#Family

Let’s Travel on Eclipse Day – BOTS

It’s one week before the total solar eclipse that is going directly over our city in Western New York State on April 8, 2024. My phone rings about 10:00 AM and it’s my son calling. Often that timing means something is not quite right in his life, but this time he fools me. The news is he and his girlfriend of 13 years have decided to get married.

Cool! Amazing! When?

During the eclipse!

What? In a flash; we are pulling a wedding together in six days. It’s a pot-luck and I get to make the wedding cake. Yippee!

04/08/2024 3

Beer as a Food

Ya know that old adage? “Don’t fret when your child moves out. They always come home again.” After a breakup, my son returned for a few weeks. We told him he wasn’t intruding, but he would come home from work, grab a beer, and escape to the patio to talk on his cell and pace.

Upon his departure, we noticed the grass between the fence and patio was a lush dark green. We asked if he could explain. With the look of a guilty child, he replied, “That’s where I peed.”

My husband mumbled, “Beer is a complete food.”

Written in response to Charli Mills March 12, 2024, promo at Carrot Ranch Literary: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about leaving a leak. What (or who) is leaking? How can you use the leak to create tension? Expand the idea of leaks. Go where the prompt leads!

03/18/2024 1

Culture Shock

When he arrived, the eleven-year-old visitor stared at his new surroundings with trepidation and awe. Being raised in the New York City projects, he had only seen pictures of a modern log house surrounded by grass, fields, and a pond with a zip line. He never dreamed he would get to stay in such a place until he learned about the Fresh Air program.

The first two days of his visit he barely spoke because he was overwhelmed by the differences, but by the end of the two weeks, he was “family” being invited to return the following year.

Written in response to Charli Mills January 23, 2024, prompt at Carrot Ranch Literary: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a fish out of water. What is the source of the tension? The characters, the action, the setting? Or, is it literally a story about fish, real or metaphorical? Go where the prompt leads!

01/29/2024 3

The Red Button is Returned

The boy was often left to his own devices while Mummy sewed extravagant dresses and coats for the elite. He couldn’t help being jealous of the beautiful clothes and fasteners. One day, she was working on a new wool coat that was to have soft red velvet-covered buttons. He nicked one when he was sent from the room, which caused a big to-do since there were no extras.

Years later, when his mother passed, the man tucked the thread-bare button inside her hand while she lay in her coffin. “I’m sorry. I needed a part of you with me.”

Written in response to Charli Mills January 2, 2024, prompt at Carrot Ranch Literary: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story using the color red. It can be a descriptor, a setting, a character, or a metaphor. How far can you get in a story by expanding “red”? Go where the prompt leads!

01/07/2024 0

Shaggy, Shaggy, Shaggy

There’re dogs named Shaggy,

And there’re shaggy dogs.

There are even shaggy cats,

My Maine Coon, Big’n, for one.

There is Shaggin’ on the Boulevard,

referring to dancing in the street.

There are heads of hair that look shaggy

Because they need a cut,

Or because they are cut that way.

There are shagbark hickory trees

And willow trees whose branches hang like shaggy hair.

Remember the shag rug era in the seventies,

When Moms took hours to vacuum

The shag in the same direction?

And then daughters who walked circular footprints on them,

Got grounded for their efforts.

Written in response to Charli Mills October 17, 2023, prompt at Carrot Ranch Literary: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about something shaggy. It can be carpet, a hair-do, or some sort of critter. How can something shaggy steer the story? Go where the prompt leads!

10/23/2023 3

Grounding Roots

Michael said to Tessa, “When you left college for marriage, did you ever think about moving home one day?”

“No. I thought my marriage would last and couldn’t see that far ahead. I didn’t know about people growing apart.”

Michael replied. “I had no intentions of returning before I lost my legs. A counselor suggested my mother needed me to and then I heard you were getting divorced. That took care of any indecision.”

Tessa’s eyes watered. “I longed for the hills and colorful seasons. But it’s you and the other vets who ground me because of our experiences.”

Author’s Note: Michael and Tessa were high school sweethearts. She married an Army Officer, and he was enlisted Army. He lost his legs above the knee in an IED bomb in Iraq. They both moved back to their hometown and are now married to each other. The series is three years old.

Written in response to Charli Mills August 8, 2023, prompt at Carrot Ranch Literary: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about roots like a mountain. Feel free to play with both concepts of roots and mountains. How can you create a story from the combination? What character (or traits) come to mind? Where and when does the story take place? Go where the prompt leads!

08/14/2023 3