#99Word Stories; “Oh, my.”

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 22 Comments

The November 21, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story using the phrase, “Oh, my.” It can be used in storytelling or dialog. What is the cause for such a response? Have fun with this one! Go where the prompt leads! Submit at Carrot Ranch by November 26, 2022. 

Here is a pair of 99 word stories that continue a Six Sentence Story, On the Verge.

Walking the Line by D. Avery

Daddy liked cooking and was good at it. Working the line, he wore the same expression as when he was on the verge in the casinos. The owner was so glad to have him that he let me stay in the diner while Daddy worked. It was warm, and we got food.

When he got his paycheck at the end of the week Daddy swung me.

“Cashout, Peanut.”

But Daddy didn’t cash his check. Instead he showed it to the lady that answered his knock at the door.

“Oh my,” she said. “You did it.”

“You bet I did.”

XXX

I held onto Daddy as we stood on the stoop of the lady’s small house. Finally, she invited him in. Finally, she noticed me.

“Oh, my! How you’ve grown!”

I clung to Daddy even tighter.

“You were just a baby.”

“Daddy,” I whispered. “Is she my mother?”

He knelt down. “No Peanut, but she mothered you.”

“Sometimes, Penelope,” the lady said, “You cut your losses. Sometimes you take a gamble. I did both with your daddy. And I promised if he quit gambling, you both could stay here. Would you like to see your bedroom?”

My bedroom? Oh my!

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

#SixSentenceStories; Verge

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 43 Comments

A Six Sentence Story is a story told in six sentences, no more, no less. This weekly writing challenge is hosted by Denise at GirlieOntheEdge. The current challenge word is “verge”. The linkup is open through Saturday. Go there to leave six sentences and to read the work of the other Sixarians.

On the Verge by D. Avery

I didn’t bother asking Daddy if he thought we might get a room, or even if we would be eating today; I knew the answer would be, ‘Not now, Peanut, I’m on the verge’ but he never said if it was the verge of winning big or losing big and his face never gave anything away, he always wore the same perplexed smile at either outcome.

The verge could last for hours, his fortune going up and down like that carousel horse I rode once, with Daddy seeming both near and distant and I would lean in close then, listening to his tactics and theories for beating the glaring gluttonous machines at their game, not sure if he was teaching me or just talking to himself as he constantly strategized to keep his ride going, switching machines, switching bets, trying to build his total way up before cashing out and I would know if he’d spring for a hotel room or if we’d be sleeping in the car again.

This night he was down more than he was up and I was wondering if it had gotten cold out since we parked the car, when a man came over and watched Daddy play, standing too close and holding a wad of cash right out in his hand, which Daddy always says is asking for trouble.

I couldn’t hear what the man said to Daddy, but they looked at me, then the cash, and then Daddy pulled me away fast with an expression I had never seen before.  

He cashed out before we left, muttering that it was barely gas money so the cashier said ‘Better luck next time’, but Daddy informed him that there was not going to be a next time.

And we haven’t been to a casino since, but all Daddy will say is that he’d seen how much he had to lose and would never gamble again.

#99Word Stories; Lie

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 34 Comments

The November 7, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to:  In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that includes a lie. What is the lie? It can be subtle or blatant. Who tells the lie and why? Is it an unreliable narrator? Go where the prompt leads! Submit at Carrot Ranch by November 19, 2022.

After writing this story in my head I finally typed it out and it came to 141 words, which I have included here. Then I pared it down to 99 words for submission at Carrot Ranch. Which do you prefer?

Younger Cousin (141) by D. Avery

The first lie was mine, on that long ago night. ‘It’ll be fun.’ 

We lied about her age to get in. We’d agreed to stick together but the crowd swallowed us up and we were separated. I was worried sick about her and when I finally found her, I was sick. Then she tended to me! Said it was okay, said everything would be alright.

She never would talk about what happened. She started living her life as if it didn’t matter, said she was in control. Said I could mind my own business, she was a good mom to her kids, each with a different father and not one dad. When she started using she said she could handle it.

‘Please,’ I begged, ‘Stop.’

‘Why?’ she asked.

‘Because I love you.’

‘You’re a liar,’ she said. ‘You never loved me.’

Younger Cousin (99) by D. Avery

The first lie was mine. ‘It’ll be fun.’ 

We lied about her age to get in. The crowd swallowed us up and we were separated. I was worried sick about her and when I finally found her, I was sick. She said she was okay, said she’d be alright.

She started living life as if it didn’t matter. Said she was in control. Said I could mind my own business, she was a good mom. When she started using heroin, she said she could handle it.

‘Stop,’ I begged.

“Why?’

‘Because I love you.’

‘You’re a liar,’ she said.

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

#99Word Stories; Squeak

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 12 Comments

The November 7, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that includes something squeaky. What is squeaky and why? How does it move the story or disrupt a character? Listen, write, and go where the prompt leads!  I’m squeaking in late with this response that continues these 99 word stories.

