Writing Challenge

That Little Voice

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Word of the day challenge: SECURITY

AI Artwork by CURSEJOURNEY

About 15 years ago I was taking the bus home.

Across the aisle from me in a bench seat ( so we were sitting face to face ) was a clean cut young man- and by clean cut I mean he had a crew cut,  his button up shirt had short sleeves and peeking from the little vee at his neck waste collar of a ribbed necked  white t-shirt.

He wore khakis and beside him was a backpack- I think it was beige, but I do remember it looked brand new.

What he did next, didn’t really surprise me.

The young man took a deep breath. He closed his eyes and then, very softly he began to pray to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When he opened his eyes they looked feverish. He was smiling. He was having a moment of bliss. Then he reached for his back pack and unzipped it.

Do you know that little voice – the one that screams to move, to not say what you were about to say- that voice. The little voice in my head doesn’t sound pleasant , but that’s probably good because when I hear it I listen and it hasn’t failed me.  It has kept me safe and secure through many a narrow scrapes.

I got up, my eyes never left his face and I headed to the front of the bus and every single hair on the back of my neck and arms was standing straight up.

When I turned around he was looking down into his backpack and then he fished out a granola bar.

He looked right at me and smiled.

I tapped the side of my nose and pointed at him.

He unwrapped his granola bar and I watched him scan one face after another and when he came back to me he chewed his bar slowly and then he reached down and zipped his backpack back up.

That weird young man was praying- and for what I don’t know. Maybe he was just really into granola bars.

Maybe.

 

Maple Greenlake

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Word of the day challenge: MAPLE

When I was little I had an imaginary friend named Maple Greenlake.

Maple was always a good girl, I insisted.

She made her bed in the morning, she remembered to use her table manners not just at home but at school to. She used her skipping rope for skipping only and she never drew or wrote on the walls in our semi-finished attic I would tell  my Mom.

Maple wasn’t the one who played silly tricks on my brother or my Grandma when she came over to play I would say to my Dad.

She would never do things like  set fire under the apple tree in the backyard.

” So who does all of these naughty things? ” my Mom would ask when the cookies disappeared from the cookie jar before dinner, or all of the forks and glasses disappeared from the kitchen cupboard and ended up in the bathtub.

” I did ” I would insist, ” Maple isn’t a naughty girl. Ask her yourself. ” I  told  my parents on more then one occasion.

” Go on ask. She is standing right there behind you.”

My Mom would put her hand up to the back of her neck,  sometimes my Dad  would start to say something but didn’t.

But my parents never turned around to ask Maple if what I said was true.

I wonder why.

AI Artwork:Creator Unknown

The Marble Forest

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Experience Writing Prompt: DEEP IN THE FOREST

Deep in the forest of marble and stone, the first thing that caught my eye  as we drove through the cemetery was an upright grave monument that looked like it was about to fall over.

It was ornate and looked well cared for- all except for the fact that the ground under it was having issues and the monument was collapsing.

I decided to grab a picture of it because the light and the leaves were beautiful, and as I carefully walked around it I saw   a tribute to a wife, her husband and to their daughter:

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Oakwood Cemetery
Beaver Dam WI
October 2023

Maria was the only child of Amia and Lyman and  she died when she was only 26.

She was never married, she had no children.  She died in 1867.

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Oakwood Cemetery
Beaver Dam WI
October 2023

Her father followed her in death 29 years later at age 81

Oakwood Cemetery Beaver Dam WI

Amia followed her husband 11 years later and at this point I thought that  had Maria lived  would have been 66 years old the year her Mother died. She may have even been a grandmother.

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Oakwood Cemetery
Beaver Dam WI
October 2023

As I walked around the monument I saw three grave covers.  My son leaned down to brush away some leaves and he stood up, and told me that the covers were metal.
I was intrigued by the placement of the monument – it was placed at the foot of the graves  instead of at the  head- and I was curious about the material.
I was also curious why the oldest cover was in such good shape and the most recent was not.
So I did a little research into Beaver Dam’s history and learned that the monuments were made of Zinc or ” White Bronze ” ( you can read about it HERE ) .

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Oakwood Cemetery
Beaver Dam WI
October 2023

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Oakwood Cemetery
Beaver Dam WI
October 2023

Photo A.M. Moscoso
Oakwood Cemetery
Beaver Dam WI
October 2023

On that bright Fall morning, in that cemetery far away from where I live, I explored a forest made of marble and stone and it was decorated with leaves of red and gold. 

33 Messages

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Inspired by Fandango’s Story Starter#118– When she looked at her cellphone, she was shocked to see she had 33 voicemail messages

Photographer Unknown

Carline Broom was all alone in her dark  Mother’s living room watching the rain beat against the side window when she heard her phone go off.

It was on the flower table near the front door  buzzing like an angry bee and she had left it on vibrate so it was dancing too. It didn’t ring though. She had turned the ringer off because she had driven over here and everyone knows you shouldn’t use your phone when driving.

She didn’t feel like answering it right now anyway.  The rain had gone from a mist to a down pour and the streets were filling up with water. At this exact moment in time all Carline wanted to do was watch the rain come down and she wanted to watch the sky fill up relentlessly with dark black clouds.

She wondered if there would be thunder and lightning too.

Her phone sat there behind her, quiet as a mouse and just as she was about to give it faint praise for remaining still  it started to  buzz and danced again.

Carline drifted over to the table and looked down on her phone- she had 33 messages- more then half of them had come in this morning.

” Well.” Carline said to her phone. ” Well. ‘

” Where is that thing? ” she heard her Mom say,  from the kitchen. ” Whose damn

phone is that? ”

Carline told her Mom, ” it’s mine. ”

Fiona  brushed by Carline to the flower table, she picked up Carline’s phone and then she dropped it- the phone missed the table and hit the floor and Carline guessed the screen was probably cracked now.

Her Mom walked to the window where Carline was watching the storm rage and Fiona said to her own reflection, ” I’m sorry you aren’t here to see this storm Carline, you’d have loved it. ”

Carline turned and looked at her Mother, then she turned back to the window and watched the rainfall.

”  There are  33 messages on your phone Carline- I’m sorry you won’t be here to pick them up.  The jackass that hit you  when he answered his phone, I’ll bet he’s picking up his messages today. I’ll bet he’s surfing the net and playing wordle too. Bastard. May he rot in Hell. ”

Her phone buzzed from the floor.

Carline did wonder who would be calling her, and where they were calling her from and she hoped they weren’t driving through this storm wondering  why she wasn’t answering her phone.

Photographer Unknown