Black Widow

The challenge song today is “Up Where We Belong,” which was featured in one of my favorite movies An Officer and a Gentleman. Richard Gere played the lead role and Debra Winger rocked as his love interest. That was the first time I saw Debra, and I instantly adored her. She’s been in many enjoyable movies (though I didn’t really care for her last one, The Lovers).

Probably my favorite after AOAAG is Black Widow. In this 1987 film, Debra plays an FBI agent, Alexandra, who becomes obsessed with the idea of a connection among a group of dead men. She doesn’t believe they perished from accidents but were, in fact, murdered by the same woman. Alexandra basically devotes her life to solving this puzzle and ends up romantically involved with a man she perceives is the next target.

Theresa Russell plays the wife of each of these wealthy men and is so great with her multiple disguises. Highly recommend if you haven’t seen it!

~*~

Written for Mindlovemisery Challenge 174

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Love’s Return [fanfic 105]

And just like magic, there he was, standing on the mountain near the bridge where we had kissed that day. I ran toward him, my heart so full at his return. My faith had been justified and love won again. But the closer I came, the further he drifted, until I was alone on the bridge once more. Though it was winter, my arms were full of flowers, and I threw them down to the river, one by one. The dark water grabbed them greedily and swirled the blooms away.

I woke up crying. When will I be rid of the ghost of Billy Joe?

~*~

Written for the Daily Echo and inspired by Bobbie Gentry’s song “Ode to Billie Joe.”

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Dancing Girl [flash 100]

The old man hobbles along the path, clutching his guitar and a bouquet of red roses. He is coming to visit her grave again.

The flowers are for her favorite color and the music is for her love of dancing. Once, he showed me a photo of her holding their grandchild, and her wrinkled face glowed with joy. I know he doesn’t see her as old though—he sees a dancing girl in a red dress skipping through the mists of time.

He places the flowers on her stone and begins to play “Spanish Harlem.”

Now, I see her too.

~*~

Written for Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge 100.

Written for Sadje’s What Do You See 64.

©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Return [flash 100]

And when I return, after a long time, there is nothing. I don’t know what I expected from this place where we loved, lived, laughed, died, but it clearly wasn’t this desertion. Everything is gone: the piano, the bar, the dance floor, the glittering lights, the mirrors. There is no shard of glass to cut through memory’s membrane. All my thoughts stay bound up tight, indistinguishable from one another, as I float into the open hallway. We used to smoke out here, before the bullets came. I can no longer cry, but I can blend into the walls and wait.

~*~

Written for 50 Word Thursday.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Challenge [flash 148]

The knocking woke her from a hazy dream about summer fun… turquoise waves and soft warm sand and being held in loving arms…

Oh, it wasn’t the door—a torrential hail storm had begun. When she peeked out the window, she spied clumps of ice littering the garden. Her poor tomato plants huddled together in a sad droopy mess. At least they had each other, she thought.

As she put water in the kettle, she knew it would be a challenge to forget the fantasy of him and get on with a new life. She couldn’t control her dreams, but she was in charge of her waking hours. She remembered reading that completing small, mundane tasks would help the healing process and get things back on track. She vowed to start today.

First on the list was cleaning the freezer and disposing of his body. It was time.

~*~

Written for MLM’s Tale Weaver 302.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Universe [flash 124]

I thought she was my whole world, but I was wrong. She was my universe, and when she left, she took it all with her. Stars, planets, moons, rainbows… they’ve disappeared. I watched her depart with everything as if it meant nothing. She held it all as lightly as balloons on a string, with her blue summer dress floating around her pale skin like a cloud. I sit in the dark now, cloaked with the heaviness of loss, and people come and go with endless casseroles. I don’t speak for fear of blurting out my secret; it grows relentlessly larger and will soon consume me. On that day I shall emerge from this cave and join her, and we will share the universe again.

~*~

Written for Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge 92.

Image credit Jordan_Singh at Pixabay.com.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Surprise Share

Alrighty then! Let’s get to Melanie’s new set of questions…

1. Do you like or dislike surprises? Why or why not?

I do not, in general, like surprises. They’re often stressful in some way, upending plans already made.

2. What’s your favorite zoo animal?

Ooh, I love the zoo! Monkeys are fun, snakes are cool… love seeing elephants and gorillas and bears and TIGERS! Tigers are my fave.

3. What three things do you think of the most each day?

Work, family, my aching back.

4. When, if ever, is taking a human life justified?

In defense of your own life or that of someone you love.

Attitude of Gratitude Section (Always Optional)

Do small miracles exist?

I don’t believe in supernatural miracles, but I can usually find moments of joy in an otherwise bad day, which are little treasures to be cherished. Also, I try to remember…

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Blackbird Moon [TLT]

They say it comes every seventh June in the shadows of the blackbird moon.

But I was lucky to escape the family curse and you will see no madness from me on these fateful dates.

So, I don’t know what happened, but he was dead when I got here, officer.

~*~

Written for Three Line Tales 249.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

SLS ~ Smart

Get Smart is an American comedy television series that ran for 5 years (1965-1970). Mel Brooks and Buck Henry created it and it generated many popular quotes, such as “Missed it by… that much” and concepts such as “the cone of silence.” Don Adams had the starring role as inept secret agent Maxwell Smart, who worked for CONTROL, and Barbara Feldon played his sidekick and love interest Agent 99. Edward Platt had the role of “Chief.” Max somehow always managed to save the world from the machinations of KAOS, plots which were a parody/homage to the wildly popular 007 franchise.

There were several Get Smart movies, the more recent ones starring one of my favorite actors Steve Carell. Anne Hathaway starred as Agent 99.

Sadly, Edward Platt died of suicide in 1974 after a long depression. Don Adams died in 2005 at age 82. He was also known for his voices, such as Tennessee Tuxedo. Barbara Feldon is 87.

On a related note, Sean Connery of James Bond fame, among other things, died this weekend (October 31, 2020) at age 90. RIP ❤️

Today, I’m featuring the theme song from Get Smart, which is widely recognizable. It was composed by Irving Szathmary.

As always, thank you to our musical host Jim Adams! 🎶

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Bridge [socs]

A trick in bridge is a good thing… four cards you collect from the players at the table. The object is to get as many tricks as you can in the deal. Often a couple plays bridge with another couple. My parents, for some odd reason, decided this would be a wonderful activity to try together. Except that my mom learned all the rules and took the game very seriously while my dad didn’t really care. They had gigantic screaming arguments…

They gave up bridge and never tried another shared hobby. My dad’s main joy was books and my mom liked puttering with sewing and gardening and (later on) genealogy. It was hard for them to even agree on a movie or TV show. I always thought this was sad and believed they were a mismatch. My idea was that a couple should have lots of things they could enjoy together.

Yet they were married for 50 years, until my mothers death in 2008. Looking back, I’m so glad they actually got to celebrate their 50th. It was only a few months later that Mom got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She died four months after that, in April, a day after my father’s birthday. 💔

At the end, she said she’d been happy with my dad and he said the same about her. Now, I believe they truly did love each other despite all their differences. I’ve met many men I’ve had bunches in common with, and yet I never found a connection like theirs. Compassion, kindness, and commitment are the tricks to bridge the hard times.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.