This meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Words for Wednesday is now provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast.
Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write. Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image. What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore... We can use some or all of the prompts.
Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog. I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme, which includes cheering on the other participants. If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
The prompts will be here this month but are again being provided by Mark Koopmans.
This week's prompts are:
- Nuclear
- Foxtrot
- Klan
- Rollover
- Utilities
- Xeroxed
And/Or
- Audacious
- Zinc
- Plastered
- Identification
- Wheeling
- Fixated
Have fun.
EC wanted (badly) to rollover and play dead. For weeks he who demanded to be obeyed had been fixated on the Klan get together he wanted for his birthday. He had also made it clear that she was expected to arrange it all, and seemed to think it would be a complete foxtrot.
ReplyDelete'Only nuclear families. None of those single ball cutting bitches and their snotty offspring. No slanty eyes or blacks either'
If he knew that his only grandson identified as gay he would be banned too. In his perfect world all the guests would present themselves at the door with a generous gift for their patriarch carrying identification which labeled them as white, superficially Christian and as a voter for the 'right' (which happened to be Right) political party.
EC just couldn't see how it could happen without a LOT of wheeling and dealing. He hated the local council and refused to pay the utilities 'Be damned if I will give money to the communists' so there was no electricity, no gas and as of yesterday no running water. He had offended almost everyone in town.
She thought. She thought some more. She popped two zinc tablets (which supposedly increased brain power) and thought harder.
Eureka. They worked. She xeroxed the long list of tasks which had to happen and sent them to every family member she could think of, asking them to volunteer for at least one chore. For good measure she plastered the list on power poles and the pub door.
And then she put the most audacious part of her plan into action. His party would happen or it wouldn't. She didn't care. When his birthday rolled round she would be sunning herself in Spain at the Koopmans hacienda (after all he had given her the idea), using the buckets of money she had weaseled out of him to pay for his party. And she had no intention of coming back anytime soon. If ever.
Hi EC - loved this ... so clever to include Mark's hacienda - I just feel he'd be delighted to have you for company. There are some rather frightening takes on life here ... and it certainly seems sensible to escape for good, I hope - cheers Hilary
DeleteGoing away for an escape sounds like a good idea. I am sure EC will be happier. :)
Delete~Jess
Smart girl! One party to stay well clear of...and one person to never see again.
DeleteI hope she left before planning the party...
Well done, EC. Is there a spot at the hacienda for me? :)
A delightfully devious tale!
DeleteWhat a wonderful and wonderfully wicked use of the words.
DeleteThat's a fabulous idea she came up with, good on her for getting away from him too. if he wants to live without electricity and running water there are plenty of places in the world HE should go to.
DeleteAs always, Sue - amazing! The interior of your mind must be like a hall or mirrors with ideas bouncing off every one. I don't think I would want to get on your bad side! But, I doubt that you have one actually.
DeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: I most definitely do have a bad side. I am often a grumpy piece of work - and thank you.
Delete@Sue & Lee: Ladies, the suddenly famous Koopmans hacienda is always open for you. I bet the 'craic' would be magic and the story-telling, too.
DeleteIf only Mark had a hacienda!! The opening of "he who must be obeyed" made me think straight off. I'm glad she appropriated the money for her Spanish trip.
DeleteGood job, EC. Keep running! :-)
DeleteOuch.
DeleteOh my. How apropos. It certainly brings someone, who shall remain unnamed, to mind. Kudos.
DeleteYour "he who must be obeyed" character is realistic and absolutely despicable. Thank goodness EC has the good sense to get as far away from the scumbag as she can. And better yet... on HIS money! Well done!
DeleteLove it! I doubt it will teach him a real lesson, but at least she's not part of it, right?
DeleteYou are brilliant EC!!!!! Excellent!
DeleteFun.
ReplyDeleteR's Rue: It is a heap of fun. Perhaps you would like to join us some time?
DeleteHi EC -
ReplyDeleteShe was fixated with the idea of a zinc wall … the builder agreed – the plastered exteriors were pretty monstrous – so he advised he could zinc over the walls for her.
