This
meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Computer issues led her
to bow out for a while. The meme was too much fun to let go, and now
Words for Wednesday is 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, and mixing and matching is encouraged.
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.
This month the prompts will be here.
This week's prompts are:
- Machine
- Telephone
- Fiction
- Delightfully
- Trap
- Skulduggery
And/Or
- Groaned
- Umbrella
- Fertile
- Corner
- Deft
- Selection
Have fun.
Good morning and how delightful to read this post, as the words are calling to me, and I have the best photos I recently snapped that might just really pull these words together in a skillfully Halloween like trickish style! Enjoy your day.
ReplyDelete21 Wits: I really, really look forward to seeing where the prompts take you.
DeleteThere was a shrilling in the corner. David groaned. It was that damned telephone again. His family had insisted that he needed it and he had reluctantly given in. He really didn’t trust machines, and particularly not ones that required electrickery to run. It was a fiction to say that they made life simpler. Not his. If he didn’t understand how it worked , and he didn’t, he always suspected that there was skulduggery and probably a hidden trap or two involved. Just the same experience had told him that if he didn’t respond there would be trouble. He cautiously picked it up, and tried to remember which button he had to press to answer it. They were designed for people a great deal more deft than he was. He had cut people off more than once. Success.
ReplyDelete‘Hello, David speaking…’
‘Oh David, I am so glad you answered. I need your help. I want to grow my own vegetables this year and I don’t know where to start. I went to the nursery and the selection of things I could grow is enormous, but I didn’t know where to start, so I just came home again. If I pick you up will you come to the nursery with me and help me choose? Please…’
David could feel his tension ease. NOW he was delightfully in his element. ‘I can do that for you. Is your ground fertile? Your vegetable patch IS in full sun isn’t it? As you know, I don’t like cars but I will meet you at the nursery in half an hour, and we will choose the vegetables best suited to our climate and to your experience as a gardener’.
‘Don’t be silly David, I will pick you up. It is raining’
‘My skin is waterproof and I have an umbrella. I will meet you at the nursery. I will drive to your home with you afterwards and we will put the plants I have chosen into the ground. When they are in the ground and I have told you how to care for them I will walk home. Exercise is good for me.’
David sounds like the Grandpa in my story. We were thinking along similar lines. Well done!
DeleteElectrickery!! I love it :)
DeleteOldfashioned satories are called up by this week's prompts. I like your David, and would like to get to know him.
DeleteLove this!!!
DeleteElephant's Child: I don't much like phones either. I'm like David, I would cut people off or simply forgot how to turn the call off.
DeleteGood story, though I'm wondering why the caller does not say his or her name. Electrickery - that's a fun word.
Have a lovely day.
Hi EC - a delightful tale ... so easy to imagine - except I did think about the Emperor with no clothes ... so I hope David got dressed properly first!!! Cheers Hilary
DeleteGood story and we were both on the same track.
Deletelissa: It was a family member calling him. My brothers never give their name when they call me. They assume I know. I do of course but if I am feeling mean I call them by the name of another brother.
DeleteI always thought that was spelled skullduggery. You know, like skulls and maybe pirates up to no good? Yeah, no. Skulduggery.
ReplyDeleteBoth spellings are considered correct.
DeleteSandi and Sean Jeating: Both are indeed correct. English is a very strange language.
DeleteNow there's a mouthful... skulduggery. I had to look the meaning. Now I've learned a new word.
DeleteSometimes I feel the same way as David about my cell phone.
I really like reading this short story.
Julia
💀🥄 - no showels in the archives ;) I had to look it up as well.
DeleteDavid is a man after my own heart:)
ReplyDeleteI was going to say the same thing.
DeleteJulia
So we are three.
DeleteSandra Cox, Julia, Sean Jeating: Thank you all. David's attitudes are not very far from my own...
DeleteOh I do like this man David, salt of the earth, lovely story. He comes alive.
