Flicker(>100 words)

JusJoJan26 Day 4-Arms

/ Liz H-H / Leave a comment

January 4 – “Arms”. Many Thanks to  Cheryl for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

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I wake up in heavy darkness this morning to what sounds like airplanes flying low in the sky. Steady drone in multivoice, for what seems like a long time. Swimming upwards out of sleep, I remember the old munitions site a few miles away, and that this thought crosses the deeper pools of my consciousness whenever the U.S. is mired in things that they shouldn’t. Or shouldn’t be, in the way that we do. The old munitions plant, long dismantled, but still haunted, and undeveloped into something more hopeful, is a few miles and a quarter of a century away.

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JusJoJan26 Day 2-Magnify

/ Liz H-H / 4 Comments

January 2 – “Magnify”. Many thanks to Barbara for today’s prompt, as we take a moment or two each day this month to reflect on words that come from the community. And thanks to Linda G Hill for getting us organized!

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Joseph stared at his beautifully plated entrée, the seasonal speciality at the high-end restaurant his wife had begged to visit to celebrate her birthday.

He’d expected and budgeted for what he knew would be a high-priced meal, assumed the food would be the chef-architect’s finest designs. He’d hoped for flavor and texture that would knock his socks off, even if he couldn’t quite identify what was placed before him by the wait-person with the Inspector Clouseau accent.

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FlashNano Day 21: “We are longing…”

/ Liz H-H / 1 Comment
purple violets on a black background

A contemplative piece, part true, part fantasy, from the place where dreams slumber? Day 21 of a flash a day in the month of November. Inspiring prompts generously offered by Nancy Stohlman.

We Are Longing

The city street is deserted, trolleys on the next block down stopped, their electric hum silent in this liminal moment just before sunrise. A cat strolls liquid over cobblestones and around the edges of the shop doors, slipping away after having surveyed the trash cans and finding nothing to its liking. We sit on our black railed balcony on the third floor and drink in the desires of those who have not yet shaken the dreams from their blankets.

We are early risers and we are longing.

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FlashNano 2025: Day 2

/ Liz H-H / 2 Comments

It’s the final year of FlashNano, by Nancy Stohlman, where we write a flash a day in response to a prompt, or just because. This is a quick write, but it was kinda fun. And I just happened to have the right image!

Crazed chihuahua

Day 2: “Write a story in which something turns into something else.”

Evie woke up on the edge of the property, a sour taste in her mouth, muscles aching, and her bag of Halloween candy ripped apart, treats smashed and scattered just past where dirt meets curated lawn. Rubbing her face and neck, she came away with blood on her hands and a laceration in her shoulder that stabbed as she twisted to see what had happened to her. There was definitely a mark. Could be a knife slash, or— this thought rustled a shred of memory—a slice from a claw, or maybe even a bite from trying to escape whatever had attacked her.

What had attacked her?

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So Long, Farewell

/ Liz H-H / 15 Comments
© Ayr/Gray

Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt, THE UNICORN CHALLENGE.  (07/18/2025). No more than 250 words in length.

The room is cool, a soothing respite from the blistering heat outside its door. Her bare feet shuffle across the smooth wood floor. She reviews each object of art: bucolic landscapes, highland towers, night streets, dawning oceans. Paintings stop in interesting places, to continue with other voices, other rooms. Perhaps a novel, or love-lost poem?

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Signs For a Crash

/ Liz H-H / 17 Comments
(Road signs indicating directions to various locations including the airport) © Ayr/Gray

Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt, THE UNICORN CHALLENGE.  (06/20/2025). No more than 250 words in length.

Jenna cracked her forehead on the dashboard, and left it there for a count of ten. Side-eying the fool behind the wheel, she pounded her forehead on its sun-hot surface for a beat of five.

“Please just pull over, Gerry.” She raised her head. “We’ve driven around this circuit at least four times. We’ll run out of gas before we even leave the train station lot.”

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