Getting a Turkey

Trifecta gave us a challenge this week.  Turkey - as in 3 successive strikes in bowling kind of turkey.  So, here's my attempt that came in at exactly 333 words.  Have fun and be sure to check out other takes on this prompt.  It should be fun!

“Guilty.”

The metallic ring of the judge’s gavel still haunts my dreams.  I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around it.  I’d gotten the turkey.  Not that bird that people used to eat a long time ago.  Three strikes kind of turkey.  You used to get a turkey in bowling.  That’s what my grandparents said.  We don’t get to play games like that anymore.  Now turkey is more like the baseball rule – three strikes and you’re out. 

It means you’re sent to live outside the walls.  There’s no shelter, no food provided, no medical care and, most importantly, no walls or weapons for safety.  Ya see, everything here has evolved way too fast.  Scientists say it took only one hundred years to get to this point when it should have been thousands, if not millions.

What point is that?  Just about everything on this planet has evolved to prey on us humans.  We used to be at the top of the food chain, but that ain't so no more.  We outrank very little life on this planet now.  That’s why the walls and weapons are so important.  Everything has poison, teeth, claws, thorns or something else that is designed to kill us and eat us.  Not always in that order.

People getting sent outside the walls have romantic notions that once enough of us are out there, we will create this big uprising and the system will change and life will go on happily ever after.  I hate to break it to ya, but that ain't happening either.  Most people who get the turkey, unlike a bowling turkey, don’t win.  They don’t survive long beyond the walls.  Those that do are too preoccupied with surviving to think about fighting back.

That judge’s gavel fell for me about four months ago.  It’s hard to keep track of the days out here.  They all blur together into one long hunt for food while trying to avoid becoming food.  It gets old real fast.

Don't Panic Picture Prompt - August 27th

Come on, people!!  Are you scared to try one little Picture Prompt?  Or does the Panic hit?  Give it a shot.  It’ll be fun!

 

Book Review: The Faire Folk Trilogy by Gillian Summers

The Faire Folk Trilogy by Gillian Summers is another young adult series.  The main character, Keelie Heartwood, is a high school girl who is sent to live with her father after her mother dies.  Once she moves in with her father, she discovers all sorts of things that are not quite like what she thought she knew.

Yeah.  This is definitely a young adult book.  I would say middle school age.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  It was a fun book to read from that perspective, but don’t expect too much out of it.  The plot line is pretty simple and predictable.  You can pretty much go into the trilogy knowing what happens.  The characters are not that imaginative, either, but they are all, for the most part, fun to read. 

But the magic in the books is that they are set in modern day America.  Summers just adds the element fairy magic to everyday life.  Most of us dream of things like that as kids.  I would put this trilogy on my list as one of those guilty pleasures – not a necessity but fun none the less.

Random Sunday – Spray n Wash, Grandpas and Acorns

Hmm.  Today’s Random Sunday seems rather random, even to me.  Not sure if that’s a bad sign or not.  Oh well.  Here goes.

Sundays are typically my chore day.  I don’t get much time the rest of the week to get household chores done, so they end up on Sundays.  Well, this Sunday I was doing laundry.  I got to my son’s laundry and found the onsie he was wearing from last Sunday’s chocolate chip pancake episode.  I’d forgotten to try to wash the chocolate out before it went in his clothes hamper.  Taking my mother-in-law’s advice I’d gone out and bought some Spray n Wash a week or two ago.   So, I pulled said Spray n Wash out and doused his chocolate stains with it.  I have to say, I’m pretty impressed with the stuff.  It took that dried in chocolate right out without leaving a trace.

I have to say, I’m pretty floored by my dad some days.  Watching him with my son is pretty funny.  Growing up I always had this impression of my dad as this strict, no nonsense, Marine Corps Sergeant (which he was).  Until I had my son.  I can’t believe the things my son gets away with when he’s with Grandpa.  Today, my dad let my son crawl up and down the aisle and the pew at church during the service.  He carries my son whenever we go somewhere together.  My son gets to play with his iPad – including chewing on it.  Grandpa just wipes the baby drool off every once in a while.  I think my son has Grandpa pretty firmly wrapped around his gooey little fingers.