Her audacious approach to her new house was a little bizarre to say the least … but it would stand out and be easily identifiable – either by its architecture, or when the public see it.
They also knew the owner was little excitable … she was often wheeling around the garden flapping her arms, laughing and smiling with happiness at the joy of her new abode … the zinc shone out.
While the neighbourhood realised they had an eccentric in their midst …
Cheers Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Hooray for eccentrics. And for anything which can lead to a person wheeling around filled with joy.
DeleteI enjoy eccentrics. :) Great piece, Hilary.
Delete~Jess
Eccentrics can be such fun.
DeleteI live in the south and we just put a funny hat on eccentrics and turn them loose on the town so everyone can enjoy them.
DeleteShe sounds like a fun person, not sure about a zinc house though.
DeleteEccentrics rule... I think many of us here every Wednesday would raise our hands (1 is never enough) if asked if we were a wee bit eccentric!!
DeleteHilary, I would love to see a zinc house, too. Finding it hard to wrap my head around it. Is it safe? Would people try steal the zinc? So many questions and so few batteries...
Hm, can't see wheeling around the garden somehow. But another nutter joins the fold.
DeleteA zinc wall! Now I want one.
DeleteHer house... her choice! Eccentrics make life more interesting. They're like the cherries in an otherwise drab bowl of fruit cocktail.
DeleteWell done!
Thanks so much all of you - I guess the zinc wall could be used to generate some form of power ...?! It'd be shiny - might need a shield ... the sun is out and I might wheel around - except I'm waiting for the gas man ... take care all of you - cheers Hilary
DeleteI can see a good war piece with the first group.
ReplyDeleteAlex J. Cavanaugh: I hadn't thought of that - but you are right.
DeleteGreat Post dear!
ReplyDeleteBjxxx
Ontem é só Memória | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube
Teresa Isabel Silva: Thank you.
DeleteSo far so good :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck and good writing to all who join in …
All the best Jan
Lowcarb team member ~Jan: Thank you. I am hoping to see more stories in the next few hours.
DeleteMany of her actions to some would appear to be audacious, but she wasn’t going be a rollover for anyone, no matter who the hell they were, or thought they were!
ReplyDeleteShe was about to go off like a nuclear explosion. Bits and pieces of them would be plastered over the whole area, making identification impossible if they didn’t wake up to themselves, and stop being fixated on their own stupidity. However, they were too dense to realise the error of their ways.
Stupid breeds stupid!
Wheeling around in their identical vehicles – all beaten-up old, filthy, rusting white Toyota utilities - while dressed looking like left-over, misplaced members of the Klan, they drew attention to themselves and their idiotic behaviour...which was their purpose.
It was impossible to foxtrot around what was going on. Big trouble was brewing. Like giant neon signs it was invisibly plastered in the air. One didn’t need it to be xeroxed sheets of worthless paper filled with pointless words to know what lay ahead.
First off the blocks would be the miners from the nearby coal and zinc mines. They weren’t going to abide their nonsense. She was with the workers, the miners, all the way.
Miners are hard workers who don't abide nonsense, it doesn't do in their line of work. Excellent story.
DeleteI can see tumulous times ahead and hope that good prevails.
DeleteI hope the good prevail and the Toyota drivers are suitably taken care of without too many nuclear type explosions.
DeleteNice use of the words. Trouble's ah brewin'
DeleteHi Lee - I can see a chapter in history about to be written in her town ... clever story - well done ... cheers Hilary
DeleteOh, well written, Lee! I have no idea if this is what you meant, but I read as if Mother Earth was the main character and if so, those stupid dudes were most definitely in for a major ass-kicking.
DeleteIt took a lot work in these words.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: I really look forward to reading them when they go live.
DeleteSince yesterday I have been fixated on my appearance. I would say I am not sure why, but I do know. I had to have my drivers license renewed this week. We all know no one likes their license photograph.It has been years since I got my last one and I was moderately pleased with the picture on it..
