Legacy

Here is my 100 word take on Friday's Light and Shade Challenge prompt.  It was great fun, but I really, really regret setting 100 word challenges.

"Is that the post?" Estelle called.  "I thought it had already been."

Phil shrugged and picked up the envelope.  "It's from the solicitors."

Estelle jumped up.  Her rich, spiteful uncle had promised he would leave Estelle £1000 in his will.  She had been waiting for months. 

'Your legacy valued at £1000 is with this letter, according to the exact instructions of our late client.' The letter read.  Estelle turned the page over and over.  There was nothing. 

"He always was a skinflint." She said bitterly.

Unheeded in the wastepaper bin the perfect Penny Black sat smugly on the envelope.

White Lies

Here is my response to the Light and Shade Challenge of 2nd May 2014.  It is a bit embarrassing that it comes so long after the responses from people who didn't actually help to set the challenge.  I took the inspiration from the quote:

'She tells enough white lies to ice a wedding cake'.  Margot Asquith

"Honestly, you look lovely in that, Claudia.  It really suits you, the colour is ideal.  You will look fine.  And the neckline is perfect, not too low."

Claudia looked doubtful.  "I don't want to show too much..."

"You will be fine!" Jenny smiled frantically and avoided the sympathetic glances of the bridal shop assistants.

"There's not too much beading?" Claudia smoothed down the expensive silk.

"It's perfect.  You will be stunning, honest." As her mother-in-law-to-be headed back to the changing rooms Jenny checked her watch.  She had twenty minutes left to choose her wedding dress.  

If you enjoy writing challenges please jump in and join us at Light and Shade Challenge.  We love to see people posting!  

On the Rocks

I've taken on the challenge from Trifecta to write 33 words about love gone wrong but without using love, sad, tears, wept, heart or pain.  Here is my take...

I'm trying to explain to the kids why mummy left, why there is no money and why she left a pile of whisky bottles behind her.  We are abandoned for her next drink.

Image from Stockfreeimages.com

The Bells of St Brigit

This is a surprise prompt from Write on Edge, a challenge for a piece no more than 108 words and starting with the phrase, 'The bells of St Brigit are calling tonight.'

The bells of St. Brigit's are calling tonight,

The moonlight is sparkling over the sea,

The stars are shedding their magical light,

And my lover's dead soul is calling to me.

The roses are breathing their passion filled scent,

The soft waves are hissing onto the sand,

The bells chimes are ringing an empty lament,

My lover's drowned hand slips cold into mine.

Down the stone staircase and out to the sand,

Across the storm wreckage to the now quiet sea,

My lover steps slowly away from the land,

A final farewell as he's lost to me.    

I wasn't intending to try this, it seemed a bit hard for me, but it has been a good distraction at a tough time.  I can't remember for the life of me how to punctuate poetry, so I've just done my best.

Elves Delay Highway Construction

The link is here.

A very kind friend sent me the link.  A construction project in Iceland is being delayed because the local population fear that the road would cut through the local elf population.  People are standing in front of the machinery and it's gone to Iceland's Supreme Court.

I am comforted that the elves go to church, as apparently there is a concern that an elf church will be affected by the development.  The link is here.

I feel like my fiction is being left behind by the real world.

Breathing In

This is a response to the Trifecta Challenge of 27 January 2014.  The challenge is to write 33 words on the subject of this picture.

Thomas Leuthard / Foter.com / CC BY

The easy, expansive space of the coffee shop after the dark confines of the parlour.  The bright, wide, window after the heavy, tasselled drapes.  The delicious chance for the mind to freely breathe.

This is definitely the hardest challenge I have tried so far.   

The Craft Kit

This is a prompt from the Trifecta Challenge, to write between 33 and 333 words on the third definition of the word 'Quaint'.  

The Craft Kit

Finally, the new kit's here

I've waited for the post all day.         

The door is shut, the table's clear

The furniture is pushed away!

Okay, I put the screw in here

And tighten up the bracket there

And slot the tab into the rear

And push it in, hard as I dare.

I sand it here, and rub it there,

I add the paint and wax and buff,

The fumes are stuffing up the air,

I wonder if I've buffed enough.

The picture's blurred, is this quite right?

I'm sure I got the stencil straight.

Is this quite the shade of white?

And will it really hold the weight?

Oh no!  No visitors today!

I shove the thing across the floor,

Push a chair to bar the way,

And rush towards the knocking door.

The mother of my husband's here.

She doesn't like the kitchen blind

She doesn't like the new veneer

She doesn't like the box I've lined.

She checks how full my cupboards are,

And is my laundry all inside,

She lifts the cushions, now ajar,

And spots the kit I've tried to hide.

She picks it up and turns it round

And touches the still-drying lace

An opportunity she's found

To put me firmly in my place.

She sneers with praise that's damning faint

"A painted footstool, oh how quaint!"