The Legend of the Tang Dong

Friday-Fictioneers

Thank you to David Stewart for this week’s photographic prompt. As always, the challenge for the Friday-Fictioneers is to produce a 100-word ‘novel’ out of thin air.

Looking at the picture, I sensed a  ghostly haunting scene perhaps a tourist spot or setting for an oriental film.

Thank you to Rochelle for hosting the prompt, click on her name to visit her home blog.

More story contributions can be read by clicking HERE.

PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart

The Legend of the Tang Dong

I enjoy the peace and idyllic solitude as dawn breaks, which is disturbed by blowing on the longhorn.
The call to a ritual of Tia Chi normally began as everyone assembled in the courtyard.
Such a long time ago.

Today, no one appears.

I blow again, longer, and louder.
Waiting a moment, a multitude of screams reply.
All is well. The Tang Dongs have returned.

Curious as to the legends, tourists now meander around the Temple court and silently view the sleeping corpses in the dormitories.

 At night, hunger wakes the Tang Dongs, who terrify the villages for human blood.

The Attack of Black Holes

Friday-Fictioneers 10^th March

Time warps, fourth dimensions, and paranormal premonitions are subjects of Sci-Fi and fantasy fiction, but are the ideas based on fact?

Thank you to Rochelle (find her site here) for this week’s selected photo-prompt from Jennifer. A surreal picture that has me flummoxed. How was it done?

More story contributions HERE.

PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast

The Attack of the Black Hole

“Please, your table.” The waitress indicated.

I frosted like the bonsai as a premonition exploded across my vision.
Did no one else see the future flash its warning?
Yesterday, at the bus stop, I saw a motorbike disintegrate around a streetlight.
I walked home that evening and said nothing.

“Sit next to me, birthday boy.” Samantha took my elbow guiding me.
Angela and Jenny followed. “Birthday presents later.” They giggled towards Samantha.
“Wasn’t it awful,” said Jenny. “That bus imploded killing …”

“Everyone, quick,” I grabbed and pushed them out.

 A swirling black hole opened, consuming everything in the room.

Besotted Love—Awkward

Thank you, Roger for the Photo–prompt for this week’s Friday Fictioneers. I can imagine people from busy offices having a lunch break sitting on the benches by the river to enjoy some sun and fresh air.

Our host Rochelle encourages us to write a 100-word flash fiction to illuminate what is behind the pictures. More story contributions are found HERE. 

Besotted Love—Awkward

During lunch breaks, she would come and sit by me on the bench.
She said I was lovely and shared her fruit salad.
It was her first job in the city, and over enthusiastic around the office with her boyish, charming smile for everyone.
She said my hair danced in the wind and she gave me strawberries with cream.

I stopped her touching my knee, after she said I like your firm racing-horse legs.

She brought me a rose and said I love you.

No! I have a husband and three children.

We don’t have to tell them; she said.

The Future is Bright

Friday Fictioneers photo from Fleur shows one of my irritations when driving at night; bright headlights from oncoming traffic. However, the rustic-red coloured sky is the lovely.

Thank you to Rochelle for the prompt and many other stories can be found HERE.

PHOTO PROMPT © Fleur Lind

The Future is Bright

Don’t be angry John!
Forgiveness is humble, trust me.

Debbie, trust me! If only I can reach eighty-eight mph and drive into the white.
Then we will live a future of eternal happiness.

John, please slow down!

He pushed hard on the accelerator and drove into the oncoming light.

A horrendous roar of a foghorn exploded towards them.

Debbie grabbed the steering wheel and turned the car on to the verge.
The DeLorean rattled over the rough gravel and ground to a stop.

Oh, Debbie… I’m really sorry.

Please John, I forgot to feed Baxter.
And, he needs his walk.

To Hell and Back

 This week’s photo prompt is a peaceful street scene, and as we head into the New Year of 2023, I am sure our world is praying for peace.

Thank you, Rochelle (click on her name for the page), for our last Friday Fictioneers of the year 2022.

More stories here.

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

To Hell and Back

Uri, do you remember the first time we came here?
It was a rotten day, a dirty place.

No, no. I think it was a happy day.
Bubbe! It was raining, cold and miserable.

Uri, my heart was singing and burning with hope.
Sara, we schlepped through the mud as humiliated donkeys.

