to Brighton, where I managed to squeeze in lunch, a bit of shopping, and a stroll along the seafront with an icecream in my hand. The kids' rides on Brighton Pier might have influenced my choice of story!

BURGERS & BUTTERFLIES - a 100 word story

Another 100 word story written in a rush between packing boxes. We are relocating to England from Tenerife next month and sorting out what to keep after fifteen years in one place is not easy!
This week's photo prompt comes, as always, from Rochelle
https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/
Follow the Blue Frog trail from her blog to read how other writers interpreted it.

My version is more fact than fiction this week, but it's what came first to mind!

BURGERS & BUTTERFLIES

We would eat our burgers battling along Brighton seafront against a howling gale, salt spray crusting on our faces. Over an espresso coffee later I would lick my spectacles clean – I can still recall the taste, but it was the only way to avoid smears.

‘Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses’ was so ingrained into my consciousness that his insistent wooing was a shock.

“Only virgins wear white,” my mother decreed, so I wasn’t even a beautiful bride.

But six months later my daughter was born, and the woman I was always meant to be emerged from her chrysalis to spread her butterfly wings.

WHAT I DID ON MY HOLIDAYS!

I've been to England - where else could I have taken a photo like this in an otherwise sober museum?
We had planned to go on Brighton Pier but it was raining heavily, so Brighton Museum in the grounds of the Pavilion got our vote instead.
The first thing my elder grandson noticed was the grey metal chair just inside the entrance. It looked fun but the question that popped into my mind was "Why?"

There are various rooms filled with thousands of things, including ethnic outfits from New Ireland. No, I had never heard of it either, but the map showed it to be an island somewhere near New Zealand.


The coat was more like a rug, and heavy enough to make a child sag at the knees.


The boys loved the fact that you could actually try things on without getting into trouble.






In the Local History Room we learned that the Palace Pier was preceded by a Chain Pier that succumbed to a storm just as the West Pier did some years ago.
There is an Egyptian Room where you can help to embalm a mummy by removing it's insides - only on screen, of course!
Lots of lovely china, ancient and modern, and so many artefacts that we will have to go back. That's not a problem, even with a family, because it's FREE!

And then, to [please my family of addicts, we went to help the Lego shop celebrate it's 10th birthday.

When I returned to Tenerife people asked, as they do, "How was England - cold and wet?"  Well, yes it was for a couple of days, as this bedraggled dove bears witness, but we didn't let that stop us enjoying ourselves. Most of our fortnight was lovely.

SNOW IN SUSSEX

 For those of you who missed the snow in Sussex last week, or don't get snow in your own countries, here are some photos taken last week.

BLIZZARD ON RACECOURSE HILL BRIGHTON

ROAD OVER THE DOWNS

THE ROAD IN FRONT OF MY SON'S HOUSE













THE GARDEN AT AROUND 4PM

THE GARDEN AT 9PM WHEN WE KNEW MY DAUGHTER HAD ALREADY BEEN STUCK ON THE A23 FOR FOUR HOURS.

AN EXTRA DAY OFF SCHOOL - YIPPEE!!




And some scenery to finish with.

this is how we like snow - here today, play tomorrow, gone the next!

I'M BACK!

Back home in time for a cup of tea followed by a drink at Bar Leones and supper at Pepe's.
Kika was so delighted to see me that she turned a dozen somersaults, which is quite an achievement for an old cat - she must be covered in bruises under all that fur - and she had a paw on my lap even before I had lifted my legs onto the sofa.

I also discovered I acquired two more followers while I was away, and I would like to extend a warm welcome to them.

The two weeks I spent visiting family and friends in Sussex were lovely. For one thing, it was the first time in thirteen years that I have celebrated Mothers' Day with my mother and my UK children and their families. They looked after me beautifully and I stocked up on grandson cuddles, though you can never have enough of those, can you?

The weather was kind to me too. I was only rained on once, and the snow that fell on Monday lasted just long enough for me to enjoy the novelty. This was the blizzard we drove through on Racecourse Hill outside Brighton, but we were home in time for tea.

My daughter wasn't so lucky. She left work in Crawley at 5pm and was stuck on the A23 for eight hours. We tried to find news and updates on the radio without success. My son phoned the police to ask what was being done to help all the stranded drivers, but he got no satisfactory answers, He would have rushed off to his sister's rescue if we hadn't persuaded him that if she couldn't get out, he wouldn't be able to reach her!

She survived, tired but unscathed, but there must have been mothers with young children in that cold traffic jam, people in need of medication, and drivers without sufficient fuel to keep their engines running to stay warm. We were not impressed with the failure of the Sussex Police to react more quickly to the emergency.

On Tuesday, though, school was closed. We built two snowmen - Clean Bob and Dirty Bob - then walked over the fields to make snow angels, and by teatime the sun had started to thaw the snow.

Those two weeks gave my eyes a rest from the screen and my grey cells a chance to ponder the best way to tackle the task ahead - another re-write. I was telling my son about it and he asked, "What would you put on the back cover?" Just thinking how to answer that question has helped me to focus on my story and to identify my main theme. Thanks for the inspiration, John - next time you come to Tenerife I'll buy you a pint of Dorada!

Brighton Beach

Some things remain quintessentially British.

Here are my grandsons and their mum enjoying a Punch and Judy Show on Brighton beach today.

And who needs to go to an expensive Health salon for a Hot Pebble Treatment when you have millions of them warmed by the sun?

And, of course, two handsome young men to apply them!