Long Silences by D. Avery

The red convertible sat quiet in the driveway, the top still up.

On the return trip home, he’d told stories from their shared past; sometimes ones she’d forgotten or some appended with an insight she hadn’t considered before. Talking wore him out so his narratives would be followed by long silences, though silence had its own percussions; his raspy inhalations punctuated by the squeak of the portable oxygen tank.

She hadn’t told any stories, didn’t talk over his whistling breathing, even though the sound grated on her.

Now she was surprised at how haunted she felt by its absence.

Be sure to go to Carrot Ranch to read the complete “Wheels keep On Turning” collection from last week and the “Bones” collection from the week before that. And there’s always the Ranch Yarns with Kid and Pal’s responses HERE.

#SixSentenceStories; Branch

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 27 Comments

A Six Sentence Story is a story told in six sentences. This writing challenge is a weekly event, but my muse has been ornery lately. But here is a response for the current challenge, with the prompt word “branch”. Thank you Denise at GirlieOntheEdge for hosting SixSentenceStories. Post your own HERE or just go there to read more Sixes.

Broken Branch by D. Avery

“Here, now, my darling, my dove, let’s not fight, I am extending the olive branch.”

And there it was, his usual peace offering in a chilled thin stemmed glass, skewered olives balanced on the rim, trailing an oily sheen in the dirty vodka martini that never failed to smother her smoldering anger.

“I wasn’t fighting, I only was trying to get you to listen,” and she knew this was true, again, and that again she wasn’t heard.

But again, his answer was to make drinks and usually she would put aside her anger, would succumb to another bleary armistice, would forget what it was she even wanted to say.

But not this time, this time she would not accept the terms of the truce, this time she’d say one thing, if only to hear it herself.

“No, I’m going to a meeting,” and she stepped, boldly, shakily, out the door.

#99Word Stories; Bones

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 8 Comments

The October 24, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about bones. It can be any genre or tone. Is it spooky, irreverant, poignant? Go where the prompt leads! Submit at Carrot Ranch by October 29, 2022.

You might remember a double I wrote for the January 23, 2021 prompt, which was “Light At the End Of the Tunnel“. This response features those characters.

Something More by D. Avery

A corncob pipe rolls on the dash as the boat plunges and heaves, plunges and heaves through the chop.

At the helm of Skipper’s boat, it’s more than chill headwinds bringing tears to my eyes.

A solid sure boat. Skipper built it himself.

“Boats— just skin and bones. And something more,” Skipper would say, twinkling.

Skipper’s light has gone out.

I idle the engine.

“Ashes to ashes.”

I dump his remains into the waves. Then his corncob pipe. I watch pipe and ash and bone bob and sink before steering towards shore with a following sea.

“Fair winds, Skipper.”

Be sure to go to Carrot Ranch to read the complete “I See the Light In You” collection from last week. And there’s always the Ranch Yarns with Kid and Pal’s responses HERE.

#PicoftheWeek; Once A Year

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 17 Comments
autumn oblations
loons’ summer plumage offered
to the winter sky

The “Once A Year” square from Maria Antonia‘s #picoftheweek photo challenge bingo sheet refers to the annual migration of loons from their northern lakes to open ocean to the south. Before they go they molt, dotting the lake’s surface with clouds of feathers.

Check out Maria’s  #2022picoftheweek to see how you can participate in this fun prompt.

#99 Word Stories; “I see the light in you”

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 14 Comments

The October 17, 2022 story challenge from Charli Mills at Carrot Ranch is to: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that references “I see the light in you.” You can use the phrase or demonstrate it in a story. Who is shining and why? Who is observing or reacting? What is the setting? Go where the prompt leads! Submit by October 22, 2022.

An Encounter by D. Avery

She searched her reflection in the bathroom mirror, looked deep into her own eyes. She didn’t like what she saw. Still…

‘Aanii,’ the old woman had said. ‘I see the light in you.’ What a strange way to greet someone, someone you don’t even know.

“I don’t see it,” she said to her reflection, her sad eyes staring darkly back at her. But she couldn’t forget the twinkle in the old woman’s soft gaze.

She had seen a light in her.

That was something.

She put the pills back in the vial, put the vial back in the cabinet.

The last two Carrot Ranch Literary Community prompts, “tea”, then “water”, were great prompts and got great responses. See these collections of 99 word stories HERE and HERE.

#PicoftheWeek; Red or Green

/ D. Avery @shiftnshake / 5 Comments
fall torches burn bright
seasonal parades lit up
signals of winter

Since I last responded to Maria Antonia‘s weekly photo challenge she has come out with a new bingo sheet for the remaining three months of this year. I am using the “Red or Green” square for this photo, though the deciduous trees have no choice in the matter. Check out Maria’s  #2022picoftheweek to see how you can participate in this fun prompt.