This
meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Words for Wednesday are
now provided by a number of people and has become a moveable 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 them 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 creations on the post and others post on their own blog. I would really like as many people as possible to join the meme, which includes cheering on other participants (definitely the more the merrier). If you are posting on your own blog, please let me know so that I, and the other participants, can come along and applaud.
This month Cindi is providing them, but has asked that they appear here, instead of on her blog.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 them 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 creations on the post and others post on their own blog. I would really like as many people as possible to join the meme, which includes cheering on other participants (definitely the more the merrier). If you are posting on your own blog, please let me know so that I, and the other participants, can come along and applaud.
This week's prompt is:
- Write one sentence that can be genuinely happy and upbeat as the opening sentence to a story, but as the last sentence to the story it is now chilling, dark, and horrifying.
Have fun.
Sarah woke to a bright morning, with tendrils of sunshine stretching across Peter's empty pillow.
ReplyDeleteShe took that as a good omen. He always said that the warmth of the sunshine was the very best start to any day.
If today's operation today went well, he would be home again soon and both of them could revel in the summer sun.
The surgeon had told them it was a long and risky operation, but that without it Peter would die. He was the best in his field and neither of them hesitated. 'Go ahead', they said, with one voice.
Today was the day. Peter's surgery was scheduled to start at 8am but the surgeon had told her not to expect a call before 1 or 2 in the afternoon. He had also told her that there was no point to her coming in. Petern would be transferred straight from surgery to the ICU, where he would be kept sedated. If all went well she would be able to see and talk to him tomorrow.
Reluctantly she accepted his advice and stayed home.
When she saw the hospital's number when the phone rang at midday she snatched it up 'Hello. You are early. How did the operation go?'
When the surgeon said 'I am so very sorry Sarah, the tumour was more advanced than we knew' her heart stopped. She didn't really hear any of what he had to say, other than Peter would never come home to her again.
Sarah woke to a bright morning, with tendrils of sunshine stretching across Peter's empty pillow.
This landing directly on target, EC. It's brilliant. That sentence is sticky-sweet and the start, chillingly sober at the end. I'm not even going to attempt this. You nailed it.
DeleteLove to you.
"landed"
DeleteWOW! just wow. How can we ever write anything again?
DeleteSue, you are nothing short of amazing.
DeleteWell done! It's a good thing i wrote mine before i came here to read, or i would not even try. Even so, mine is pale in comparison.
DeleteHeartbreaking and excellently done!
DeleteDear EC
DeleteThat is really impressive. It also shows how things can change in such a short time.
Best wishes
Ellie
That sent shivers down my back. At least you knew how to do this, I hadn't a clue. Wonderful Sue. Although I have a feeling this will be on my mind all day.
DeleteYou nailed it.
DeleteUn triste relato, muy bien narrado.
DeleteFelicidades.
Un saludo, y que tengas un buen día.
@ Elephant's Child: I see what you did there. I like that something good can be bad in the afterward. Or is this like a repeated nightmare? Either way, it's a great idea.
DeleteOh my gosh. Job well done. In such a short story, you pulled at my heart strings.
DeleteClick link below for my new domain. Warmly,
Elsie
Wow. I'm nodding my head here. Well done.
DeleteThis is a bit too close to home for many bloggers. Well written.
DeleteWell done!
DeleteIn the beginning was the word.
ReplyDeleteBut it was still dark, and there was no-one to read it anyway. So it was pointless that in the beginning was the word.
Intriguing!
DeleteOle Phat Stu: Ouch.
DeleteHahahahahaha well done!
DeleteYes, as a friend once said to me, who was there to record it all anyway.
DeleteBTW: The word in question was
Deletefloccinaucinihilipilification ;-)
@Ole Phat Stu: This is good, real good. It made me think.
DeleteHave a lovely day.
great text
ReplyDeleteGosia: Cindi was been set us very different challenges.
DeleteWow! You did well on this story. Hard to beat for sure.
ReplyDeleteI was going for a long walk this bright and sunny morning and it was going to be a day to treat myself to a visit with several friends I hadn't seen for at least ten years since they had moved to Montreal in the fashion district. They were returning home for the long weekend. We were to meet at 1:00pm in front of this little boutique on Queen Street.
