Limits

1/28/12 - Carrot Ranch Challenge
99 Words - Prompt - wishing star

Maybe a tad irreverent.  All I can say is, it is what came to mind. ......... Oh well.

"Limits"

“Wish I were, Wish I might……… Ah, screw it.  This doesn’t work anymore.”

Crestfallen, Jesus stood on the Mount and stared up at the night sky.  Moments passed as he wallowed in self pity.  Off to his left, a brighter star than the rest seemed to come closer.

“Boy, I told you there were limits. “

“But Dad, how can I turn this planet around if you won’t cooperate?”

“Well son, I’ll tell ya.  No water walking, leper healing parlor trick is going to upstage that damn Free Will clause I enacted ………… Time to pull the plug.”

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Contrary to my write from the hip style, instead of going with my first effort, I tweaked this one into three slightly different takes.   This was the third version.  And though I am still on the fence somewhat as to which one I like the best, I felt this one told a more complete story.

Regardless, seems I have gotten over that awkward period of re-acquainting myself with Flash. Cool. Trying to make it better is a good next step.

Oh Yeah - I wrote the first draft to the tune "Honey Dripper" as performed by Dr John, the Night Tripper.   Some of the Devil's music.

Enjoy 

Later Gator ..............................................

Shut Down - 100 words -

The Prediction weekly flash
100 words or less - Prompt - gutter rime thrift

Shut Down

A rime of hoarfrost encircled open lips. Breath came in short and thrifty gasps as his body began to shut down.  Harry did not notice the cold of the stone gutter seeping through his freezing blood and cloth of his tattered coat..  His body had begun to shut down. 

The day’s light faded.  No life flashed before his eyes, no moments of self recrimination.  Harry accepted his fate calmly, wishing only that Death would find him before the secret creatures of the back alleys did. 

Two shadows closed in.  “Good.  Still breathing ………… Forget the saw, hand me the cleaver.”
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My first entry at the Prediction in over a year.

Paisano

12/21/17 – Carrot Ranch Flash Challenge

99 words exactly – Prompt – “White Flowers”

During a season that is supposed to be about the joy of life, giving and goodwill to Man, we should also take a moment to reflect on those who have lost, are lost, and will continue to lose in the future. 

Paisano

Hovering over Pauper Grave #242, uninhibited tears fell onto the single white Chrysanthemum Jack clutched in his hand.   Six inches of snow had found its way into the cast off Bean boots someone threw at him from a Lexus.  He did not even notice.

It was six Christmas Eve’s ago he had identified the body of his hard times friend.   Closing his eyes, Jack could still see Rodney’s gap toothed grin after they had constructed their last blue tarp cardboard palace together.

Jack tossed the Chrysanthemum on the grave and watched it disappear into the fresh snow. 

“R.I.P. Rodney”.

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Maybe it was my recent re-read of Steinbeck’s “Tortilla Flat”.  Or maybe it was today’s NPR piece on the Homeless Vigil held in Portland, Maine around Christmas every year.  Toss in some white flowers and there you have it, something to write about.  

Whatever reason ya’ll have for celebrating, please enjoy it, savor it, and carry it as far into 2018 as you can. 

Ho …………………………………………….

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Cross posted at  Lostin the BoZone

"It is 8:30" - Carrot Ranch Weekly Challenge - 12/14/17

Carrot Ranch Flash Fiction - Due Tuesday, 12/19/17

Prompt - Phrase "Only in" - 99 words exactly
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"It is 8:30”

The man cracked opened his eyes to same bleak existence he had suffered for as long as he could remember.  For some moments he stared at the ceiling, his red eyes not focusing on anything in particular.  He struggled to bring his mind into focus for what he faced this day so much like every other day he had ever faced.  He rubbed his eyes with his knuckles and considered that only in his dreams did he seem to have any control.

“Sir?  It is 8:30.  Madam would like to know if you will be joining her for breakfast.”

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This my first flash effort in quite awhile.  It meets the minimum/maximum word count.  Whether it is a worthy effort, I just cannot say.  But I had to start somewhere.  Hope you like it.

