Opportunity

Micro Bookends - 1.19 - Spring/Festival - Image chinese fireworks - 110 words

Spring right on the heels of New Year bore down hard on Chongun.  He considered his added role as he pulled the cart of fireworks past the rice patties etched into the side of Kunlun Mountain.   With his brother drafted by the People’s Liberation Army now, he was not only in charge of the family fireworks business, but the rice paddies also.

Another man might complain.  Chongun saw only opportunity to fulfill his destiny as head of the richest family in the valley.  Provided of course, his brother did not come back.

Chongun smiled and said, “Enough daydreaming, I need to get these fireworks to the temple for tomorrow’s festival.”

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Image courtesy of mathewwwu88

Scotch on the Rocks

Micro Bookends 1.18 – Prompt  - Sweet ~ Tooth – 107 words

Sweet memories began flowing halfway through his third scotch on the rocks.  Harris settled deeper into the wing back chair.  He glanced at Julie asleep on the couch.  She was sitting up, head back, and snoring softly.

Harris smiled as he gazed at his wife of 40 years.  The night they met, she looked like this.  She had tried to be a good sport.  She matched him shot for shot.  Five minutes later she passed out.

Her face had more wrinkles and her ex-dancer’s body was less petite.  But by Jesus, he still loved his sweet Julie even now when she was so long in the tooth.

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Image from Crafthubs

Relentless

Micro Bookends 1.17 – 104 words

Water is relentless.  Man can only hope to guide its flow.

Harry looked down at his crew crossing the bridge over the spillway and into the mine.   Something was not right.  After so much rain should not more water be flowing from the dam just one thousand yards away?  Harry picked up his walkie-talkie, “Jerry, …. Jerry come in.”  No answer.   Concerned now, Harry drove his truck up to the dam.  He found Jerry slumped over in his truck, dead.

He turned to head to the flow control shed when the dam broke.  Harry realized now, Jerry never made it to the flood gate.

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An interesting aside - Before i knew of the title of the image, "Coal Mine", I picked a mine as my setting.  I never worked the mines, but I did deliver more than a few pieces of large equipment to mines scattered throughout the PA and WV region during my trucking days.

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Image courtesy of Duncan

Lucky Harry

Weight in low volume was what was needed to justify leasing a wormhole tapping a planet so far from the core.

 “Who’s the Babe?”  Harry was notorious, better known for striking out than scoring.

“Oh, that’s Alice.”  The bartender smiled.  “You might finally get lucky tonight.  She leaves with a new guy every night.”

Back at Alice’s place, Alice pulled out some handcuffs.

Harry grinned and thought, “Oh yeah, tonight’s the night.”

Alice switched on the conversion gun.  Lights on the barrel blinked as it warmed up.  Strapped in and wetting himself, Harry asked, “Why?”

“It is hard to explain Harry.  Let us just say our gain is your loss.”

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Flash challenge from Micro Bookends - 110 words

Image courtesy of this site

Wandering Souls

Club hopping in this burgh was getting tiresome Renaldo thought as he searched the same old coffins looking for something new to wear.  Tonight everyone would be hooking up at “Wandering Souls”, the spacious Johnson vault near the front gate.  If he could not raise the bar, he should at the least do his best to maintain it.  After all appearances were all he and his crowd had left.

Ransacking a plot previously ignored, Renaldo found a gorgeous long purple satin dress with mother of pearl buttons and a lace neck.  Donning the dress, he found only a right shoe.  Nothing he could do but snap off his left foot.

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A piece I wrote for a weekly challenge over to Micro Bookends

Prompt was to begin flash with Club, end it with Foot and use the image supplied