ReplyDeleteUsually they take a moment and let you get yourself together before they click the camera. This time the DMV clerk (whom I fondly call Attilla) gave me no heads ups. She just told me to put my toes on the line and then without warning she snapped the picture. I think she must be a closet sadist, because the xeroxed copy she handed me had this likeness of a wild eyed, crazy faced woman plastered on it. This was going to be be my personal id for the next five years!
Wheeling around after looking at it, I politely returned to the desk and asked if there was any way I could have a "do over". She told me emphatically, using her fingers for air quotes, there would be no "do-over" as long as the image was clear. Then in a very audacious tone, she told me she thought the picture reflected the inner me!
The inner me looks like a cross between a cartoon image of a rhesus monkey and crazy eyed member of the Klan at a bonfire? I think not!
Then I asked her if we could just rollover the fee and I would come back a different day and begin the process again. I got a big "No" on that request too.
I looked at the photo again to see if I were not being super critical. Nope, it was not just that I was making a funny face, but the lighting was off. You could clearly see my eyes (goofy looking but eyes, nonetheless) but there was a swath of light that looked like I had just slathered zinc oxide across my cheeks and nose for sun protection. And my mouth, well, it mimicked melted wax lips.
Unflattering was much too kind of a word for it. It was just a downright scary picture, like someone had rearranged my face on some nuclear level. And speaking of levels, my frustration level was at an all time high. I possibly loudly said some unkind things to the clerk right before she called for security.
As I was escorted from the building I heard the guard radio "I have another photo Foxtrot India Tango situation".
After that humiliation I still had to stop and have the utilities turned on for my new apartment because I am moving in a week. I walked in and handed my temporary license to the woman at the desk for identification and told her I would be happy to make that grimace so maybe they could tell it was really me. "No need to", she said, "It is a great picture " WTH!
Anne in the kitchen: I am seriously photophobic so I felt for your character. Big time. And then I read the last line and laughed. Loudly enough to scare Jazz. Many, many thanks for this brilliant use of Mark's prompts.
DeleteHi Anne - thank goodness here we get a chance to take in our own photo - as long as it fits size wise and we're not smiling ... even not grimacing. Well done on using the words ... cheers Hilary
DeleteGreat story!
DeleteOh, this too good! I was with you all the way.
DeleteDelighted to hear that someone else has a worse DL picture than me:) Loved how the character dealt with everything (until the very end.) Thanks for accepting the challenge, Anne, and driving a great story told with a wonderful Voice!
Deletewhere does he find these words? What am I supposed to do with foxtrotting Klan members who are fixated on free wheeling through the nuclear plant carparking areas?
ReplyDeleteThat's if I find time to write at all, what with going out walking three times a day.
River: You are walking three times a day? Wow. I have more confidence in your writing than you do. Again.
DeleteClearly Mark is an evil man!
DeleteAnne in the kitchen: He is evil - which is part of his charm.
DeleteYea - Mark's words are 'treacherous' ... well done River - enjoy those walks ... long or short - cheers Hilary
DeleteOh, well. You know the klansmen. Dance and destroy. One must have hobbies.
Delete@River & Anne: "Cackle, cackle," he said with a cackle.
DeleteOnly twice yesterday and because today and tomorrow are hotter it will be twice again and shorter walks. Then back to the longer walks when the weather cools.
ReplyDeleteRiver: Well done. Here at least the early mornings are cool. It heats up later, but until ten or eleven it is good 'doing things' weather.
DeleteLove the 'doing things weather wise' time frame! We're still in damp gloomy mist ... it'll clear sometime.
DeleteThis afternoon looks pretty clear so I will give this a shot then.
ReplyDeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: I look forward to seeing where Mark's prompts take your fertile mind.
DeleteOh these are so good!!😊😊
ReplyDeleteVery well done to everyone...
I really must attempt to write another one when all my appointments are over!!
Hugs and love ❤❤❤❤❤❤
Ygraine: More appointments? Medical appointments? Sending hugs.
DeleteThe USS Audacious fixated co-ordinates on a planetary system plastered in rich zinc deposits. Wheeling them onto the starship required technology necessary for identification but who cares cried Spider "we're rich!"