And holy cow for the acorns this year!  I think, thankfully, they are all out of the trees.  See, I have 2 great big oak trees that cover most of my house.  And this is the time of year the acorns are ripe and start coming down.  It’s almost sounded like hail on the roof at times for the acorns.  I can’t walk anywhere barefoot outside right now because it hurts too much to step on the acorns.  Now that the worst are out of the trees, maybe I can get them swept up and they won’t be quite so annoying.  Maybe.

Dreamland

This was a fun little prompt to write.  Trifecta wanted a 33 word bedtime story - no nightmares.  I used this week's Don't Panic Picture Prompt as an inspiration.  Here's my bedtime story.

Sunlight sparkling on waves

Fairies dancing

Dragons roaring

They’re waiting for you

To go there

Close your eyes

Say it Thrice

Take me to Dreamland

     Take me to Dreamland

                 Take me to Dreamland

If you haven't checked out the Don't Panic Picture Prompt, follow the link and it will take you there.  

Into the Unknown

With Trifecta's prompt, I'm revisiting a series I haven't looked at for almost a year - even though I apparently just missed the link up by about an hour.  Oh well.  So, forgive me if it's a bit rough.  Follow the link at the top for Weather Riders to get the first two parts to the story.  Any concrit you have is always welcome and thanks for stopping by!

I took a deep breath and inched backwards, praying he wouldn't notice.  No such luck.

“Look I’m not going to hurt you.  I just need to follow that storm.  That’s all.”

The cautiousness with which he tried to convince me to help him just ratcheted up the klaxons in my head.  It’d been so long since I’d been around another Weather Rider that I still wasn't sure if this was just a reaction to being near one, and a hot one at that, or if there was something more.  Truth be told, I hadn't had all that much training to be a Weather Rider either.

“Never mind.  I’ll find my own way.”

As he turned to leave I caught a glimpse of his brand.  The white scar tissue inched up from the collar of his t-shirt, standing out even clearer where it hit the edge of his hair.

“Wait.”

He stopped but didn't turn.

“I can help you.”

I let the my shirt ride up a bit to reveal part of my own brand.  I hadn't seen enough to tell what kind of Weather Rider he was, but I knew his scar wasn't the same as mine.

He opened a bag hanging off the back of his bike and pulled out a sleek black helmet and tossed it at me.

“Come on, then.  Let’s go for a ride.”

No Sleep Til Brooklyn

Write at the Merge gave us a picture of a sign for Millie's Tavern and the Beastie Boys song "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" this week.  Don't ask me where it came from cuz I don't know, but here's my response to this prompt.  It's a bit rough, and a bit longer than it should be, as I didn't get as much time to edit as I wanted.  Stupid work and stupid road construction level traffic.

“No sleep – til Brooklyn,” the radio blared.  My buddy and I were on our way there, following that old Beastie Boys song for spring break.  When you go to school in a nowhere town in northern Georgia, there isn’t much to do.  We were crossing some mountains in West Virginia when Nate decided he was hungry, so I agreed to stop in the next town where we saw a restaurant.

I don’t remember the town but I remember the pub.  Millie’s Tavern.  Nate loved it the moment he saw the sign.  He loved those old, hole in the wall places.  Millie’s fit that.

We went in and sat down.  The waitress came and took our orders.  She plopped down two mugs of beer and took off into the kitchen.  Nate and I were the only two in the place so it didn’t take long for our food to arrive.

As we polished off our meal two girls walked in.  They were hot.  I’m talking movie star, fashion model hot.  I was so stunned when they sat down at our table I couldn’t tell them my name until Nate kicked me.  When they started flirting with us I almost forgot I had a girlfriend.  Nate didn’t, so when the girls hinted at giving him some action, he was all over that.

“I’ll be back in a while.  No sleep til Brooklyn.”

He all but ran after the girls.  I settled back in my chair.  I don’t think it was five minutes after Nate left that this little old lady with a suitcase size handbag walked in and made her way to me.

“Where’d they go?”

“Who?”

“Those two girls that just walked in, dunderhead.”

“They took off with my friend to a back room.”

“Damn it.  Here.  Take this.  Stay behind me and keep that handy.  It may save a life tonight.”

She thrust a bottle of water at me.  I took it on instinct.  She took off toward the back.  I trailed after feeling ridiculous for following this little grandma.

She stopped at the door where it was obvious Nate and the girls had gone.  Then, this old woman pulled a sawed off shot gun out of that handbag.  She stepped back, hiked up her skirt  and kicked it in.

