#99Word Stories; Freedom

The June 20, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about what freedom feels like. Whose point of view do you use? Does the idea of freedom cause tension or bring hope? Let the reader feel the freedom. Go where the prompt leads!

My first response to this prompt is a Double Ennead, the 99 syllable form created by Colleen Chesebro. The second response features fictional characters that you may recall from other flashes.

In Sight by D. Avery

Freedom is first brave steps

finding one’s bearings

following a star blazed path— sight in darkness.

Freedom is the light

you’ll never lose your way.

*

Freedom is essential

feeding your spirit

it satisfies your needs and you do not want

Freedom is bold faith

you’ll always have enough.

*

Freedom is rock solid

sure-footed comfort

of knowing you are loved without conditions.

Freedom is the love

you receive and you give.

Planting Ideas by D. Avery    

Hope planted the little flags where her dad directed, starting with his grandfather who’d served in WWI and ending with his ancestors who had fought in the Revolution.

“And now a parade!”

“That’s right Hope, the Bicentennial Parade. Celebrating two hundred years of freedom.”

“Did your ancestors fight for freedom Mommy?”

“Always, Hope.” She paused to look down the tree-shaded slope to where a small marker stood just outside the cemetery fence. “But we lost.”

“Everyone’s free in America, Mommy.”

A feather drifted silently down from a towering maple. Picking it up, she wondered at the power of myths.

Be sure to go to Carrot Ranch to read the complete “Danger Zone“ collection from last week. And there’s always the Ranch Yarns with Kid and Pal’s responses HERE.

#PicoftheWeek; Earth Day

time is an earthen circle
borne upon your runic shell
moon-mapped you return
always to water
taking what you know

For Maria Antonia‘s #picoftheweek photo challenge I am crossing off the “Earth Day” square on the bingo sheet. On April 22, official “Earth Day”, I was in a part of the country that looked as if it was another planet, but even in the southwest turtles were important symbols. Now I am home, enjoying familiar sights and events, such as turtles coming up from the ponds to lay eggs in the soft roadside gravel.

Check out Maria’s  #2022picoftheweek to see how you can participate in this fun challenge using the bingo sheet as a prompt.

#99Word Stories; Danger Zone

The June 13, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a danger zone. It can be an exciting plot-driven story (think “story spine”) or a situation a character must confront. Play with different genres, and use craft elements like tension, tone, and pacing. Go where the prompt leads! Submit at Carrot Ranch by June 18, 2022.

Danger Zone by D. Avery    

The reporter put aside the binder of articles and commendations, all citing the husband’s legendary calm and commonsense, unflappable even under fire.

“I’m interviewing you.”

“Me?” She pulled nervously at the long sleeves she wore even on this warm day. “There’s nothing to tell.”

She wouldn’t tell how she holds him when he shakes and cries after a harrowing shift. She wouldn’t tell how she endures his punches when he’s in a drunken rage.

“Every time he leaves for work, I fear for his life,” she offered.

She wouldn’t tell how she fears for her own at his return.

Be sure to go to Carrot Ranch to read the complete “Stacking Stones“ collection from last week. And there’s always the Ranch Yarns with Kid and Pal’s responses HERE.

#SixSentenceStories; Stroke

The word this week from GirlieontheEdge, our Six Sentence Story hostess, is “stroke”.

Be sure to go to the LINKUP to enter your own Six Sentences and to read and comment on other stories.

The Stroke by D. Avery

The problem with strokes, her brother used to say, is they don’t kill people, a creed inspired by their father’s stroke, and she understood it as a caring statement, not as callous as it might seem.

No, for together they had witnessed what a prolonged death looked like, what a life trapped in an unspeaking, unmoving body entailed for the family as well as the patient. Both she and her brother knew what their father would have wanted but they’d all been rendered powerless, overwhelmed by emergency responses and subsequent medical interventions that would not heal and restore, would only maintain the basic bodily functions of a once robust man who gradually shrank into unbearable despair with each day that he survived to endure the effects of his stroke.

There’s a line, her brother used to say, that once crossed, it’s too late, once you’re in the hands of the doctors they will keep lungs breathing and hearts beating and call that life even when speech and mobility are gone.

She missed her brother’s voice, but she could hear it in her mind, knew what he was telling her with his eyes, saw the slight nod of affirmation as she followed his silent command, tears forming as she approached his immobile form clutching the pillow. He did not need to speak out loud for her to know that his were tears of gratitude.

#PicoftheWeek; Starts With An M

my morning mountain
I still hear you murmuring
goodnight to the moon

For Maria Antonia‘s #picoftheweek photo challenge I am crossing off the “Starts With An M” square on the bingo sheet.

