What Pegman Saw – Served Cold

“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page,  from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is Brasilia, Brazil.

Note: There are more technical holes in this piece than in a fishing net; I hope you will excuse them!

Served cold

There would have been a snap as the frayed cord sheared. The airfoil would have puckered, gone slack, wrapped itself around him. Christopher would have known immediately there was no chance; he would tumble five hundred feet to his death below, the nylon wings his shroud.

The image wouldn’t leave me.

There was no evidence of sabotage. That doesn’t mean there was no sabotage.

I didn’t give up the sport, not with the World Championships in Brasilia coming up. I teamed up with Donald, almost as strong a flyer as Christopher. We worked like demons to improve our skills.

“For Chris,” as Donald repeatedly said, until I wanted to beat his face to a pulp,

The first day of the Championships was perfect. We caught a cloud street at one thousand feet.

Behind Donald, I said quietly, “I know what you did. I loved Chris, you know?” – and cut the cord.

 

Friday Fictioneers – The Passionate Collector

Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!

PHOTO PROMPT © Jeff Arnold

The Passionate Collector

“Of course, the old typewriter was Hemingway’s,” drawled Benson. He’d invited me in for a nightcap after our first date. “Look – you can see traces of blood on the keys.” As though absentmindedly, he half drained the glass of red wine he’d poured for me. “Screaming Eagle Cabernet 1992; an unbelievable vintage,” he murmured.

“At least it’s a bourgeois lamp,” I muttered under my breath.

“And the lamp,” continued Benson, relentlessly, “is the first prototype made for Louis Tiffany by Clara Driscoll.”

There was only one response I could make to Benson’s vulgar display of wealth.

Reader, I married him.

Inlinkz – Click here to join in the fun!

What Pegman Saw – Some days are good

“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page,  from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is Taunoa, French Polynesia.

Some days are good

Some days are good, some bad. Paul was such a big part of my life. I sigh and put away the nail polish. I can’t be bothered. Perhaps I shouldn’t have bothered with a vacation either; September will always be tainted by the memory of those last days as Paul fought for life.

But I did bother, and it’s a pleasant resort, and a gal’s gotta eat. That waterfront fish restaurant tonight, I think, only I mustn’t feel melancholy as the sun sets.

“Bonsoir, Henri!”

“Madame!” Professionally charming. “We ‘ave lovely mullet tonight. ‘ere, I give you a seat by the water!”

The sky is azure, the light crystal sharp. It is a courageous sky.

I am so lost in my thoughts, that at first I don’t hear him.

“May I join you?”

Silver hair but unlined face, gentle and scholarly, a quiet smile.

I smile back.

“Please do.”

Inlinkz – click here to join in the fun!

 

Friday Fictioneers – Vintage

Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!

PHOTO PROMPT © J HARDY CARROL

Vintage

The whitewall tires of my Cadillac hiss against the asphalt, as I motor north beside the Pacific. The lazy rollers of the sapphire ocean glitter in the mid-afternoon sunlight.

I sigh, contentedly, as I gaze over the hood, an acre of high gloss pink polished to a mirror finish. I let the steering wheel run gently between my fingers, relishing the feel of the white leather.

Dick grins at me as I turn to him. “Happy, Penelope?” he asks.

I grin back, and open the throttle.

“Mmm, nice,” he says, “smooth as silk. Wonderful job you’ve made of the restoration.”

Inlinkz – click here to join the fun!

What Pegman Saw – Happy Anniversary

“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page,  from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is Silver Bay, Minnesota.

Happy Anniversary

“Gotta stop a minute, take off this jacket.”

Dave nodded but didn’t copy. He felt chilled despite the knitted sweater under his wind-cheater.

Colin eyed him. “Sure you’re up to this?”

Dave pushed past and walked on. Colin shrugged.

The woods were full of birdsong.

“Saw a bald eagle once, hereabouts.” Dave tossed the remark over his shoulder.

“Mm-hm?”

“Don’t believe me, huh? Well, I know what I saw. A bald eagle.”

Dave stopped at the foot of a rough stone stairway.

“Catch my breath, boy,” he said.

“I’ll be right behind you, case you fall.”

Dave straightened his back, drew himself up and climbed the stairway without stopping. The waterfall roared a welcome. He looked down. The river bank below was full of holidaymakers enjoying the first sunshine of spring. Dave pointed at them.

“Seventy years ago today, from up here, I saw your Grandma for the first time.

Friday Fictioneers – Fairies are Real!

Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!

PHOTO PROMPT © Ceayr

Fairies are Real!

Cosy in parka and new boots like Mummy’s, Gemma snuggled against Daddy on the bench.

The moon-filled droplets of the fountain hung in the air like pearls on a necklace. The church clock solemnly chimed ten. A breeze shivered the leaves, and ruffled the water. It smelled earthy, moist, full of presence.

Gemma stared into the shadows.

Suddenly, she tensed. Her gaze moved between the dark trees and the sparkling fountain. She clasped her hands and laughed with delight.

Daddy sat quiet until Gemma turned to him.

“Did you see anything, Honey?”

Gemma nodded enthusiastically.

“They were beautiful, Daddy!”

Inlinkz – click here to join the fun!

 

What Pegman Saw – Desert Vigil

“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page,  from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is Wadi ad-Dawasir.

Desert Vigil

“God is great!”

I gaze up at the stars. The beauty of the night sky cuts me like a sword. I am caught up in the purity of the desert, overwhelmed by awe and gratitude. Here the division of life from death is sharp and immediate. I yearn to remain.

“God is great!”

I smell stone, dry, unblessed by water. Mercy can sometimes be harsh like stone, like sand, like the desert, a mercy that purges, that strengthens, that forces a man’s courage and endurance to grow in response to the will of God.

“God is great!”

I hear the whisper of the night air, the siffle of shifting sand, the creaking of the cooling world.

Sound in silence.

Meaning in stillness.

Tiny grains cohering into a ripple, a dune, a ridge, a desert: a community, a nation, the umma.

“God is great!”

I dedicate myself to martyrdom.

Friday Fictioneers – Creating an Angel

Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!

PHOTO PROMPT © ROGER BULTOT

Creating an Angel

In her day, giggles had been famous. Now she was ‘merely’ a legend.

Midnight had passed. She packed her tools. Paint – gold, white, amber, olive, black and her trademark Cayman blue. Propellant. Stencils.

Carefully, listening, feeling, she clambered onto the railway. Forty minutes before the train.

Using each stencil in turn, she unerringly sprayed colour beside colour. The tang of solvent stung her nostrils. She imagined the radiant angel taking shape, though her age-blinded eyes couldn’t see it.

She added her tag.

The rails hissed.

There was a rumble.

Timing it to perfection, giggles stepped in front of the train.

Inlinkz – Click here to join in!