For Experience Writing Writober Flash Fiction: FEAR OF FAILURE
Tani only dressed up for Halloween because her Mom and Dad made a big deal out of taking Tani and her brother Slyvester out for dinner at the Burger Barn and then to Helblings Department Store to choose a boxed costume out of the hundreds upon hundreds of costumes that took up the back of the store.
Helblings also gave away free plastic pumpkins to put your loot in and they gave away free popcorn to.
Tani’s Dad, who was normally an impatient man with other places to be and her Mom had projects she was always working on something in her sewing room- the thing is she was always behind in her projects and that always made her a little crazy. But when it came time to shop for Halloween costume, Tani’s parents were front and center and ready to rock and roll.
The second they walked into Helblings, Tani’s little brother raced down one aisle and back up another. When he returned he had three boxes in arms- a magician, a race car driver and an astronaut. ” I can make up my mind! ” Sylvester said. ” Can I get all three? ”
Tani’s Mom shrugged. ” Sure. Go ahead. ”
” Okay. I’m done. I’m going to get my popcorn now. Hurry up Tani!”
Sylvester was gone in the blink of an eye.
” What do you think Tani? ” her Dad asked as if he had all the time in the world to hang out in Helblings.
” IÂ don’t know. Maybe a nurse? The Fortune Teller is okay too. ”
” Get them both. It’s fine. You can always give the ones you don’t like to your cousins. They’ll be big enough to wear them next year. ”
Tani reached up and grabbed a Princess mask. She had a pink plastic matching dress. ” I like this one. It might be fun to look like- ”
Sylvester was back and he had two bags of popcorn. He handed one out to Tani and her Father grabbed it. He winked at her. ” Choose your costume and ye shall be rewarded. ”
” Dad, ” Tani said as she slid the palm of her hand down her face and gently removed the skin mask she wore when they went out. ” I want to look like a girl for Halloween. A pretty one. ”
Tani’s Mom took the Princess Costume from Tani’s hand and she told her eldest daughter, the child she had lovingly stitched together from the remnants of children left behind in cemeteries all over the county they lived in, ” You are beautiful Tani- no matter what mask you choose to wear.”
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/546342998568274404/Halloween Photography Challenge: Failure
On one of our walks, my dog Hamish Macbeth found a bouquet of dead flowers and underneath the flowers was a box of candy.
From the look on his face, I think he had questions.
I failed to find an answer for him.
Photo A.M. Moscoso
A few years ago, me and Hamish came upon this Halloween display in our neighbor’s yard.
As you can see, Hamish seemed to enjoy it.
I had questions for him.
He had no answers for me.
Hamish Halloween
Photo A.M. Moscoso
For Experience Writing Writober Flash Fiction: SHAME
Luliana took a seat at her kitchen table and just as she was about to scoot her chair into place she looked up and saw that the faucet in the kitchen sink was dripping- again.
Damn faucet, she thought. Goddamned faucet.
She got up, she went to the sink and before she took hold of the handle the dripping stopped.
There at the sink, she took a breath, she absorbed the sunlight streaming through the window above the sink, she closed her eyes and told herself- ‘this is your home now Luliana, this is your life now. Relish it. Savor it. Let it inspire you”
She tried to float, like a cloud to the table. She slid her chair back out, she sat down. She reached for her journal and she opened it.
Today she wanted to write a poem about passion and how it brought her to where she is now.
She uncapped her pen, she searched for a word, she dropped the nub onto the page and closed her eyes and then
she heard it- the dripping- the sink was dripping again.
She looked over to the sink and said to herself- that’s my sink and my leaky faucet and this is my life now. I will let it inspire me, I will let it not bother me, I will not haunt me.
Luliana looked down upon the wordless page in front of her and out the kitchen window and for just a second and as her eyes and mind wandered she thought about the woman who used to live here, whose kitchen this was and she wondered what she was thinking about on the last day she lived here.
That didn’t matter anymore., Luliana said. snap out of it woman.This is my life, Luliana reminded herself.
The tap was gushing water into the sink now.
Luliana didn’t need to look to know for certain that it was water streaming down into the sink, the same sink full of water that she held her lover’s wife’s head in and drowned her like a rat in a toilet as she stared out the window washing the dinner dishes all of those years ago.
The truth is, Luliana didn’t need to look at the sink because she could see it was gushing bloody rusty water into the basin-
even when her eyes were closed.