DeleteXO
WWW
Dear EC
ReplyDeleteI'm with David too. Modern technology can be too much - especially when it doesn't work! Sometimes simple is best.
Best wishes
Ellie
Ellie Foster: Modern technology frequently baffles me.
DeleteWhile grabbing the telephone to book a machine he groaned delightfully as after a corner one of the tattooed millionaires for the umpteenth time deftly ran in an offside trap. Skulduggery! Lèse-majesté! The young gentleman's indignation was obvious. Oh well, from next week's 500,000 he would buy the Lamborghini he yesterday had test-driven and a selection of bracelets matching his platinum blonde hair.
ReplyDeleteAh, his fertile imagination. Anyway, he would then be on his way to Kōya-san to learn more about umbrella pines. No fiction.
Sean Jeating: I find it hard to sympathise with the indignation of millionaires. Virtually impossible in fact. Nicely told.
DeleteA good imagination indeed. Well done!
DeleteYou have a vivid imaginatiom for sure!
DeleteWell done, but millionaires and their avarice have no appeal for me. I knew too many in my time
DeleteXO
WWW
Thumbs up!
DeleteHi Sean - fertile imaginations ... clever ... cheers Hilary
DeleteLove the idea of umbrella pines.
DeleteAnd i'm off! (But if you know me well, you already realize just how "off" i really am.)
ReplyDeletemessymimi: I look forward to seeing where these words take you - and dispute your 'offness'.
DeleteOkay, it should pop up over here at midnight my time.
Deletemessymimi: I loved your take.
DeleteDeft? a word not often heard these days. I'm sure I can fit it in somewhere.
ReplyDeleteRiver: I am sure that you can and will too.
Deletethe story went a bit long, you might want to settle in with a cuppa.
DeleteI groaned at the selection of umbrellas at the corner store but my deft dance was as fertile as Fred Astaire.
ReplyDeleteMike: You sent me down a google rabbit hole. I had to check to see whether Fred Astaire was particularly fertile and how many children he had...
DeleteI like the fertility of your taciturnity.
DeleteWell done Mike ... succinctly told. Cheers Hilar
DeleteNever know what to put down with these...x
ReplyDeleteaussie aNNie: Whatever comes to mind. We would love it if you joined us. This meme is definitely made better when more people play.
DeleteGood use of words EC..
ReplyDeleteMargaret D: Thank you.
DeleteBuon mercoledi.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo: And to you.
DeleteCool words ❤
ReplyDeleteKinga K.: Thank you. I hope some day you will join us.
DeleteOnly a tiny story from me this time around: WfW
ReplyDeleteCharlotte (MotherOwl): Short it is - but I really enjoyed it.
DeleteVelsignet være båndspolingen.
DeleteSelv messymimis bedstefar er nok enig. ;-)
Al volver la esquina, me encontré con una máquina, que hacía un gran ruído. La calle estaba de obras y estaba cortada al tráfico.
ReplyDeleteSalí en cuanto pude de la calle, sin caer en ninguna de las trampas, que te pudiera hacer caer. No ocurrió así con una mujer mayor que gimió, cuando tropezó, con una de las piedras que obstaculizaban el paso. La señora era encantadoramente amable y agradeció que me interesara por ella.
Sonó el teléfono y erán mis amigas, que me esperaban para tomar café en el centro cívico. Allí trás tomar café jugábamos a las cartas, pero había que ir con cuidado, porque una de ellas era muy hábil, para hacer trampas.
Cuando llegué ya estabán todas allí, esperando que yo llegara. El ambiente ese día estaba bastante caldeado. Los hombres no paraban de hablar en las mesas sobre el partido de la Selección española y acerca del fuera de juego que no había pitado el árbitro, en el partido contra Francia y que ocasionó el gol que subió al marcador.