I enjoyed the birds singing and a nice breeze on my face. As I came to a clearing on the trail, I sat down down on my mat for a little snack and drink. I laid down on my back to look at the cloud formation like I did when I was young. It was a favorite pastime of mine. My eyes got heavy from lack of a good sleep the night before and I fell asleep as it got warmer in the sun.
Somehow I must have turned over and laid on my chocolate bar that was left opened. I now had melted chocolate all over the front of my white pants and no way of cleaning it up. What was I to do. Mortified, I kept walking and as arrive half an hour late for our meeting, they looked at me and then they looked at each other with a chilling look. I felt horrified at being covered with dark Chocolate. Our meeting was cut short and I never got to go shopping with them. I called a taxi and went home, totally disgusted with myself. The end.
Hugs, Julia
That would be awful, you told the story well.
DeleteJulia: Sadly I can see myself here... setting off for a long walk full of anticipation, and arriving in a very different state.
DeleteHmm, Matt covers himself with chocolate all the time.
DeleteHola, Julia. No te preocupes, que eso le puede pasar a cualquiera, que después de tomar un rico aperitivo, se siente en su colchoneta preferida, a oír el canto de los pájaros, y a recordar su juventud mientras ve pasar las nubes. Así que a pensar en positivo, que lo del chocolate es una simple anécdota.
DeleteMe gustó mucho leerte.
Un saludo desde Sevilla.
I have had the unfortunate experience of sitting on chocolate which melted into the fabric in the most undesirable way.
DeleteManuel, I wish I could read Spanish so I could read your comment.
DeleteI'm glad my story is fiction.
Julia
I should have proofread it better. Please excuse the errors.
ReplyDeleteJulia: Not a problem - there is at least one typo in mine too.
DeleteNot sure if this is what she had in mind, but here goes nothin'.
ReplyDeletemessymimi: I look forward to reading your take.
DeleteA most excellent story!
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe happy, playful mood of the children echoed the colourful and bright fairy bread they feasted on, but the sudden, unexpected icy wind howling through the trees like an angry banshee, the pelting hail-driven rain, followed by the power outage caused frenzied fear among the terrified kiddies.
Lee: The world can (and often does) change in a heart beat.
DeleteContra la fuerza de la Naturaleza no hay quien pueda porque carece de alma, de hecho no respeta ni a las criaturas más frágiles e inocentes, como son los niños.
DeleteUn saludo.
I have experienced storms like that. Very frightening!
DeleteGoodbye sweetie pie. The husband left to go to work. Out of the closet came the serial murderer. Goodbye sweetie pie.
ReplyDeleteMike: You managed this difficult challenge MUCH more succinctly than I could. I do hope that the returning sweetie pie survives, but wonder...
DeleteOoh horrid, what a thought.
DeleteWow. Excellent job!
Delete@Mike: Oh my! This is chilly but good.
DeleteSuper!
DeleteFinal line like a punch!
ReplyDeleteCloudia: Yes.
DeleteI'm going to pass on this one, not even going to try and think of such a sentence.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I am very sorry to hear that.
DeleteThought of something, it will post on Friday as always.
DeleteRiver: I am very, very glad to hear this.
DeleteI am also very glad you will partake!
DeleteHi EC - gosh that was brilliantly done ... I need to t-h-i-n-k !!! I am ... probably see you anon ... xo
ReplyDeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: Thank you. I didn't find it at all easy and hope we do see you anon. Stay well and take care.
DeleteI love your idea!
ReplyDeleteNatalia: Cindi gets the credit this month - but I am loving the directions her prompts are taking us.
DeleteOh EC, that is a beautiful story, happy in the beginning and sad at the end plus some sun.
ReplyDeleteTake care.
Margaret D: Cindi's prompt was very challenging - not least turning a story around in a very short time frame. Thank you - and you take care too.
DeleteThe dragon, its scales glistening in the sun, swooped out of the sky soaring and diving. She had been riding on it’s back and thoroughly enjoying herself on this beautiful morning feeling like the queen of the world. However, she was not properly strapped in and one violent move had her falling and tumbling to earth. In an effort to save her the dragon, its scales glistening in the sun, swooped out of the sky soaring and diving.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Jo.