ReplyDeleteI enjoy writing these, its fun.
Spacer Guy: I am so glad you enjoy writing them, and love your take on Audacious particularly.
DeleteThe "USS Audacious." What a cool name!! So, I had to go check and apart from the Star Trek one in the 23th century, there was a HMS Audacious and a USS Audacious (Earthly version:) that both sailed the seas coincidently in 1913...
DeleteLove the ship name and what a great use of these words which in no way shape or form should be a part of a cohesive tale__yet they work. The how is still a mystery!
DeleteThe day was unbelievably hot, yet people were still sprawled on the beach sunning themselves, sweat running down to their towels, mixed with ZINC oozing from the sun tan lotions they had PLASTERED on their bodies. Some of the sun worshippers, more women than men actually, looked like they had only come lately to sun protection of any kind; their skins were the colour of betel juice spiked with nicotine, and the texture of rhinoceros hide. Their lifelong FIXATION on what they perceived as tanned beauty was an affront to common sense, a commodity they evidently lacked mightily. Exposure to NUCLEAR radiation could have hardly caused more dermal destruction.
ReplyDeleteA couple of AUDACIOUS young beauties were topless. More fat to fry I suppose. This FOXTROT with the sun could only bode badly for the future. Goodbye pallid beauty, welcome melanoma. Not for them to confuse facts with desire, however. Their ROLLOVERS to toast all surfaces equally were regulated by a little timer that dinged to signify it was time to to sautée another side. Skin cancer is happy to take up residence on any part of the anatomy, from the nose to the toes, no area is out of reach, no meagre patch of flesh too humble to colonize.
High overhead Magnificent Frigatebirds were WHEELING effortlessly through the sky, masters of their environment and protected from the harmful ultra violet rays of the sun by layers of protective feathers. Not for them the foolishness of vanity. And we think we are the smarter species?
The devotees of brown skin, artificially acquired of course, in total contrast to being born with it, looked as though they had been XEROXED by some deviant god of bacchanalian and malevolent inclination. A giant KLAN was hatched whose very INDENTIFICATION was linked to the perverse UTILITIES of self-destruction.
I smugly pulled down my hat as I relaxed under a ramada, my obscenely coloured shirt, a veritable tableau of bad taste, perfectly buttoned, and sipped on my sixth gin and tonic of the morning. After all it was already ten o'clock. Now there's a vice worth dying for.
David M. Gascoigne: My pallid self loves it and sees a lot of truth in it too. I may join him in a gin and tonic, though perhaps not six.
DeleteThis is great. Vices come in an assorted box, don't they?
DeleteHi Sue. As soon as the ice is clinking in the glass I'll pull up a chair right alongside you. We'll sip gently - just one - and sit and solve the problems of the world!
DeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: That sounds lovely - but I think I would rather sit and soak up the atmosphere and the bird song than solve any problems.
DeleteLove it, especially the ending.
ReplyDeleteMy humble entry.
ReplyDeleteAs the leader of the Klan he was adamant that his ‘uniform’ (if that’s the right word) should be spotless even though sometimes it got plastered with all kinds of unknowns during their nightly raids. Identification must not be made, of course when they became fixated on someone they considered to be an audacious member of a group they despised. She made sure the clothing went through the old fashioned utilities which were part of their laundry facilites. She actually felt like taking said clothing and giving it a rollover in the nearest manure heap and then walking out, She could imagine his nuclear reaction when he discovered what she had done. Her dreams were fixated on what retaliation she could undertake, but alas she did not have the wherewithal to make her escape. Maybe she could enter the local Foxtrot tournament and win the grand prize. Her mind was so busy wheeling and spinning around wonderful ideas, she nearly ruined his costume. Maybe she could go to Mark's hacienda too. After all she had been learning Spanish for a while.
Jo: Nothing humble about your entry. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Roll that uniform in manure and come and join us. The more the merrier (and I don't think Mark will mind).
DeleteGreat one,Jo. Love the thoughtful fecal application.
DeleteTi auguro una felice giornata.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo: Thank you - and to you.
DeleteGreat comments as always, so fun to read!
