by Mayumi-H | Aug 15, 2012 | Short Stories
So, it’s week 54 for Julia’s 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups, and we’ve got a relatively simple prompt:
LEGACY. Julia says, You don’t have to … include the word but I would like 100 words on what it says to you.
Legacy always conjures up the idea and ramifications of family, for me. I’m sure others can sympathize…and you’ll likely see more of this sort of legacy, this week. As for me, I’m venturing among the Nightingales, again:
“Pretty Princess”
Katie’s Princess
“Miss Trish asked what we’re to be when we grow up,” Billie said, smearing blue across her colouring book Clydesdale.
Sally smiled. “What did you say?”
“Starship captain,” Billie answered. She grabbed a green; the horse became a pegasus. “Or, dinosaur zookeeper.”
“That’s my girl,” Larry quipped.
Sally chuckled, turning to her quieter daughter. “And you?”
Katie dabbed red over her picture princess’s hair, murmuring, “Pretty.”
Sally and Larry stopped, frowning.
Billie gave her pegasus purple horns, declaring, “You’ll be pretty, just like Mummy! But, I have to do more. Because I look like Daddy.”
Larry sneered. “Thanks very much!”
Billie’s Horse
There are brutal truths of society that children understand even at an early age; the importance of beauty is one of them (I know I learned it very young). But I didn’t want to dwell too much on such a ponderous topic, so I figured outspoken little Billie could offer a slightly pragmatic turnaround. Hope you enjoy!
What legacy did you examine for this week?
by Mayumi-H | Jul 5, 2012 | Short Stories, Songbirds
“The New Girl”
She looked so much like Sally: bright, sparkling eyes; cute, upturned nose; precious pink lips; and dimples, just the barest hint of them, like Sally had when she smiled.
Larry fell in love with her instantly.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, stroking gently at the soft round of her cheek. He bent his head and kissed her then, smelling deeply of the sweet scent of her.
“She is,” Sally said.
Larry looked up, into the tired, teary face of his wife. He smiled. “She looks just like you,” he said.
Sally smiled, too. “I was going to say the same thing.”
(image courtesy tscpl.org)
I’ve had such a good time reading new-mummy updates from jennybennyk on Twitter (you can also follow her blog at itsjennythewren), it reminded me of first moments like this, and how your perspective can change of an instant.
Husbands/fathers are especially susceptible to daughters, I think. I know when I met my husband, there was talk that I would always be foremost in his life.
Then our little girls came along.
I don’t mind, though. That loving bond is precious, and I wanted to see if I could capture it a little bit, here, with my Songbirds. (And, to itsjennythewren: Don’t worry if Daddy is starstruck by Baby right now. You’re still Mummy, and that’s a truly special person to be.)
Have you ever been struck by a memory from a Tweet or an update, and pushed to write about it?
by Mayumi-H | Apr 25, 2012 | Short Stories, Songbirds
The prompt for this week’s 100-Word Challenge for Grown-Ups (week 39) is, per Julia:
….I’m exhausted. Shut the door behind you….
So, to remind you of the rules you have an additional 100 words to complete your piece making 107 in total. Please make sure it is suitable for a PG certificate and please visit the other entries as that is where we can get ideas as well as support and challenge each other.
Julia always knows just when to remind me that I need to keep these to a PG rating! 😀 That said, I didn’t really have much trouble coming up with a flash fiction to fulfill this week’s prompt. Without further ado, I’ll let my Songbirds speak for themselves:
“These Nights Won’t Last”
Girls Playing Dress Up, by Isabella Kung
http://www.behance.net/isabellakung
It’s the girls’ excited shrieking as they play that makes Sally snap. She loves them, but the noise-! What happened to those lovely nights when they’d cuddle peacefully, dozing off to faery tales?
Sensing her tension, Larry eases her to the bedroom. “You all right?”
Sally sighs. “I’m exhausted. Shut the door behind you, please?” And she settles back, to relax amid the quiet, alone.
But, after a while, she realises: solitude isn’t what she wants. Because these nights won’t last, either. So, rather than waste it, she rises, to find her family snacking on biscuits while puzzling over a jigsaw.