Idiosyncrasies - 360 words

Angry Hourglass  - 360 words
Photo Prompt courtesy of Ashwin Rao

I have endeavored to behave myself these many years though Temptation lurked around every bend.  Maybe knowing my heart was always in the right place when my actions were not will soften your harsh judgment.   I did try to follow the true path.  

My parents tried to do right by me.  They even relocated to this game flush environment to teach me how to hunt, what to hunt, and when to hunt.  But from my earliest recollection, I favored the game more wary rather than the awkward clueless creatures my kind favored.  It never seemed a fair contest, culling from such oblivious herd animals.  The challenge was what I lived for, not the guaranteed meat in every pot our kind had settled on.

Mom promised my idiosyncrasies would pass when I became an adult.  Just growing pains she said.  She was wrong.  I was in my 30's when I stopped resisting and embraced my urges.  I decided I was but existing for existence’s sake.  Taking up space, living a treadmill life.  There was no challenge in living.  So, I separated from the clan and went my own way.

Word got around.  I became a pariah no longer welcome at the tables of the many clans scattered hither and yon.   I did not mind.  Listening to them justify their slovenly lifestyle by invoking entitlement and superiority made me want to gag.  Besides, by that time, I had lost my taste for domestic animals.  Sustenance was not just a full belly, I needed to feed my soul as well.

I left behind the comfortable space my kind had created for themselves.  And for the first time in my life, I found comfort in being uncomfortable.  I embraced the uncertainty of where my next meal might come from.  I was finally outside the box and I loved it.

I would love to stay and chat, but I am hungry and a nice couple in a RV has just taken up residence near my edge of the woods.  And Look.  They have a dog.  A big Pitbull.

If they let him loose, looks like dinner is served.  But I will have to earn it.
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The Deplorable Double Wide - 99 Words

Flash Fiction site, "Carrot Ranch Communications" does a weekly 99 word challenge.  This week's challenge (11/9/16) is "write a story that pivots around an unexpected ending".  

In lieu of watching the news, commenting on the news, and hating the news, I figured to give it a go.  Anything to take my mind off the nightmares that will haunt me for at least the next 4 years.

My effort this week:

The Deplorable Double Wide

Roscoe opened his eyes.  Disoriented, he took stock of his surroundings.  He was seated at a wooden table in the kitchen of a deplorable double wide.  

Where he was now was not the location of his last waking moment.  He was sure it was tipping shots and slapping backs with his Wall Street buds in lower Manhattan.  On the big screen, their guy was kicking ass. 

“Uh, Where am I?”

A pudgy hand with no wrist dropped a plate of Spam and eggs in front of him.

“Home, you dumass.  You got shitfaced last night cuz your man won.”

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There you have it.  

Keep it 'tween the ditches

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*Cross posted at Lost in the BoZone 

Jack Top - #2 - Say Goodbye

"Say Goodbye" - 250words
(from the defunct site, Flash Fiction Friday - Starter sentence - "What do you see when you close your eyes?")

"What do you see when you close your eyes".

Zip was not even thinking about closing his eyes. Not with that knife in Jack Top’s hand pressed so hard an inch or two under his left ear.  Jack Top grabbed his hair and roughly tilted his head back. "I said, what do you see when you close your eyes?"

Zip knelt whimpering and losing control of his bladder. He looked up into Jack Top's eyes.  He had always been slow on the uptake. It took him a second, but he closed his eyes. Some seconds later they fluttered open. "Uh, nothing Jack. Don’t see a thing. Black I guess. Why?" Piss began to soak through his pants and into the carpet.

Jack Top closed his eyes. His free hand gripped Zip’s hair so hard he could feel some of it coming loose at the roots. “I tell you what Zip. When I close my eyes, I see red. Beautiful red everywhere. Nothin but red.” Jack Top then sliced the poor bastard's throat open from ear to ear.

Jack stood staring down at the wet red gash he had created under Zip’s chin. He watched the gushing blood drain the life out of his eyes. A look of serenity and calm came over J T’s face. He sighed and closed his eyes again. His knife fell to the floor.

Rivet Head whispered, “If he ever asks me that, what do I say?”

Axel looked at him and said, “You say goodbye.”
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