The scene was straight out of a John Carpenter movie.  Nate’s blood was raining down on him and the girl at his neck like confetti in Time’s Square at New Year’s.  The other girl was lapping it up off of them.

Grandma swung the shotgun as if it were a Louisville Slugger, knocking both girls away from Nate.

“Don’t let them get past you!” as the girls scrambled to get away.  The naked fear in their eyes seemed so odd being inspired by this old woman.  She flipped the shotgun back around and calmly blew a hole through the chest of each girl.  Then, as they struggled to move away from her, Grandma pulled a machete out of that handbag and cut off their heads.  The bodies dissolved into dust.  She wiped her hands off and turned to Nate.

“Hand me that water.”  Numb, I followed her direction.  When she dumped it on Nate’s neck he began to scream.  She slugged him across the temple knocking him out.

“I hate it when they scream like that.  Gives me a headache,” she rummaged in her handbag and dug out several crosses and a bandage.  Grandma wrapped Nate’s neck and hung a cross around it.  She handed me the other one.

“Put that on.  That’ll keep you safe until the glamour wears off.  Once that’s gone, none of these bitches can find you again unless you’re stupid enough to follow them.  Your friend will be fine.  Let him sleep tonight and by morning there won’t be any signs of the attack left.”

With that, Grandma picked up her things and clomped out of the room.

We never made it to Brooklyn.

Don't Panic Picture Prompt - August 20

Here’s the new Don’t Panic Picture Prompt.  Step right up and give it a try!

Taken on the beach at Fort Meyer in 2010

Now it’s the normal schpiel of write whatever comes to mind and come back to link up any time in the next week.  See ya then!

Book Review: The Ranger's Apprentice Series

Up next on my list of books to review is another series.  The Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan is a kids’ series based on the classic knights in shining armor and castles and such.  No, there are no dragons.  But there are plenty of pirates, adventure and chivalry.

I think the thing I struggled with most in this series is that Flanagan clearly used maps of Europe and stereotypes about different European cultures to create his world.  While I don’t mind using what is already there – i.e. Europe – the obviousness combined with the use of stereotypes – i.e. the Skandians are a seafaring, marauding, almost pirate group.  You can guess which area of Europe they are based off of.

That being said, it is a kids’ series.  From that point of view, many of the criticisms I’ve read about the series I think are overly harsh and unfair.  Kids are not as interested in a character’s growth or perceived lack of movement in the relationship between the main character, Will, and his love interest.   They will love the way Will ends up haring off all over the known world to help, how he has his best friend with him, that there are princesses and pirates and plots to overthrow kingdoms.

If you like older kids’ series – this is a good one.  I would put it on the list of really need to read for most kids ages 10-15.

Random Sunday - Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Work and Spiders

It’s Random Sunday again.  I love this post.  It’s so easy to write because I don’t have to think.  I just write whatever comes to mind.

Like, for example, I learned today to be much more careful about feeding my son chocolate chip pancakes.  We were out for my husband’s birthday and I ordered my son pancakes.  The chocolate chips were nice and gooey.  However, my son would occasionally spit out his bite of pancake for no apparent reason.  By the time we were done eating he had chocolate in places that looked really bad.  As in diaper issues really bad.  My husband wouldn’t take him into a store until we changed his onsie and wiped the chocolate off of his legs and arm.

I’m getting a little nervous with my new job.  I still think the program could end up really cool.  The powers that be, though, don’t seem to totally understand what it’s going to take to run the program.  They keep thinking they can put things off.  We keep telling them that it doesn’t work that way but they have not yet listened.

Holy crap for the spiders around this year!  I don’t know about where you live, but around here there have been a ton of spiders.  I notice these things because I can’t stand spiders.  Almost to the point of panic attacks I don’t like spiders.  So, when the local spider population increases, I will see it.  I’ve managed to get to the point of a truce with the creepy things.  They stay out of my house and they get to live.  In my house means they are dead as soon as I find them.

Time at the River

Here's what I came up with for this week's Don't Panic Picture Prompt.  To put it into context, it is a sketch of a scene in a longer piece I am working on.  I am hoping to get the story done soon.

The wind blew cold spray from the river below against Mesara’s face.  She studied the rapids as the river came together around a small island.  The trees were green here.  She wasn't expecting that.  It seemed as if everything here should be barren and dead, so close to Amnor’s Tomb.