ReplyDeletenatalia20041989: I agree - I think this meme is a heap of fun, and I am glad you enjoy it too.
DeleteDear EC, here's my attempt to use the words in the 2nd group.
ReplyDeleteLast week, I became fixated on the writing of my second memoir. It is about the ten years following my leaving the convent. When I left, I was wheeling within because of the three presences that accompanied me everywhere. They were like shadows, plastered to my psyche. They were like the identification I needed to re-enter the world--to take with me three parts of myself that I had begun to war with in the convent. Now, as I write about them and those ten years of hallucinating, I feel I'm being somewhat audacious to try to recall the words that "Anna"--the most belligerent of the presences--said to me. However, I must write honestly and there's no way I cannot write for this desire to embrace the written word is innate, a gift of the womb. It was necessary to make me who I am, just as zinc is necessary for the child in the womb to enter the world healthy. And so I write each weekday and rejoice in those years that are part of me still--some fifty years later. Peace.
Dee: This is a truly uplifting use of Mark's difficult prompts. I do hope (fervently) that you do finish your second memoir.
DeleteI love this and need to read more.
DeleteDavid was and had been audacious his entire life. Everything he did had that identifiable touch only David could have. Once he had plastered hand prints of zinc oxide on church windows, and another he was caught wheeling through the sanctuary on skates. David always complained that the congregation was fixated on him. His father, Pastor Bob, pointed out that doing such just before church services would do that. David nodded seriously. Dad was right, of course.
ReplyDeleteSusan Kane: I love this. In just a few short sentences you have developed a character I would love to know. An out of the box (but never dull) character.
DeleteThis is great! It reminds me of my childhood ministers son Mack. Once he was taking a family interested in joining the church on a tour of the facilities there was a very small utility door in the basement. When asked if that is where he kept the devil he said "No,we keep him in the parsonage."
DeleteI was 14. And "the world" made BOOM.
ReplyDeleteChernobyl - OMG. A nuclear desaster. Here in Germany we were not supposed to eat mushrooms from the woods anymore.
20 years later my then boyfriend, now Hubby, and I learned the foxtrot for a friend´s and some weeks later my Brother´s wedding. It was a hard task!
Rollover Beethoven might´ve been easier...
Fast forward to these days.... Women in niqabs. Scary. Hubby said if he wore a KKK-suit the police would get him in a nick of time.
Maybe, though, a utility to make people understand what integration is... should be xeroxed to make a point, maybe. I would not run around in a mini-skirt in a Muslim land, either....
Iris Flavia: Welcome. Chernobyl was/is terrifying. Learning that tourists visit the site horrifieds me. Love your use of the prompts, and wholeheartedly agree that integration and tolerance would be wonderful. I doubt it is going to happen any time soon though.
DeleteI sadly have to agree with all you said.
ReplyDeleteIt´s like people taking pics/movies of accidents, too. Why would one do that?!
I check if there is help and if yes look away, I do not want to see details.
Though... it is interesting how nature takes over in Prypjat.
Iris Flavia: People who rubber neck at accidents seem to be common the world over. Not me. Like you, if I can't help I look away. I am endlessly fascinated (and hopeful) at the way Nature re-emerges. I do hope she can continue.
DeleteBuon fine settimana.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo: Thank you. I hope you and yours are safe and healthy.
DeleteGreat Post dear!
ReplyDeleteBjxxx
Ontem é só Memória | Facebook | Instagram | Youtube
Teresa Isabel Silva: Thank you.
DeleteWish everyone some good writing and best of luck as well! ^.^
ReplyDeleteHot guys: Thank you. I hope your weekend is going well.
DeleteFinally I have written a short story here: Words for Wednesday
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed all of your stories. It is amazing how many different stories can come from the same 12 words.
Charlotte (MotherOwl): I share your amazement, and pleasure. I am looking forward to reading your next story and will be over as soon as I have responded to comments on my latest post.
DeleteGreat writes everyone! Big Hugs EC!
ReplyDeleteMagic Love Crow: Many thanks - not least for going through all my back posts.
Delete