DeleteHola, Jo. Esto demuestra que los animales nunca abandonan a sus dueños, siempre le dan más de lo que reciben.
DeleteSi mañana encuentro en la tienda de animales de compañía un dragón, lo compro y me lo llevo a casa con mi perrita.
Bromas aparte, ha sido un placer leerte.
Saludos.
well done!
DeleteJo: I love this. And oh the horror of that fall... Hooray (again) for dragons.
Delete@Jo: Good dragon. Hope he saves her.
DeleteGracias Manuel and everyon else.
DeleteThe sun broke through the clouds and the bird sang.
ReplyDeleteHe was announcing control of his territory to rivals, a warning to stay out, an invitation to a female to join him. But he sang in vain. Having lived through three breeding seasons without success, he was approaching the end of his duration on Earth. How could he know that no female would ever respond, no other male coveted his singing tree? He was the last surviving member of his kind. A solitary winsome male looking for love.
It had been a curse on the species to be so handsome. Plume hunters killed them without mercy to satisfy the vanity of rich western women for feathers in their hats. Only the males were bedecked in finery and the slow slide toward gross imbalance of the sexes began, with insufficient males to fertilize females. To sing so beautifully was equally a curse; selfish humans imprisoned them in small cages, with no contact with their kind, only to hear them sing. They were not a species that suffered captivity well and usually died within weeks. Their forest home was cut down, their waterways polluted, their food replaced by plantations to satisfy human greed and profit at all costs. Green deserts replaced natural, functioning ecosystems. Agile of flight, they became targets for “sports” hunters, seeking only to kill. This tiny bird, weighing a mere 12 – 14 grams was not destined for the table. But surely it is a BIG man who, with a sophisticated modern rifle, with optical aids rivalling the finest cameras, and indigenous scouts to lead them to the birds, who can claim to have shot one of these tiny beauties. Ironically rarity increased the shooting pressure and the species spiralled ever closer to the point of no return.
Our lone male drew himself up and filled the air with burbling notes, symbolizing the renewal of life. But not this time, not on this day in this corner of the Earth. This is the face of extinction. The tragic removal of a species from the Earth forever.
The sun broke through the clouds and the bird sang.
David, that made me cry because it is so very true. The physiotherapist described man as an invasive species and that is definitely what we are. Poor little bird.
DeleteDavid Attenborough has referred to us as a plague. And he is right.
DeleteMuy interesante David, y con una buena moraleja de la que tenemos que tomar buena nota los seres humanos.
DeleteSaludos.
Muchas gracias, Manuel, por sus amables parables. Un abrazo.
DeleteSo tragic. Even more because it is so true, every single day. My heart broke.
DeleteDavid Gascoigne: HOW I wish this was fantasy. Fervently wish this was fantasy. And you nailed the prompt with this ongoing tragedy too.
DeleteThe account is fiction, Sue, but the issue of anthropomorphic extinction continues every day. It is the saddest issue of our times.
DeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: Neil Gaiman nailed it for me when he said words to the effect that sometimes fiction is truer than truth. And sadly that holds true for your piece.
DeleteThis rang so true. Too true.
DeleteBuenas tardes a todos. Esto que os voy a contar es verídico y sucedió en Sevilla en las Navidades del año 1951, en el sorteo de la lotería más antigua de Europa, y en el que se paga un premio especial, al que popularmente se le llama "El Gordo".
ReplyDelete"En la mañana del 22 de Diciembre de 1951, cuando aún se vendían décimos de lotería en alguna esquina del centro de Sevilla, los “Niños de San Ildefonso” cantaron el número extraído del bombo, el “2704” y la radio conectada en la mayoría de los domicilios y establecimientos de la ciudad llevó la suerte a miles de personas de Sevilla y otros pueblos.
Había entonces en nuestra ciudad, un lotero que creía tener la gallina de los huevos de oro, y en el sorteo de Navidad citado, llevó a cabo la mayor estafa en la historia de la lotería española: vendió participaciones de una peseta pero en una cantidad que duplicaban las cubierta por los décimos que realmente poseía. Y tuvo la mala suerte, de que en uno de ellos recayó el “Gordo”.
