It’s quiet but for the sound of my footsteps, creaks and groans.
I stop and stare, unable to concieve how different things look. I was once so proud of it, how could this have happened?
Years ago, it was pristine, but all I see now are cracks and stains, a clock, stopped. Things once orderly, an abandoned mess. All that remains of the past are memories that echo in my mind, those not yet slipped away.
I’m rooted to the spot. I cannot believe what I’m seeing before my eyes.
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By the way, that was just me stirring from my bed a couple of hours ago and looking at my reflection in the mirror for the first time in ages!
You should what my old house looks like since its new owners wrecked then deserted it!
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This week’s words at The Sunday Whirl are – rooted years footsteps creaks look stir hour loop clock echo before slips.
I used all but one and changed the tense of a couple!
The regulars at The Baaamy Inn were talking about things that make them cross, Arthur was going on about the way young people keep saying ‘like’ every few words, “I was like, he was like, I don’t like it”, Babs was annoyed at the way people keep mistaking her for a bloke, and Dick the Vic was moaning about someone who asked if he served white wine as well as red at communion services; then he went on to to tell them about his friend Father Finnigan, “he felt cross with someone who entered the confessional box and said, ‘Father priest clergyman cleric, forgive me for I have synonymed’!”
At the next table, Suzie was busily doing a crossword puzzle, and she was getting increasingly cross because she only needed one more word and she was stumped; “Ted,” she said “you’re good with words, what’s seven letter long, starts with O and means, easily understood?”, “that’s obvious” he said, “it may be to you”, she replied, “can’t you at least give me a clue?“
Singleton Sam the sausage maker, was telling them about the attractive young lady that lives in the cottage across the lane from him, “she knocked on my door and said she fancied a bit of fun like going for a few drinks and maybe a curry and asked if I was free, well, I said yes of course, then she said, great, will you look my dog while I’m out?”, “I know who you mean”, said George, “she’s a bit ditsy, I was walking along the river the other day and she was on the opposite bank, she said we should walk together but I said I couldn’t cross to other side – then she said, ’you are already on the other side’!”
Over at the knitting circle Cassie was telling her fellow knitwits that she’d been trying do some cross stitching, “it’s not as easy as it looks”, she said, ”I kept getting in right old muddle” ; “talking of cross stitching”, said Polly, “I had to go to London on the train, and there was a small rip in my blouse so I took some needles and cotton with me so I could repair it on the way, well, the carriage was crowded and I was squeezed up against a man; the the train stopped, he tried standing to leave only to discover I’d accidentally stitched my blouse to his shirt, he was really cross!”
“What happens if you you cross an angry cow with an angry sheep?” asked Colin, “you get two animals in a baaaad mooood – why did the chicken cross the playground? to get to the other slide – a turkey was about to cross the road so the chicken said ‘don’t, you’ll never hear the last of it’ – pirates get angry when people steal their P – pirates have a dating app called Shivver My Tinders – what’s round and angry? a vicious circle – my wife gets cross when our neighbour sunbathes topless in her garden, personally I’m on the fence – the cross shellfish was a frustracean……”
It was just before midnight when Landlord Len bolted the door after another profitable night, as he criss -crossed the bar collecting empty glasses and crisp packets the remembered how Maggie used to love playing Nought and Crosses, or Tic Tac Toe as their American friend called it, she’d take on customers across the bar between serving drinks; whenever she and Len played it they called it Hugs and Kisses!
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Thanks to Denise at GirlieOnTheEdge for hosting Six Sentence Stories where this week’s given word is Cross.
I was watching the setting sun from my window. The golden sky shimmered, it glowed. I began to feel tired. But why? It was only thirty minutes after six. Then I fell asleep, in my chair.
When I awoke my clock said six-thirty. Had I slept for twelve hours? Was that the rising sun?
It couldn’t be, for the sun rises in the east, sets in the west. That way east…this way…
I saw a cat on my lawn, a bird on a branch, motionless. Then my kids appeared then my friends, unmoving. I pinched myself, felt nothing.
Every Autumn I pop over Sheffield Park to enjoy the spectacular colourful display that it’s famed for. I went through the photos I’ve taken since 2017 and picked out a few of my favourites. You may have seen several of them before, but I thought they were worth another outing!
He was born too soon. They said he wouldn’t survive, but somehow he did.
When he was two, he left the house and got lost. He was missing for days, but eventually wandered back as if nothing had happened.
In his third year he thought he could fly. He leapt from a very high tree but found he was unable to. Fortunately he landed in a bush.