Después de jugar unas partidas de carta, regresé de nuevo a casa y en ese momento comenzó a llover y no llevaba paraguas. A poca distancia circula un taxi y decidí cogerlo, con tal de no mojarme.
Las plantas de mi pequeño jardín ya no tenía que regarlas y el pequeño frutal que hay en él, estaba muy fértil por el buen abono que le había echado...ahora la lluvia haría todo lo demás.
Ahora ya sentada en mi casa, trás una ajetreada tarde, me puse a ver una película de ficción en la televisión.
Y esa ha sido mi aportación.
VENTANA DE FOTO:
DeleteHere is googles translation of this wonderful contribution.
As I turned the corner, I came across a machine, which was making a great noise. The street was under construction and was closed to traffic.
I left the street as soon as I could, without falling into any of the traps that could make you fall. This was not the case with an older woman who groaned when she tripped over one of the stones that blocked her way. The lady was charmingly kind and grateful that I took an interest in her.
The phone rang and it was my friends, who were waiting for me to have coffee at the civic center. There after having coffee we would play cards, but you had to be careful, because one of them was very skilled at cheating.
When I arrived they were all there, waiting for me to arrive. The atmosphere that day was quite heated. The men did not stop talking at the tables about the match of the Spanish National Team and about the offside that the referee had not whistled, in the match against France and that caused the goal that went up to the scoreboard.
After playing a few card games, I went back home and at that moment it started to rain and I didn't have an umbrella. A taxi circulates a short distance away and I decided to take it, as long as I don't get wet.
The plants in my small garden no longer had to be watered and the small fruit tree in it was very fertile because of the good compost I had put on it ... now the rain would do everything else.
Now sitting at home, after a busy afternoon, I started to watch a fictional movie on television.
And that has been my contribution.
Thank you so much for joining us. Here today it is raining. My garden and I are thankful. I am also thankful not to have to play cards with cheater - or listen to sports talk.
A very nice use of the words!
DeleteVentana de Foto: That sounds like a good day being busy. Good uses of the prompts.
DeleteHave a lovely day.
Great prompts EC and I used them all.
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------------------------------
She let the machine pick up on the incessantly ringing telephone from inside the dining room as she sat on the patio under the umbrella, brooding over the latest skulduggery of James, her ex.
He had created a fiction around his wealth, he must have stashed away most of it in every corner of the globe, secret bank and investment accounts. He was so deft in his financial management, always had been.
Even more so now that he had gone off with his fertile assistant, twenty-four if she was a day, pregnant with the child that she, Rose, could never give him.
She groaned as she heaved herself out of her deck chair and went in to listen to the machine.
Nine messages, all from Roger. All the same.
“Sign the papers, Rose, I’m warning you, you will lose the house if you don’t. Sign the papers now.”
It was a trap and she knew it.
Twenty years of learning from him and his clever, cheating ways. She’d forgotten how to smile. Now she did so. Delightfully. For she had hacked into all his global investment accounts.
She picked up the phone to call her lawyer.
Oh, this was going to be fun. Marvelous fun.
-------------------------------------------------------------
XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman: I love it. A minor quibble. Is her ex James or Roger? Whatever the name he doesn't smell sweet and I love that Rose is getting her vengeance - and a healthy chunk of cash.
DeleteThanks for the catch EC, I can't edit a comment unfortunately. I wanted Roger but forgot to fix the James. Roger is dodgier (ha!)
DeleteXO
WWW
Oh, this is going to be so good for her! Excellent story.
DeleteAh, latest now I could see why "millionaires and their avarice have no appeal" for you. ;-)
DeleteLike it. Revenge can be sweet, eh?
Wisewebwoman: First she was thinking of James but then why was the messages from Roger? I wonder. Just noted your comment and it's Roger. But perhaps she had two ex's who were the same kind of person? At least, she got a lawyer that will make Roger pay somehow.
DeleteGood use of the prompts.
Have a lovely day.
