Two of A Kind

The Bourgeois Spouses from Cycle of Scenes of Living Skeletons Paolo Vincenzo Bonomini( 1757-1839

He told her

he was going to leave her so that he could be with his true soul mate.

She  lowered her head She bit her lips so hard he could see the  tears streaming  from the corners of her eyes.

He put his hands on her shoulders, gently, ” you’re a good person, ” he said ”  you deserve to be with someone who truly loves you”

When she looked up he was surprised maybe even shocked to see her smiling.

” You found a Soulmate?” she said laughing… ” God help us all if there is a second soul like yours floating around out there. For real. God Help Us All. “

It Got A Little Weird Today

For Bushboy’s Prompt: Last On The Card Prompt-May 2026

These were all taken on the same day at the end of May.

This basement is a secret. It’s door was bolted shut but the owner let me in to look around. I had to wear a mask.

I do know someone died down here and that the next day, the basement was sealed off and nobody stepped foot in there since about 1978.

Until I showed up.

Just as a side note there was no lighting in this basement, except for the light on my phone I was in the dark and I mean by dark it was pitch black. I know because I cut my light off to see how dark it was and yep. It was pretty dark.

Photo S. Hoekstra

Apparently people who use the International District/Chinatown  light rail station in Seattle, Washington have opinions in this matter.

Moscoso

The business moved to another location and  the building is empty.

I  used AI to clean somethings up and it added things in the windows. I erased a bus that was parked to the left hand corner of the building and it added a window, I get that. BUT the furniture? The faces? The lighting in the windows?  AI did that on it’s own. That building is EMPTY, but AI saw things differently then I did.

Moscoso

I Have Always Wondered

When I was a kid I  used lay in bed at night and wonder what happened just one minute before the Universe began.

Was it dead before it came to life and if it was dead, was it full of ghosts?

I used to wish I could have been there in that minute because I was sure there were ghosts- that the universe was just chock full of them until the big bang cleared them away like dry leaves in a wind storm.

Of course being curious about that minute before the Universe began, I also wondered what the Earth would look like one minute after it died and HOW it would die.

What the Earth get gobbled up by the Sun in one big bite? Would it be death by asteroid? Would the Moon crash into us for no reason at all? In that minute after Earth meets the Grim Reaper, would a billion upon billions ghosts from every living thing on Earth rise up and fly out into space and would they be telling themselves not to look back-

What would they see if they did?

I’d look back, I wouldn’t be able to help myself.

I wasn’t there when the Universe began and I doubt I will be here when the Earth and the Universe dies.

I’m sorry I missed  the very beginning, and that I might miss the end and I’m sorry about that beccause I think it was a hell of a show.

Upon Reflection

The story I was told on this ghost tour, was that there was a body at the bottom of this well.

Instead of pulling the body up, it was left down there. The well was filled bentonite clay and unceremoniously  capped. There it sat in an alley way surrounded by falling down buildings and sketchy store front. ,  not exactly a forgotten grave, but one that wasn’t acknowledged.

Then as the area was developed and gentrified, people started to say they say a woman wondering around the alley and if you saw her called out to her she would turn, open her mouth and lumps of chalk  and clay would fall out onto her chest and chin. Her face was a ruin- it looked like melted wax and the left side of her head was gone.

Nobody of course  really wanted to dig that well up, so they built a pretty fountain over it and filled it with plants. They had a funeral for the poor soul underneath the fountain, at the bottom of the well and  some people say it soothed the spirt.

But she isn’t gone. People still see her sometimes and they hope against hope that she doesn’t turn around and look at them.

Photo AM Moscoso

This is a reflection pool at a cemetery.

The idea is, people visiting their loved ones sit on the granite benches and reflect on whatever they want to reflect upon.

Of course, you can sit there and reflect  on your loved ones whether or not you have a pulse.

It’s in a cemetery after all.

Evergreen Washelli
Seattle, WA
Photo A.M. Moscoso

FOR RDP WEDNESDAY: FOUNTAIN