Elation in freedom.
Oy vey ist mir, wearing our schmatte.
Mensch! Now you make me feel sad.

Sorry, my Sara, please don’t cry.
Cry! I never cried. Okay, maybe for forgiveness when we reached the kibbutz.

Look, Sara. What a wonderful place.
We built this, you adorable klutz.

Innocent Days

A small ditty to lighten the seasonal mood.

By a lakeside there stood
An enormous cottonwood
where I wooed a pretty lass
and we drunk pink bubbly
eating bread and cheese
a secret inside her panties
she said, was mine to please
alas, I knew she was a tease
I could not find her hidden spots
among those tangled hairy knots

Which deflated my amorous mood 
Beneath this enormous cottonwood.

Sibling Rivalry

Looking at this week’s photo prompt, I can only imagine how uncomfortable the owner of the discarded boot must have felt.

Thanks to Rochelle for posting and encouraging us to write our 100 word stories. Other contributions can be found HERE.

PHOTO PROMPT © Starsinclayjars

Sibling Rivalry

How could you, Sonia?

Sorry Anne, I only took it off to scratch my leg.

The support boot was brand new. 

Wilhelm distracted me and offered to push me into the library.

Do you know what it costs?

Wilhelm suggested we go hill walking this weekend.

I’m not buying you a new one.

He made me laugh. Really, in my wheelchair, I said. 

Are you listening to me?

Stop fussing. Wilhelm promised to take me trekking once my ankle has healed.

Well, look after yourself this weekend.

Anne! Why?

Wilhelm is taking me sightseeing and to a show in Paris. 

Comfort Labrador

The picture this week from Dale gives me the impression of a dark, foggy morning as we wait for the day to begin.

This prompt for Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle, click on her name to visit her site.
You will find more story contributions by clicking on HERE.

Comfort Labrador

The fluttering of anticipation somersaulted around Mary’s stomach like acrobats.

He had promised to make her happy and to love her to the end of the Earth.
Perhaps he can’t climb over the horizon, or is he lost in Lilliput, again? 
She trusted every word then, his smiles, and hugs; running home from school because of the news.
That day, a dark, claustrophobic fog descended and strangled hope forever. The Mad Hatter raced and gibbered inside her soul. She slashed and tore, but darkness gripped tighter.

The doorbell rang. 
Her comfort Labrador, Ben, had arrived.
“My dad’s name.” She cried.

Grandma’s Legacy

Thank you, Rochelle, for the memories your picture this week has stirred. I am sure we all have many items in the attic or at the back of the garage that were once loved but are now forgotten. Eventually, they end up in junk shops because we think ‘someone’ may find it useful.

Click on Rochelle, to discover the background of Friday Fictioneers. More 100 word stories on this photo-prompt are available HERE.

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Grandma’s Legacy

The musty smell of antiquity evokes my engrained fear of Grandma Louise. I see a porcelain pan, and I retch. Mornings, I had flushed grandma’s contents down the outside toilet. 

I wander junk markets conflicted with angry and fond memories, to relive my chaotic childhood. The Bible that bruised my skull, the flea infested shawl for winter huddles. The horn handled stick with which Grandma beat sense into me.
In a cruel way, she was loving and kind, and a penniless old hag with an infectious laughter that endeared forgiveness.

She left me a landscape, a ‘Constable’. 
Thank you, Grandma.

Teddy is Alone

My first thought on seeing Roger’s photo prompt for Friday Fictioneers this week was to ask; where are the children?
Okay, it looks as if it has been raining and I expect all the mums have kept their little darlings indoors to remain safe and dry.

Thanks to Rochelle for keeping our ‘fictioneering’ challenged, click on the name to reach her site. Many more stories for this week’s prompt are found HERE.

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

Teddy is Alone.

The siren screaming across the town became a daily ritual and, below in the bomb shelters, families huddled. The children sang songs and played board games until they fell asleep.

Katrina couldn’t sleep. She was worried about the play park. Yesterday was the first time she climbed, swung, and slid with her friends as mum laid out a picnic on a bench.

‘Mum,’ she said. ‘Mum, Mum.’ She shook her mother awake.
‘Please, sleep, darling.’

‘But Mum… will they bomb the playground?’
‘We’ll go tomorrow. Do you need the toilet?’
‘NO!’
‘It’s okay, Katrina, we’ll find Teddy in the morning.’