Hi WWW - fun to read, and to find she'd outwitted him. Cheers Hilary
DeleteWell done everyone! Big Hugs EC!
ReplyDeleteMagic Low Crow: Thank you. And thank you for trawling through (and commenting on) my back posts.
DeleteThese make very enjoyable reads.
ReplyDeleteDeniseinVA: They do, don't they?
DeleteDear EC, for the first time since you started doing the "Words for Wednesday," I've decided to try to use one of the word sets for a posting on my blog. I haven't posted in nearly three months because of the convergence of health, malaise, and lack of stimuli. But I'm going to try and post in the next few days--if I can just get motivated. I read Susan's Contemplation blog his past week and she used your words to write a truly wonderful story. So I've decided to give it a go. If only I can follow through the "talk here" with the "walk there" on my blog! I hope all is well. Peace.
ReplyDeleteDee: Thank you so much. I do hope that the words inspire you, and look forward to seeing where they take you. More importantly, much more importantly, look after yourself - and listen to what your body is telling you.
DeleteI'm late again. Another fiction piece, here's the link:
ReplyDeleteTrudy Fine's Very Short Journey Through Space
Have a lovely day.
lissa: I have read your story - and hope (rather a lot) that future prompts allow this tale to be continued...
DeleteHave a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteashok: Thank you. I hope yours is lovely too.
DeleteHi EC - fun selection ... mine come from the 2nd choices:
ReplyDeleteAnother wonderful late summer day, the scarecrow relaxed, that groaning, creaking umbrella could for now stay closed;
the deft farmer had chosen well … the field was full of meadow flowers … nature looked after its own … even that sunny corner had its extra fertile selection … where those beautiful sunflowers would provide extra seeds for our avian friends later in the year.
Cheers Hilary
Hilary Melton-Butcher: This is lovely - though I do hope that the scarecrow hasn't relaxed too soon.
DeleteFinally posted mine: https://ofdandelionsandsunshine.blogspot.com/2021/10/words-on-wednesday-1013.html
ReplyDeleteCindi: Your story is a sad reflection of reality for far too many... Far, far too many.
DeleteLEST WE FORGET by Granny Annie
ReplyDelete"This gall-darn machine is simply a work of fiction" Granddad muttered. "I can't figure out the skulduggery it was created to perform."
"It's a telephone!" the grandchildren all responded delightfully. "We promise it is not a trap. Listen carefully and you can hear Grandma."
Granddad groaned in fear as he moved the handset to his ear. Soon as he heard a soft whispering "Jeremiah, is that you dear?" Grandma Myrtle was trying to coax her husband to speak into this long forgotten invention.
Jeremiah threw the phone into the corner. He was not deft in his selection of ways to rid himself of the device. That could not have been Myrtle talking to him. She was out in the fertile field under her umbrella completing the Fall picking. He could see her as plain as day.
The family prayed that Granddad would be better once Grandma could come back from the hospital. She was the only one who could calm him.
Granny Annie: So is Grandma Myrtle at the hospital or is she out in the field? The way this is written, I'm thinking Grandad is imagining Grandma and that she is really at the hospital. This is good, it makes me wonder.
DeleteHave a lovely day.
Granny Annie: Poor, poor Jeremiah. Another tale which makes my heart ache - for the whole family.
DeleteI'm sure the results are lots of fun, EC! I hope you are enjoying a great day! Hugs to you!
ReplyDeleteFundy Blue: Thank you. This meme IS a lot of fun. I hope your weekend is lovely.
DeleteBuon fine settimana.
ReplyDeleteGiancarlo: Thank you - and to you.
DeleteGood use of words EC..
ReplyDeleteAzka Kamil: Thank you.
DeleteSeason is fall season here and weather was rainy yesterday and it is rainy now. But i love spring's Rain while i walking with my umberalla under it.
ReplyDeletebread&salt: I love spring rain too - which is just as well because this year we have had a LOT of it.
Delete