BIKER CAT - one hundred words for Friday Fictioneers

BIKER CAT

Fernando always parked his bike beside his house, out of sight of potential thieves. The engine-warmed seat was Morena’s favourite place, but she usually jumped off when Fernando rattled his keys.

Not that day. She refused to budge, even digging her claws into the leather when he tried to push her off. He laughed indulgently. “All right, five more minutes while I fetch my football kit.”

He returned with his kit bag just in time to see emergency vehicles race past towards the motorway. If he’d left two minutes earlier he’d have been in that pile-up.

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I'm a firm believer in animal's ESP instincts - are you?

Either way, I hope you enjoy my story - please leave a comment if you can before you go to read other stories via https://rochellewisoff.com/  Thanks to CEAyr for the photograph - which reminded me of Tenerife where I lived for 15 years. I am due to return there this month for a short visit to catch up with old friends - and to celebrate a birthday. I am much too old to have them but hey! who cares?

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 19 - ONLY WORN ONCE - a story in 100 words

Today I am combining my Advent Calendar with my weekly Friday Fctioneers' flash fiction.

The Advent challenge was to write a story, changing it as it progresses so that the ending is a surprise even to oneself. I suspect the lovely people who set these challenges have twisted minds!

SO - as the FF photo was first published five years ago, I have resurrected the story I wrote then, and changed it. Several times. I was thinking of making it a murder but it didn't turn out that way!

ONLY  WORN  ONCE

He removed the wrapping paper. "They're great - the right size, too," but he couldn't hide his disappointment. 

She smiled with relief - she couldn't afford the Berghaus boots he'd wanted. "You can wear them on holiday.”

As he expected, the boots rubbed, and halfway through their first hike he removed them, claiming his feet needed to breathe.

"Look at the view," she said.

"Never mind the view - I need a leak,” he said and vaulted over the wall. Not surprisingly, the hundred-foot drop killed him.

She coped well with the shock, finishing her holiday by the pool. 

When she arrived home she sold the boots on Ebay – ‘Only worn once’.

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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  and to Adam Ickes for the photo of the boots. Looking back through my archives, I think the original of my story may even have been my very first stab at FF.

As our next photo prompt isn't due until December 26th, I will take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Happy Christmas, and to remind you that a book makes a wonderful gift, to give to someone or to keep. My latest book WOLF PACK is now out on Amazon in print and ebook - you can find it by clicking on the book cover at the top of my page. WOLF PACK is the second in my Living Rock series, the first of which was A Volcanic Race.

MAGNET FISHING - a story in 100 words

MAGNET FISHING

All you need is a strong magnet on a rope and you can earn quite a few quid in scrap metal, or even a fortune, like that bloke who found a safe full of cash.

The rope must have got tangled and the lad fell in trying to free it, then his dad went in after him and they couldn’t get out.

The canal walls here are slimy slopes. There is a ladder but it’s round that corner – they probably never knew it was there.

Drowned, both of them, in five feet of mucky water. Doesn’t bear thinking about, does it?

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Thanks to Fatima Fakier Daria for this week's photo on Rochelle's blog  https://rochellewisoff.com/  for Friday Fictioneers.

My story is what I imagine a local might say to a visitor or a reporter about a dreadful accident in the North of England which took the lives of a father and son this week.

 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/magnet-fishing-dead-father-son-huddersfield-canal-river-calder-west-yorkshire-a8404026.html

SNOW ANGEL - a 100 word story for Friday Fictioneers

SNOW ANGEL

With the temperature twenty-five on the beach, the last thing we expected was snow, but after a night of heavy rain the mountain shone brilliant white.

After lunch we hired a car and drove up to look. It was magical but freezing, and we weren’t dressed for snow.

Driving back round never-ending hairpin bends, my foot slipped on the pedal and we slid towards a vertical drop.

Two feet from certain death we stopped, with the bonnet touching a snowman.

Or so I thought, until our snowman spread its beautiful wings and soared away over the sunlit void.

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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog https://rochellewisoff.com/ and to Jan Wayne Fields for the photo prompt. You can read other stories by following the above link.

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When I lived in Tenerife, the sight of snow on the mile-high Mount Teide was an annual treat for the eyes. Once the Cabildo had cleared the very steep and winding access road, locals would drive up there to play in the snow, even enjoying barbecues, before building snowmen on their bonnets and driving down - the winner being the driver who got the furthest before the snowman melted! 

There is so much more to Tenerife than the average tourist sees - it is hardly surprising that my adopted island inspired my Living Rock series of books. If you would like to buy A Volcanic Race, the first in the series, click on the cover at the top of this page.

STRIKE THREE - flash fiction

STRIKE  THREE

I only noticed strike one in retrospect – he forgot names and muddled dates, but doesn’t everyone?

The second strike was more troubling. I’d often catch him standing with a lost expression, clearly wondering where he was, but a gentle word would bring him back. Never one to listen to other opinions, he became angrier, and so illogical it was useless trying to reason with him.

But when he backed the car into the gatepost, stormed into the kitchen shouting, “Who put that blasted pillar there?” and then demanded, “What are you doing in my house?” – that was strike three.

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Those who have lived through similar scenarios will understand where this story comes from.

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on  https://rochellewisoff.com/  and also for bravely sharing the photograph of her accident - I hope the insurance covered it?

SHOPPING - a 100 word story

SHOPPING

“I don’t need it,” I said, grabbing my backpack. “I’ll be five minutes – it’s only round the corner.”

I gave Mum a kiss – I’m glad about that – and as I went I was thinking what to get for her birthday. She likes Milk Tray and Dad doesn’t, and I’d just decided to get her a box when this enormous truck appeared out of nowhere. Then there were sirens and red-hot pain and now this corridor. It doesn’t look much like a hospital.

I should have listened to Mum and worn my helmet – she’s going to be so mad at me.

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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers on her blog -  https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/  . To read other stories prompted by the same photograph, follow the links on there.