She smiles. “Room for one more?”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pushed one of my girls away, desirous of peace and quiet and just a little bit of alone time…only to then call her back and let her play or cuddle, because my own guilt has gotten the better of me. 🙂
This one feels a bit short, to me, but it does clock in at 107 words, per instructions. Perhaps because, like my Sally, I simply find myself longing for those bygone, tiny baby days…!
They settle down, eventually. 🙂
by Mayumi-H | Apr 4, 2012 | Short Stories, Songbirds
Carrying over from last time, is this week’s 100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups:
The prompt this week is to go back to last week’s entries. You are to use the last 10 words of the post next to yours and using just 100 words create a story. It may be a follow-on from the previous one or you may like to take it in a different direction. So:
- You find your entry HERE
- You go to the next entry (if you were 6 you go to 7 etc)
(I was #16, so I’m using #17 for my prompt: “An Important Date” by Andrea, the gothcatlady. It is a lovely little ode to Carroll’s original story, and I suggest you read it for yourself, before going on to my take on her prompt!)
- Using the last ten words as the prompt you write your piece. The prompt can be anywhere in the piece but must be complete as it was in the original.
- If you didn’t take part last week, choose any entry to use the last 10 words from.
I was lucky enough to get a very charming prompt – What a wondrous adventure with young Alice that would be – for this week, and I’m delighted that I can even (sort of) continue from my own challenge from last time! So, without further ado, here it is.
Such Wondrous Adventures
With pinafore and ponytails bouncing, Katie bounds across the playground, away from them.
Watching her, Larry sighs. “Seems like yesterday,” he murmurs, “we were pregnant, and I was reading her Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”
Beside him, Sally shrugs. “She’s growing up.”
“Does she have to do?” Larry asks, chuckling.
“What a wondrous adventure with young Alice that would be!” Sally says, and they laugh. But then they quiet, cuddling close.
“I didn’t think it would happen so fast,” Larry laments. He meets her gaze, chuckling anew. “I want another one!”
Sally blinks, then smiles, softly. “Funny, you should mention that….”
I do so love these little challenges, and being able to incorporate them into my own universes, in this case, that of my Songbirds, Sally and Larry. I wish I could share them with more people, too, especially the ones who enjoyed the original Songbirds series of stories. Who knows? Maybe, someday, I can…and will!
I can only hope that Judee, over at write tuit, has as much fun with my prompt as I had with Andrea’s!
by Mayumi-H | Mar 28, 2012 | Short Stories
Per the prompt over at Julia’s Place, for this week’s 100 Word Challenge for Grown-Ups:
I want you to write a piece with
….‘What was the rabbit late for,’ wondered Alice…..
in it. You have 100 words making a total of 108. However, the last 10 words are going to be used to start a piece by someone else next week!! Good eh! The idea isn’t mine – it came from Winchester House School.
This is quite a tricky prompt! Not only does it require the use of given text, but the writer also has to create a “hook” for the next one to come along! Nevertheless, I couldn’t sit back and let the challenge go unanswered:
Larry paraphrases; he’s barely focused on the text. But Sally doesn’t mind.
She knows he worries, that what he does isn’t “enough.” But she also knows his concern is unnecessary. His touch, his presence, his voice: that’s what’s important. And she tells him as much, when he pauses over the page:
“You’re fine,” she says.
After a moment, he continues. “’What was the rabbit late for, wondered Alice-‘”
A jolt in her belly makes her gasp, softly.
Larry gasps, too. Then, he looks up, his blue eyes wide, astonished. Delighted. “You think… she heard…?”
Sally smiles, and nods. “All she needs is the sound of her daddy’s voice.”
I’m not certain how next week’s prompt will work – if we’ll be choosing our own personal prompt, or if we’ll be assigned someone else’s entry, or if one special entry will serve as the jumping-off point. But I’ve had this story kicking around (if you’ll pardon the pun) for a while, now, and I’m happy that I got to put it to use!
——-
I originally had a completely different entry for this challenge prompt. It was much darker, and played a bit more with the themes of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You can read it here, if you’re so inclined.
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