He was four and feeling very brave when he tried chasing a dog, but it turned on him. Somehow he escaped, goodness knows how.
His fifth year was a difficult one. He became unwell after sipping some rat poison on a nearby farm. We were told to expect the worst but against all odds he recovered.
As a proud six year old he’d would walk down the street, head in the air, king of all he surveyed. One day he saw something interesting across the road and walked in front of a car. How he survived we’ll never know.
When he was seven he poked his head through the railings of an iron fence then couldn’t get it out again! It was several hours before someone found him and set him free.
He was eight years old when he stepped inside a clothes dryer. He was fast asleep on a pile of damp washing when someone switched it on! He was spotted soon after and jumped out dizzy and hot, but unharmed!
As a typical nine year old he loved to explore. One day he went down a fox hole and got stuck. Hours later a gamekeeper helped him escape.
He would have been ten this year. He wanted to know how it felt to swim. He discovered too late that he couldn’t.
In our garden there’s a mound of soil topped with a little plaque that says ‘Casper our Curious Cat’.
The early hours of November the First are the busiest of the year for The Pumpkin Police and last night was no exception. They still remember ‘24 which proved to be a disaster, so even more officers than usual have been recruited. Meetings have been held to come up with new ideas, to ensure more arrests are made.
Just after midnight, plagues of wicked pumpkins escaped from their captor’s gardens and porches and set about causing as much cruelty and injustice as they possibly could, frightening wild animals, destroying their habitats and stealing their food. Lurking, hiding, attacking.
Strength Through Unity has become the catchphrase of The Pumpkin Police, actions not words their mission; their newly restored faith will pay off, it will, you’ll see!
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This week’s words at The Sunday Whirl are – ideas remember words plague escape faith strength unity through arrest cruelty injustice
Halloween Night at The Baaamy Inn is always quite an occasion, most of the regulars dress up in spooky costumes and Landlord Len always hands out blood red cocktails as they arrive; Polly from the knitting circle often brings her twin sister Dolly along, they are hard enough to tell apart at the best of times but dressed as witches it’s impossible to tell which witch is which!
Ted was talking about how he met his wife Partricia, or Tric as he calls her, at a fancy dress party; “there she was tall, slender and gorgeous, she was with her somewhat rotund friend and they came together dressed as the number ten; as soon as I saw her I knew she was the one!”
Arthur had his fellow farmers spellbound as he told them a creepy story, “I was crossing the cemetery late the other night and I heard a strange noise, tap, tap, tap, it went, tap, tap, tap; I started trembling with fear then I saw something in the misty shadows, a wizzened old man chipping away at a grave stone, I told him he’d scared me, that I thought he was a ghost and I asked him what he was doing working so late, he just looked me in the eye and said, ‘the stupid stonemason spelled my name wrong’ “.
Suzie at the next table thought she’d treat them to a trick, she held out her hand and asked Babs to place a coin in her palm, then she closed her hand, waved her fist in the air, opened her hand again and the coin had disappeared – then she repeated it at every table in the pub, she likes having a trick up her sleeve, and enough cash up there to buy herself another drink!
Colin’s big moment had arrived, “witches that live together a broom-mates – a witch went to the doctor because she had a dizzy spell – vampires celebrate Fangsgiving – skeletons don’t trick or treat because they have no body to go with – a dog that can does magic tricks is a Labracadabrador – a magician that looses his magic is called Ian – a magician made some antiques disappear, now museum, now you don’t – the Spanish magician said ‘uno dos’ then disappeared without a tres – ghosts don’t like to shower because it dampens their spirits – ghosts keep fit by exorcising – I suspected my girlfriend was a ghost when she walked through the door – there is one thing I hate about Halloween, witch is……..”
After another successful and profitable Halloween, Len looked around the empty bar; he suddenly noticed that his dearly departed Moggie’s ghoulie costume was no longer hanging from the hook in the corner – then he heard a distant voice, ’come along, Len, your ghost awaits you!’.
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Thanks to Denise at GirlieOnTheEdge for hosting Six Sentence Stories where this week’s given word is Trick
His studio, a shabby shed amid some trees. An artist stared at a blank canvas, inspiration having deserted him.
He kicked over his easel, trampled across crumpled paint tubes then crouched in a corner.
A sunray caressed his weary hand. A shadow appeared, watching over him. He unfurled his aching body, righted the easel then grasped a canvas. He adorned his palette with colours then with flicks of his wrist, a picture formed. Then another, and another.
Years later the studio was discovered. A glimpse of heaven someone wrote. Who the artist was, nobody knew. Not a signature, not a single clue.
Keith's Ramblings 
