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!
Winding Up
‘I want to know if we’re bloody solvent!’ yelled Pauline. ‘Can we still feed the kids?’
‘Course we can, you stupid cow.’ Dick stamped out of the house. Michael, his oldest son, heard him and shivered.
‘Morning, Mr Ransom,’ chorused his three employees when he arrived at the repair shop he owned.
He grunted.
‘Tom, I’ve got to go out. Hold the fort, will you?’
He took a packet from the safe in his office, and slipped it into his briefcase; fifty thousand pounds and a plane ticket to Spain.
Dick Ransom whistled cheerfully all the way to the airport.
Autumn Leaves 
Dick is not a good man! He’ll go far!
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Thank you for commenting, Neil. Yes, Dick will go far – well, as far as Spain anyway!
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What a schmuck!
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No morals in his business, no responsibility for his family; yeah, schmuck describes him well! Thank you for commenting, Dale.
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Sometimes one word suffices 😉
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😉
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He won’t be the first, and he won’t be the last. Schmuck isn’t a word we use in Australia, but I can think of plenty that would fit, and I’ll leave those up to your imagination.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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Thank you for your indignant comment, Rowena. I’m sure Australian words for Dick would be very colourful!
Best wishes
Penny
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I don’t speak what Australians call “French” myself, but you’re right about it being colourful.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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Dick is well a dick, I pity Spain 🙂
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Thank you for commenting, Michael. Yes, I’m afraid Dick certainly is a dick.
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Bit of a rotter, abandoning wife, children, and business. Of course, we knew he was a rotter when he called his wife a stupid cow 🙂
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Linda. Dick certainly was a rotter. I agree with you that a man who speaks offensively to his wife is unlikely to treat her well.
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In my experience, verbal abuse is the first step toward all the rest.
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I can imagine the progression is almost inevitable. Offensive language to your spouse shows a total lack of respect for them.
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Yes. And not much self-respect, either.
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Very good point.
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Sneaky bugger, disappearing with the cash. Great tale, Penny.
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Thank you for your comment, Mason. Dick had no sense of morals at all!
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No he certainly did not.
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Dear Penny,
Yep, schmuck fits Dick to a T. Not sure about over there, but here in the states Dick can be synonymous with schmuck, so he’s aptly named. Hope Karma comes up to bite him in the arse soon. Good write. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for your kind comment. Yes, ‘dick’ has the same overtones in the UK; the choice of names was intentional. I don’t think karma will need to intervene. Dick is a stupid man, and his stupidity will be enough to bring down retribution on his head – or bite him in the arse!
Shalom
Penny
xx
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Dick the Dick. Is it wrong to hope his plane crashes?
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Thank you for your entertaining comment, Lisa. Perhaps we should leave retribution to his own stupidity which will see him in gaol sooner rather than later, I suspect!
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haha! You’re welcome and you’re right 🙂
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Doesn’t sound like the cow is going with him.
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Thanks for your apt comment. You’re quite right, Pauline is not going with him.
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Dick Ransom, sounds as if he makes a mess of everything. What is he going to buy in Spain, how long will the money last? You gave us a clear despicable character to dislike.
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Dear James
Thank you for your careful reading and detailed comment. You are spot-on; £50,000 will soon be gone, and he won’t get much for it. Dick, I’m afraid, is one of those people who make a mess of almost anything they do – and then run away, leaving others to clear up after them.
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Hell of a husband, hell of an employer. I hope Spain is the right place for him.
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Thank you for commenting, Sandra. I doubt whether he’ll be any more successful in Spain than he was in England.
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Good riddance! They’ll probably be better odd without him!
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Thank you for your indignant comment, Keith! I hope they’ll be better off without him, but there’ll be a great deal to sort out first.
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it looks like he’s burned out and cash to burn for a while. 🙂
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Thank you for commenting, Plaridel. ‘Cash to burn’ sounds exactly like Dick!
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What a piece of work he is. The family is better off without him. From the son’s reaction I suspect that he also might have been abusive.
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Yay! Well spotted, Gabi! In Michael’s reaction I was indeed indicating that Dick was abusive. The pile of tyres made me think about all the other mess that Dick might have left in his wake, and that included the emotional damage of abuse as well as the sudden loss of income from his departure.
Thank you for reading with such insight.
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Well, with that much money I guess they were solvent – until nasty Dick “retired” 😮
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Thank you for commenting, Ali. I love the pun “retired”.
I’m afraid Dick went to Spain on his own and took the money with him. Whether the family was solvent before he left is a moot point; a lot of the £50k was borrowed.
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Sometimes ya just gotta get away. 🙂 Well done, Penny.
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Thank you for commenting, Bill. As I think you’ve guessed, Dick had quite a lot to get away from – mostly creditors, both the bank and loan sharks.
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🙂
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After the initial shock his wife and kids will be better off without him.
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Thank you for your kind comment, Liz. I certainly hope that his wife and kids are better off without him.
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I would compare Dick to his name, but I don’t do such things. So … let’s just say that he lives up to the worst aspects of what a man can be.
Oy!
😉
Well done YOU, though!
Na’ama
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Thank you for your kind comment, Na’ama. You’re right – there wasn’t much to admire in Dick Ransom.
With best wishes
Penny
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Yeah. Nothin’ there. 😉
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My heart aches for his wife, of course, but especially his children. Superb storytelling, Penny, as always.
Pax,
Dora
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Thank you for such kind comments, Dora. Yes, it will be hard for those he leaves behind.
Pax
Penny
xx
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