Check out Maria’s  #2022picoftheweek to see how you can participate in this fun challenge using the bingo sheet as a prompt.

#99Word Stories; Stone Stacking

The June 6, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that features stone-stacking. How does the activity fit into a story? Who is involved? What is the tone? Do the stones have special meaning? Go where the prompt leads! Submit at Carrot Ranch by June 11, 2022.

History Stacked Against Us by D. Avery    

“I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with these larger stones.”

“I have no idea what you’re going to do with any of these rocks Gramps.”

“Getting ready. These here? Perfect for chucking by hand. These ones? They’ll fit in a slingshot.”

“Oh. Then how about a catapult for the larger ones? Gramps, are you feuding with Mr. Nelson again?”

“No, that’s done.”

“Then why the piles of stones?”

“You’ve heard of World War I?”

“Yes, and I’ve heard of World War II. What’s that got to do with you stacking rocks?”

“I’m getting ready for World War IV.”

Be sure to go to Carrot Ranch to read the complete ” Memorial” collection from last week. And there’s always the Ranch Yarns with Kid and Pal’s responses HERE.

#SixSentenceStories; Key

The word this week from GirlieontheEDGE, our Six Sentence Story hostess, is “key”.

Be sure to go to the LINKUP to enter your own Six Sentences and to read and comment on other stories.

Consensus Is Key To A Happy Home by D. Avery

“Would you agree that this neighborhood is starting to look rough and perhaps we should begin locking our doors again when we’re away from home, providing we can think of a good place to hide a key?”

“Agreed, but as long as we have an actual dog, please, let’s not try that fake poop hide-a-key thing again.”

“Agreed, that was too tricky, but under the welcome mat is too obvious, practically an invitation to trespass.”

“Agreed, but somewhere on our property are at least a half dozen keys that are so well hidden neither one of us has been able to find them.”

“Well, we better find one of them, for it seems we are locked out!”

“Agreed, but would you agree that we might be lost, for now I’m fairly certain this is not our house.”

#99Word Stories; Memorial

The May 30, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story behind a memorial. Is it a structure, plaque, or something else? What does it seek to remind those who view it? Go where the prompt leads!

Remembering by D. Avery    

“Shut that fucking TV off!”

“Swear like that again I’ll shut you off.”

But the bartender pointed the remote and the news was replaced by a baseball game.

“Better?”

“Eh.”

Baseball wasn’t much better than the news. She signaled for another drink.

Her son liked baseball. Made the high school team. Dreamed of the majors.

“Stupid kids,” she said.

“What?”

“The news. Building a memorial.”

“Why not?”

“Doesn’t change a damn thing. Over two decades and nothing’s changed.”

Nothing, she thought, except dozens more parents were suffering like her from relentless grief, of dreams shot down with their children.

Be sure to go to Carrot Ranch to read the complete “Well’s Gone Dry” collection from last week. And there’s always the Ranch Yarns with Kid and Pal’s responses HERE.

#PicoftheWeek; Hide and Seek

tree shielded river
networked roots; greencast shade
over the mill’s remains

For Maria Antonia‘s #picoftheweek photo challenge I am crossing off the “Hide and Seek” square on the bingo sheet.

Check out Maria’s  #2022picoftheweek to see how you can participate in this fun challenge using the bingo sheet as a prompt.

#SixSentenceStories; Edge

The word this week from GirlieontheEDGE, our Six Sentence Story hostess, is “edge”. I have a lot going on, feeling a little on edge, so am going to cheat. That is, I will not present any new story or poem. I know I’ve gone to edges before for Six Sentence Stories and other prompts;

https://shiftnshake.wordpress.com/2020/07/23/write-on-sixsentencestory/

https://shiftnshake.wordpress.com/2018/09/02/at-the-edge/

https://shiftnshake.wordpress.com/2018/05/09/reverberations/

For this prompt I am going to post Six Sentences that were originally posted as 99 words for Carrot Ranch. Be sure to go to the LINKUP to enter your own Six Sentences and to read and comment on other stories.

Contemplating Edges by D. Avery

Seeking Earth’s edges, pressing on, thrusting ahead, seeking new frontiers, always further on.

Heroic?

Westward expansion told as a flexible line; looping progression across the map page, across the ages, across the ever-changing landscape. Edges reached, breached and surpassed— shoreline, rivers, mountain ranges, seas of grass, more mountain ranges, deserts, rivers, shoreline; compressed, flattened, documented.

Whose country tis of thee?

Edges of encounter; that line of expansion entangling, ensnaring, diminishing, destroying; slicing the multifaceted beauty of each encountered edge, razing cultures, razing ecosystems.

If only edges were navigated as holy spaces of contemplation, opportunities for true expansion, precipitant of Potential.