© Ayr/Gray
From Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr’s photo prompt, The Unicorn Challenge (03/15/2024). No more than 250 words in length.
Trigger Warning: Do NOT read this before bed!
Stella Starfish had heard all about it from Momma Bear. While Poppa and Baby built sand castles down the beach, Momma had leaned in, broad, clawed toes in the water and gripping the sand, related how Goldie had lured Poppa Bear into an affair with her golden curls, intense blue eyes, and silky hairless skin. Granted, Poppa wasn’t the brightest — some even said he was a couple sandwiches short of a picnic – but still!
It seemed Goldie had entered their little house in the woods, while they were out for a pre-brunch constitutional. That bitch had smashed furniture, tipped bowls of porridge, and passed out in Baby’s bed. Not Poppa’s or Momma’s, mind, but Baby’s. She’d escaped, but the bears had moved away to a safer community. They never did fit in, especially after Goldie showed up at a critical, private garden party.
“I could’ve killed her,” sobbed Momma. “But of course, I didn’t. It’s not in me.”
The starfish family agreed: that family-busting, house-breaking, party-crashing shapeshifter, Goldie, was a menace. When she dared show up in their bay in the form of a small, gray fish, they were ready for her, strategized and strong.
They knew the adage about catching more flies with honey, but they had vengeance in their sticky souls and tubular feet. Little Sandy gleefully acted as bait, Stella distracted Goldie with sweet words, while Big Poppa Sam applied backup muscle.
They offered hugs, but showed no mercy.
And they all lived happily ever after.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2024)
Valley of the Trolls 
This is a great one, Liz!
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Thank you, Chris!
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Glorious, chaotic fun, Liz.
Paragraph 4’s description of Goldie is a sheer delight of words.
It’s like you’ve taken the elements of stories, put them in a pepper pot and ground out an anarchic alternative tale.
Brilliant.
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Subversion via fairy tale. 😆 Thank you!
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you know, most prompt word bloghops attractive the kind of writer who, possessed of the insight and sensitivity that make great orators memorable and elementary teachers the gentle shapers of young minds.
…and there are writers like you.*
lol
*(“Why, yes! I do know where to find her. Head straight down Twisted Lane, past WTF Blvd and, well, you’ll know it when you see her house. It’s the one with the wind vane shaped like Echidna and yard full of bread crumbs.”)
fun/crazy novel take on the prompt photo
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In the words of Meg Ryan from ‘Joe versus the Volcano’: I have no response to that… 😉
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I wish you had warned me not to read this at bed…
Oh, you did!
Starry starry nightmare!
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😂😂😂
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That Goldie’s a force to be reckoned with, but I think she’s got no hope against the combined forces of the animal kingdom. I love your description of the starfish family with ‘vengeance in their sticky souls and tubular feet’. Terrific.
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Next time you pick up a starfish ; It clings to you, remember: you’re what’s for dinner! 😂🤢
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That’s a new take on the goldilocks story! But is it the final chapter????
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😜 Click on the story’s words “Garden Party” for back story. As to final chapter? Time will tell! 😉
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Thanks! I missed that!
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Poor Goldie, never fitting in, a fish out of water even as a fish in the water. Well her troubles are ended now, but what of the bears’? Are they truly free from her?
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All critical questions! Cause Poppa was a rolling stone…🔊🎶 (cue a funky bass line and The Temptations). 😂
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You are just a wee bit twisted, aren’t you? That’s what I love most about you, Liz!
Fab fable!
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Thank you!
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Sure thing!
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Whatever you’re on, send me some, you wicked woman. :-)
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🤣🤣
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