Sevilla pasó aquella mañana a la historia por haber vendido el "Gordo" de Navidad. pero Sevilla pasó además, por haber sido escenario de la "reencarnación" de los pillos con que Miguel de Cervantes la hizo famosa: Rinconete y Cortadillo se habían convertido, de la noche a la mañana, en loteros capaces de jugar con las ilusiones de miles de personas, que en poco días pasaron del júbilo a la desesperación, pues fueron muchos quienes sabiéndose poseedores de el "Gordo" comenzaron a realizar compras y a cobrar anticipos en las entidades bancarias, en las que depositaron unas participaciones, que resultaron ser papel mojado."
Esto lo tengo publicado en mi blog, pero lo he querido traer aquí, porque creo que le viene como anillo al dedo, al reto de Hoy.
Y es una muestra más, de como la codicia humana, puede jugar con el futuro y la ilusión de miles y miles de persona.
Un cordial saludo.
Manuel: Thank you for joining us with this tragic tale. And how I wish that greed didn't drive so many of us...
DeleteAlthough I am trying to learn Spanish, I certainly am not able to read this and I so wish I could.
DeleteGracias por esa historia, Manuel, desafortunadamente, todavía es la esperanza de muchos de que se enriquezcan al apostar los ahorros de la vida por una oportunidad.
ReplyDeleteMine has been posted here ~ she laughed
ReplyDeleteCindi Summerlin: I have been. I have read. I have grieved with and for her.
DeleteEspecially poignant given that it reflects your own experience.
DeleteThis was an interesting prompt so I wrote something. Here's it is: Home.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
lissa: Thank you for joining us. I am heading over now.
DeleteWOW, some truly fantastic talent here...I am in total awe!😊😊
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous day everyone!
Much love and hugs ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Ygraine: I am always blown away by the contributions to Words for Wednesday.
DeleteStay well, stay safe.
Dear EC, well after months of being away, I'm re-entering with this short, short story that follows:
ReplyDeleteMaggie felt secure when her human danced in the kitchen to the music coming from that strange box. A dancing human was a happy human she always though. Content, she stretched her calico-haired body on the floor, accidentally getting in the way of her human who was carrying a pan of something that steamed. With a yelp, Maggie's human let go of the pan. Maggie ran from the room as her human danced frenziedly, yelping her own painful music.
EC, I didn't manage to end with the same sentence. Drat it! Peace.
Dee: I am thrilled to see that your eyes are letting you play in the blogosphere again. And very glad that Maggie didn't feel the effects of that steaming pan.
DeleteThis was fun. Also glad Maggie didn't feel the effects of the steaming pan.
DeleteDear EC, just four or five blogs a day, but if I do that each day, I'll be able to visit all the ones I truly treasure within two weeks. Peace.
DeleteDee: I am very, very grateful to be included in the blogs you visit - and twice just adds to it. Many thanks.
DeleteOh boy, was this going to be a day to remember.
ReplyDeleteYou did fantastic on yours!
mail4rosey: Thank you.
DeleteHere's mine.
ReplyDeleteJanae danced and sometimes twirled through the field of bright sunflowers that reached to the sun.
Where the sunflowers bowed their heads to the earth, Janae was never seen again.
T.Powell Coltrin: I wonder whether she still dances somewhere... (and hope she does).
DeleteLove it.
ReplyDeleteR's Rue: Thank you.
DeleteChild, it is nice to see that you are still carrying on. I am able to comment now and hope you are well.
ReplyDeletedonna baker: It is lovely to see that you are able to comment again. Stay well, stay safe.
DeleteCiao EC, buon fine settimana.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo: Thank you - and to you.
DeleteHi EC -
ReplyDeleteThe tree was a living legend ... every year it gave so much pleasure ... now humans had cut its sap ... it was a dead living legend.
Just made it ... stay safe and hope all well - Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: Sadly true. I shudder to think of the uses we have put to those erstwhile living legends too.
DeleteVery sorry, but I have failed big time on this prompt. I have not come up with anything at all - completely stumped. Those of you who have contributed such gems leave me feeling even more frustrated -Boo Hoo! I admire all your efforts, though, and hope to be back on form soon.
ReplyDeleteSpikesBestMate: Not a problem. Some times the prompts just fail to speak to us. Thank you so much for coming by and reading other people's contributions.
Delete