cigarette break

 

“How many times have I told you, Fred?”

“I’m sorry, Myrtle.”

“No more puffin, birdbrain.”

 

For 3LineTales.

writephoto: charmer

Silicon Valley Charmer

 

Think you can’t afford a home in Silicon Valley?

Check out this beauty! So close by in the Santa Cruz mountains, just off Leprechaun Parkway. Steve Jobs wanted it but it wasn’t available while he was still alive.

Priced to move! Tired of those several-million-dollar-plus pricetags? Offer a single, solitary million and be prepared to haggle! Owner returning to the auld sod. Must sell.

Bedrooms/bath/kitchen/playroom/dining room/living room/rumpus room/library/studio all in one! Schools close by, two hours by bus.

All the amenities: running water (during the rainy season); firewood and kindling nearby (except post-forest fires); food (deer, squirrel, etc.). Loads of parking space – right up to the cliff.

Diverse neighborhood: Trolls, dwarfs, elves, mountain lions, burnt-out coders, the homeless.

The area isn’t gold country, but dig and ye shall find! Pots of it! (Just don’t keep it!)

 

For Sue Vincent’s Writer Prompt. WritePhoto.

provoke

i awoke

provoked

heartbroke

needing a smoke, a toke, and some coke

broke

what a joke

what a bloke

what a moke

rooked at crooked poker

snookered

choked  by a woke hooker

a real looker

i’m overlooked, overcooked

just an outspoke cowpoke

 

For Daily Prompt

snow

We were snowed in and snowed under with work but the boss’s reasons for no overtime were a real snow job, while he acted pure as the driven snow and left us snowed.

 

For One-Liner Wednesday

noise

in the dark of the past night, my wife woke me and said what’s that noise? but it was just the house creaking.

i turned on our white noise machine.

woke up in the morning and made a joyful noise unto the lord in the shower.

city noises drifted in through our open bedroom window.

uh oh. noisy baby this morning. hope she’s all right.

and my car made some strange noises on the way to work.

in his cubicle, sam was noising off. with his promotion, he’s a big noise now. his pronouncements are causing a lot of noise at headquarters.

my lab instruments had an unfavorable signal-to-noise ratio this morning; the data  was noisy.

thank goodness the holidays are coming. we’re heading for the country. Nature, apart from humans, roaring beasts, flocks of starlings, volcanos, storms, and other natural disasters, does not make a lot of noise.

 

For The Daily Post.

spontaneous

i was asked to speak, later in the week.

bring in a theme, they said, but address it extemporaneously.

off the cuff.

improvised. unrehearsed.

later, after i had taken the dais and utter silence ensued, i explained to everyone that they had witnessed the spontaneous combustion of an impromptu speech.

our apples

Photo by Annie Spratt

one bad apple spoils the whole barrel

so let’s get rid of the barrel

make all not some classrooms  clean and well-lit

pay our teachers

at a level commensurate with their importance

the importance of teachers always being high

support them in their on-going training

lay in and replenish teaching materials

 

rotten apples cannot be made fresh

but bad children

whatever bad means exactly

can be helped

supported, guided

taught

doctors heal

we appreciate and reward them

teachers heal too

 

For 100 Week Wednsday

head shot

 

take a good look, buddy. frogs are going extinct, in case you haven’t heard. why? nobody knows for sure but maybe it’s because there aren’t enough princesses around anymore. all due respect to meghan markle but her attire choices on Suits had me scratching my head the whole time.

 

Photo by Couleur at Pixabay.com
For Twittering Tales

village in the woods

 

We lived in the small town of Santa Flora, California, deep in the Modoc National Forest, close to the Oregon line. Our home was a modest cabin, surrounded by trees. Everyone knew everyone in Santa Flora.

After five years of drought, the forest was tinder dry. Trees were dying. The Selby fire started the night of September 20th. We never found out why. Probably lightning, out in the wilderness.

When we were first alerted, there was no panic.The fire was miles away. Then the winds whipped up, some of them created by the fire itself. The fire wasn’t miles away anymore. Smoke jumpers from California and other states began arriving.

Santa Flora burnt to the ground. Nothing left standing but chimneys.

No residents were killed or injured. We evacuated in an orderly fashion.

It was the forest wildlife and many of our pets who suffered. We couldn’t find our eighteen-year-old cat. She perished.

 

Photo by Enisa
For FFfAW

Words: 155

tutor

come on greg. grasp the concept.

[groaning]

grit your teeth. you want to graduate. this is within your grasp.

[grumbling]

i’ll graph it. grapple with it. get a grip on it.

{grousing]

you’re going great. grok it.

[gruff growling]

it’ll come to you gradually. they’re going to grill you on it.

[grim]

grin and bear it. it’ll grow on you.

[gagging]

grope your memory. grep in it. it’s all grist for the mill.

[grossed out]

times up for the day. grammar is tough.

 

For Daily Post