It was a matter of a day or two.  That was all she had left before it was time.  She knew what The Wildrose meant now.  The pain of that understanding cut deeper than the semi-frozen droplets biting any exposed skin.  As she wished she could turn back time, she scrubbed her face.  It was no use wishing.  She’d wasted precious time being impatient, being frightened.  It was gone and there was no getting it back no matter how hard she wished she could change it.

Mesara threw the rock in her hand and sat down.  She pulled out a scrap of parchment from the bag at her knee.  She need to tell him what was in her heart.  He deserved that much.

I showed you mine - now you show me yours!  You have until the end of the day on Tuesday this time (I accidentally gave you an extra day).  Check out the Don't Panic Picture Prompt here and stop back with something it inspired.  Heck, your link up doesn't even have to contain any reference whatsoever to the picture.  Just write what comes when you look at the picture.

Don't Panic Picture Prompt - August 13

Come on, people!  Don't be shy!  Step on up and try out the Don't Panic Picture Prompt.  There aren't really any rules.  Just write something inspired by the picture posted below.

Taken in 2010 on a weekend trip

Book Review: Island of the Blue Dolphins

This week’s book is Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell.  What can I say about this one, it’s a classic.  I remember reading this as a kid and just recently re-read it as an adult.  From an adult’s perspective, there are quite a few questions about the plausibility and realism of the book.  I found myself wondering why Karana, the main character, made some of the choices she did.

Then I stopped and reminded myself that this is a children’s book written in 1960.  From that perspective, this is a great book.  Strangers, fighting, abandonment and wild dogs make for a thrilling read from a kid’s point of view.  The nice part is that, having been written in 1960, the descriptions of fighting, wild dogs, and more (that I won’t give away for anyone who hasn't read this book) are not overly graphic.

I would put Island of the Blue Dolphins on a highly recommended to read list, particularly for kids.

Random Sunday – School and Bruises and More Family Reunions

I know.  It’s actually late Monday night.  What can I say, I’m a little late.  Oh well.  School is part of my excuse.  I had to finish a big project by last Friday as that was my final.  I was getting rather stressed over it.  I got it done and got an A in the class.  So, I took a bit of a break over the weekend.

I did have other stuff going on over the weekend.  We went to my mother-in-law’s family reunion.  My son sat in the dirt chewing on sticks and trying to eat rocks.  I don’t think he succeeded in eating rocks.  I kept trying to stop him from chewing on the sticks, but, what can I say?  He is a little boy.  Oh well.  A little dirt and bark won’t hurt him.

On a completely random note, I noticed a big bruise on my calf tonight.  I have no idea where it came from.  That doesn’t seem fair to me.  How can I end up with a bruise like that and not remember getting it?  I don’t bruise that easily.

And that’s it for my randomness tonight.  It’s bedtime.

Understanding Begins

Here's my response to this week's Don't Panic Picture Prompt, where's yours?

I sensed that there was something more she wanted me to understand.  I replayed the conversation through my mind several times as we sat by the pond in a comfortable silence.  She was nothing but patience in every line of her body.

I think she knew before I did that I’d figured out what she wanted me to see.  Her face lit up a little and she smiled.  That smile made me want to do anything she asked.

“You’re Her.  You care so much about the balance of life because it is, quite literally, your life,” I struggled to explain what I knew in my heart to be true.

“Yes, child.  There are so very few druids left.  Even fewer who know what it means to be born a druid.”

The sense of incredibility almost drowned me.  I was talking to Mother Earth in the most real and literal sense possible.

“What do you want of me?”

“Listen to Kris and James.  They are good men.  They will guide you into your powers.  Just as all other living things depend on each other for survival, you and they must rely on each other as well.  Together you are so much stronger than alone.”

I didn’t know what happened next.  She was there talking to me and then she was gone.  In her absence, I felt eyes watching me.  I turned to see the faint glow of yellow wolf’s eyes in the shadows of the trees.

In case you've missed any part of this serial, follow the One Night in Dusseldorf link above and it will take you to the rest of the story.

Don't Panic Picture Prompt - August 6th

Here’s this week’s Don’t Panic Picture Prompt:

The Planets - Earth

by *InertiaK

Retrieved from http://inertiak.deviantart.com/art/The-Planets-Earth-113025717

Stop back to link up.  The link is open until next Monday night.

