Suzette knocked cautiously on the closed door of Henry’s laboratory over the garage, which before had been her own writer’s space, calling cheerily, “Dr. Jekyl, where are you Hyding?” Continue reading
family
Bells
© Ayr/Gray
Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt for THE UNICORN CHALLENGE (01/10/2025). No more than 250 words in length.
“I’m not so sure about this.” Maisie, hands in sweatshirt pockets, looked sidewise at Ted. “Why are we doing this again?”
“Because it’s what we’ve always done.” Ted’s hands were calloused from many years of woodworking, and his strong, blunt fingers rasped across his unshaven jaw. He’d gladly traded his family business’ corporate ID for the scent of fresh wood and aromatic finishers. But the family’s silent disapproval of his choice still smarted. Continue reading
Winter Pulla Bread
The challenge? Write a story in exactly 6 sentences based on Denise’s one word prompt: EVEN. Visit, comment, and write & post your own on SIX SENTENCE STORIES. The Café is open. Come as you are!
You start with a precise recipe: this many deciliters of starter, so many grams of flour (careful not to overpack, and smooth the top evenly with a blunt butter knife), a measure of vegetable oil, a half teaspoon of yeast dissolved in ¼ cup (plus two extra teaspoons) of warm water, and half that amount of salt, ¼ cup of honey, a single brown-shelled egg (room temperature and beaten), one quarter-cup of golden raisins (soaked for an hour and drained, to be added last) and a generous rounded teaspoon of cardamom.
Except that you halve the recipe because your mother has passed and she can no longer help you enjoy the bounty. Continue reading
Tradition
The challenge? Write a story in exactly 6 sentences based on Denise’s one word prompt: SHADOW. Visit, comment, and write & post your own on SIX SENTENCE STORIES. The Café is open. Come as you are!
Her work had only just begun, but the timeline was tight, tempers frayed, and there would be many hours before she could shut down the kitchen and rest her head. Continue reading
Midnight Sun 4
The challenge? Write a story in exactly 6 sentences based on Denise’s one word prompt: PANEL. Visit, comment, and write & perhaps post your own on SIX SENTENCE STORIES. The Café is open. Come as you are!
The sun set extra late and rose extra early in this northern clime, and the journeywoman rose, the normal energic exhilaration that accompanied such long summer days thin in the shadow and grief of her mother’s passing. Continue reading
Speedy Deliveries
© Ayr/Gray
Many thanks to Jenne Gray and C.E. Ayr for their photo prompt, THE UNICORN CHALLENGE. (09/27/2024). No more than 250 words in length.
Theirs was an unusual match. If not made in Heaven, then it was surely not made for the other place down below, too hot for either one of them. Here in the Middle Lands, in a small seaside town in the furthest regions of the oldest French settlement in NewWorld Settlement Alpha-dash-oh-niner-three, Cecilia and Norman have found peace. Continue reading
Time 7: Goodbye
She sighs, runs knobby fingers through graying hair. The increasingly wiry strands slide silky still through veined hands, and she smooths them down, twisting them into a tight knot just above the nape of her neck. Surveying the scatterings of UPS boxes, packed a little heavy for professional movers, she wonders at how a woman’s entire life can be reduced to the wreck and rubble before her.
Or not. Continue reading
Valley 