Keith's Ramblings

for Six Sentence Stories where the given word is Keepsake.

I’ve been a bit naughty and broken my own rule about limiting my pieces to 200 hundred words or less. Sorry about the extra 78!.

 

 

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When I popped round to my friend Rosey’s yesterday she was hanging a string of beads in the window so I asked her why and she said it was a keepsake which had been in her family for generations and it was to keep witches at bay at Halloween.

I asked if she honestly believed in witches and after pulling a few facial contortions she said she probably did, and told me that when the old lady from number seven with the long grey hair and pointy nose came round asking for some sugar the other day, her cats Fuzzybutt and Scruff looked very alarmed and stood with their tales in the air.

She said she knows it works because she’s used it for several years and has never had a witch knock on her door on Halloween night.

I reminded her she goes out Trick or Treating with some of the kids from her class, so she wouldn’t be at home if one did, and she said that witches don’t have to be in bed by nine o’clock like children.

By the way, when she joins the youngsters she always drapes herself in a bedsheet with holes in it for her eyes, hands and mouth, and when their victim requests a trick she produces a pack of cards, fans then face down and ask them to pick one which she correctly names as the Queen of Clubs which is not that clever as all of the cards are identical!

Anyway, I’ve got to dash because I need to sprinkle some weed killer on my doorstep because I’m told it keeps ghoulies away – what are you laughing at?

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Thanks to GirlieOnTheEdge for hosting.

for Friday Fictioneers

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I gaze at the night sky from the loft window.  It’s black as ink, the twinkling stars, silver.

I position my telescope and focus on the shimmering moon.  It’s strangely orange tonight, like a pumpkin!

Gradually it turns white, bright white.  Blood red lines start creeping towards its centre. I’m staring at a bloodshot eye.  A cloaked figure clutching a glistening scythe slowly emerges.  Am I dreaming?  I pinch myself.  I’m not.

I turn away.  My candle flickers and dies.  I shiver.  The floor tremors, I hear distant thunder. 

Something ice-cold, something sharp touches my neck.  I spin round …

The end.

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting and to Douglas M. MacIlroy for the photo which I assume to be of a telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory!

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for Wordless Wednesday and others.

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I visited 14th Century Bodiam Castle and took several photographs. When I viewed them, I was bothered and bewildered!

 

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For Sadje’s What Do You See prompt. The first thing I saw was a rather sad looking dog! 

 

 

 

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They seemed to be the perfect couple.  He tended their pretty garden, she loved to walk their dog, always stopping to chat with neighbours along the way.  But who knows what goes on behind closed doors? 

It came as quite a surprise when one day a For Sale sign appeared by their gate, and they were nowhere to be found.

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He was strolling through a wood with their dog when it suddenly stopped, layed down beside a grassy mound and whimpered.

He took hold of its collar, and tugged it to its feet. 

‘God forgive me’ he muttered, plucking a flower from a bush and dropping it to the ground as they turned and walked away.

 

Prompt image credit; Charles Deluvio @ Unsplash

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt where the given word is Question and the limit, 84 words

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I can’t explain what happened that night, it was surreal.

I heard a voice.  It was answering questions I should have asked but never dared to.  Either I’d feared the answer or simply couldn’t face knowing the truth. 

In those few moments, like it or not, I learned much about the perplexities and quandaries buried deep within me. 

It stopped.  I closed my eyes.  I swear I heard laughter, suggesting not everything I’d been told was necessarily the truth.

And so, the questions remain.

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for Six Sentence Stories where the given word is Treatment.

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She’s been very good to me just lately so I thought she deserved some special treatment and knowing how much she likes luxuriating in a mountain of sumptuous bubbles  I splashed out on some very expensive bath lotion. Okay, it was half price in a sale but she didn’t need to know that!

I popped upstairs to find out how she was enjoying it, and as I entered the bathroom she was climbing out of the tub and there she stood with a big smile on her face, all pink and shiny and she looked so sweet I just had to give her hot little body a cuddle.

I gave her a squeeze and she suddenly shot up from my arms and hit her head on the ceiling; actually, I’m joking but she was extremely slippery!

As for me, I think the ideal soak would be in a bath of red wine, just laying there in a cheeky little Chateau  Branleur with a hint of blackberries and plum, and an aroma reminiscent of balmy summer nights in Bordeaux, although it might be more like marinating than bathing, and I’d probably emerge looking like a chunk of coq-au-vin!

In the meantime, I’ll make do with my usual squirt and a half of citrus washing-up liquid, and pretend it’s gin and lime!

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Thanks to GirlieOnTheEdge for hosting.

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for Friday Fictioneers

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You’re the cream in my coffee, the sugar in my tea, the icing on my bun, 

Awww, you’re so romantic. 

You’re the one that I want, the one that I need, the one that I love.

My heart’s all a-flutter!

You’re a light in the dark, the light of my life, you’d be my cigarette lighter if I smoked!

Stop it, you’re making me blush. Do carry on!

You’re the pepper in my pot, the salt in my cellar … the ketchup on my sausage!

I beg your pardon!

Take my hand, we’re going out for a romantic meal.

McDonald’s?

But of course!.

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A great big thank you to Rochelle for hosting and offering us one of her lovely paintings as this week’s prompt.

 

for Wordless Wednesday and others.

Whilst looking through some old photos, I found these which I took on the beautiful and unspoilt Greek island of Samos about 11 years ago.

 

 

 

 

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for Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt where the given word is Legion and the limit just 32 words. 

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for Six Sentence Stories which is hosted by GirlieOnTheEdge and the prompt word is Video.

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I’ve watched it over and over again, who was the bald-headed man standing in front of me when I was shooting the video?

I checked to make sure I had an uninterrupted view before I touched the start button and I’m certain there was no one there.

It’s not as if I can see his face, just the top of his pink hairless head at the bottom of the screen.  He must have been very short too because I’m hardly that tall, or maybe he was sitting down, but then again, I don’t recall there being a bench in front of me.

There’s my mate Bob, he was with me when I took it, I wonder if he remembers seeing a little bald person there. 

“Look at this Bob, my video’s  completely spoilt”

“Serves you right for having your finger touching the bottom of the lens you dopy dollop.” 

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