Book Review: The Sailor on the Sea of Fate and The Weird of the White Wolf

To make up for being late, I’m doing the next two book reviews in one.  That, and they are the second and third books in the Elric Saga.  The Sailor on the Sea of Fate and The Weird of the White Wolf wrap up the first trilogy in this series by Michael Moorcock.

The antihero theme carries through these books, just like the first..  I think I struggled more with the plot and idea of the second book.  White Wolf is the third book and seemed to make a bit more sense to me from a plot perspective.  Sea of Fate felt like Moorcock combined a knight in shining armor medieval fantasy with an alien invasion futuristic novel.  It just didn't fit as well for me.  White Wolf had the main character, Elric, off on a quest for magic.  While he runs into similar issues in White Wolf, Elric’s journey felt like it made more sense to me.

Now, I know there are several more books in the series.  From what I have been told, the stuff in Sea of Fate will come back and make more sense later.  I just don’t know if I can get that far.  To me, at least, there feels like something missing in the books.  Maybe it’s the antihero theme that isn’t drawing me in anymore.

Again, not necessarily bad books, but not ones I would say to move to the top of your reading list.

Invasion

Yep.  I'm a little late getting this linked up.  But, I was gone all weekend and am doing a final project for one of my classes.  So, I think I deserve a smidgen of slack.  Here's my response to this week's Don't Panic Picture Prompt.

“Do you really want to see what this is all about?”

“Yes.”

He led her down a narrow hallway.  Fluorescent lights flickered every ten feet, leaving patches of darkness that hinted at their inkiness.  She felt like water should be dripping down the walls and mildew accenting the air.  Instead it was an astringent that assaulted her nose.

He stopped at a smooth steel door.  He punched in a complicated code on the keypad to the right.  With a hiss straight out of a horror movie, the door swung open.  She blinked at the two feet of steel moving silent and smooth.  She followed him in unsure what was worse – the hall or what the room might contain beyond that door.

Inside, there were tall clear cylinders as far as she could see.  Drawn to them by a twisting in her gut, she approached the nearest one.  A light flicked on inside the tube when she stopped in front of it.  Inside were undulating globular masses drifting up and down.

“This is what’s destroying the surface?” her hand drifted toward the Plexiglas of its own volition.

“Yes.  These things are what control the Mechas.  The ones you’re looking at are young.  They aren’t as dangerous.  The older ones are in back.”

“Where did they come from?”

“Dr. Brasman thinks they’ve been here for years, living amongst the jellyfish in the ocean.”

When her hand touched the Plexiglas, something shifted.  Bright colors flashed across her vision and a loud rushing wind clouded her hearing.  When it all cleared, she was surprised to find herself lying on the floor, his panicked face staring down at her.

“Are you all right?  What happened?”

“I’m fine.  I just got dizzy, I guess.”

“It’s time to get you out of here.  You need to rest.”

She followed him to the door.  She felt fine.  But something was different.

Random Sunday - Fashion Statements and Allergies

I've been out of town all weekend.  So, this is going up late on Sunday night.  You’ll get the double post tomorrow when I've had a chance to catch my breath and catch up!

Here’s an observation I noticed over the weekend.  Now, let me start by saying I am in no way commenting on this person’s weight nor am I a fashion expert.  It was just something I noticed.  I was walking behind a heavier woman who was all dressed up (read formal wear) to go to a street dance.  This was proper dress for this particular dance.  The thing that I questioned was her choice of details in the style of the dress.  There was a big bow at the small of her back.  I would think that one would choose a dress that is meant to look flattering.  Besides not fitting well to begin with, why would you choose to wear something that draws one’s attention to you in a very unflattering way as this bow did?  I just don’t get that…

I’ve also learned to hate insurances lately.  Some guy who, as it turns out, had no insurance rear-ended me about a month ago.  It took a week to find out that the insurance information he gave me was not accurate and he did not have insurance on the car.  It took another week for my car to get fixed.  Only after it was fixed did I finally hear back from my insurance that they would pay for the damages under my policy.  But it also meant I had to pay my deductible.  That bites.

While this summer has been nice to have some paid time off to play with my son, I am learning to hate this summer.  I have allergies.  This summer has been so very not nice to my allergies.  Pretty soon someone is going to accuse me of getting high on my allergy meds because I am taking so much attempting to avoid getting sick.  I hate winter but am starting to wish it would come soon just so that first frost or two would get rid of all the pollen, etc. and then maybe I’d feel better, or at least stop taking quite so many allergy meds.