The Hidden Away [flash 275]

Rory and Sue snuck surreptitiously into the upstairs study while Rose slept on the sofa downstairs.

“Do you know where it is?” Sue whispered.

“No,” Rory said, taking out his pistol. “But this is our last chance. We must find that soy turtle soup recipe. It has the secret code hidden in it.”

Sue looked confused. “You mean in a pot of slop? Do I have to slave away over a stove?”

“Never, my pet,” Rory reassured her. “Trust me. The code is buried in the recipe itself!”

“Oh good then.” Sue poked around on the desk. “Rose must be a poet. I see bits of verse but no recipes. I wish we could go out for pie, Rory. I love pie.”

Rory bent over to peer under the desk. “We can later–oof! Did you hear that rip? I tore my trousers. They’re split open.”

“Pity,” Sue said. “And those are your new ones. It’s hard to find those stripes you like.”

“This spoils my whole day,” Rory said with a pout. “I don’t even care about the treasure hunt now.”

Sue began to protest. “But we haven’t won any games tonight, honey. We’ll be known as the family losers. I thought we were doing well at this spy challenge.”

“I don’t care.” Rory flung himself in a chair. “These elaborate games are torture. Why can’t Aunt Rose throw normal parties?”

“She’s your aunt.” Sue reminded him. “So, you shouldn’t be asking me.”

There came a horrific shriek from downstairs. “Help!” screamed a man. “Aunt Rose is dead! Someone strangled her with a rope!”

Rory and Sue just looked at each other and laughed.

~*~

Written for Rory’s What’s Your Story?

Words made from surreptitiously: is, it, losers, pet, pie, pistol, pity, poet, pot, pout, protest, rip, ripe, Rory, slept, slop, so, soup, soy, split, spoils, spy, stripes, Sue, surreptitiously, to, tore, torture, trousers, trust, turtle.

Image from the Happy Color app.

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

Voices Rant On! [fiction 200]

“Have a seat,” said the doctor. “Would you like a cup of tea?”

“No, thanks,” Vera told him. “I’m too upset to sit down. I was just on the train and everyone was so loud.”

“Hmm,” said the doc, stroking his vest. “I wonder if you’ve tried wearing something to block the sound from your ears.”

Vera paced back and forth, shaking her head. “Nice notion, but I still hear all the voices, yelling about the state of the nation and the cost of cat food.”

“Very interesting,” the doc murmured. “Myself, I prefer a raven for a pet. They never starve because they go out and hunt rats.”

“That’s insane,” Vera said.

“Is not,” said the doc. “You’re the patient, never more.”

“I’m leaving this conversation.” Vera headed for the door. “Cancel my next appointment too. I’d rather save the money!”

“Fine!” The doc stamped her file case closed. “Just remember all those rants you hear are coming from inside your own head, ha ha ha!”

After a few minutes the doctor told his nurse to send in his next patient.

“Very funny, Stan,” said the nurse. “It’s time for your meds then off to beddy bye with you.”

~*~

Written for Rory’s What’s Your Story Then?

Words made from conversation: case, cat, conversation, cost, ears, in, insane, is, nation, nice, no, not, notion, on, rants, rats, raven, save, seat, sit, so, Stan, starve, tea, to, train, Vera, vest, voices.

Image from Pixabay.

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

Moonglow [socs]

When shadows fall on the meadow

And snowflakes powder the willows,

She hears the owl call to the crows.

Behind her window she vows

To leave this town when the wind slows.

But deep in her marrow she knows

She is but a ghost in a gown,

Doomed to prowl in moonglow forever.

~*~

Image from Pixabay.

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

The Sprawling Legend [fiction 220]

The tale began in a secluded glade. An angel was said to have fallen from heaven and become tangled in a weeping willow, which turned its branches to gold. Centuries later, an impoverished baron named Dean was awarded the land and gated off the entire forest for hunting, yet that didn’t stop many a curious lad from sneaking in to view the golden tree.

Over tea one afternoon, a distraught young wife thought she heard that praying under the willow would help her conceive, so she snuck onto the estate late one night… and lo… nine months later that gal had a baby. No one seemed to notice the aged baron had a gleam in his eye when he went down to his favorite pub to mooch ale and eat kidney pie.

But word was out, and soon infertile couples from all over the country were flocking to the estate, knocking at the gate, and begging for a date to visit the glade. Baron Dean soon realized he could charge a fee and replenish his gambling losses from this new venture. He happily led the couples to the weeping willow after they paid and even let them stay overnight in a guest room for an exorbitant rate. Many did conceive and thus the Legend of the Golden Tree kept sprawling.

~*~

Written for Rory’s What’s Your Story Then?

Words made from tangled: aged, ale, an, and, angel, date, dean, eat, gal, gate, gated, glade, lad, land, later, led, tale, tangled, tea

Image from Pixabay.

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

One for the Road! [fiction 261]

“Are you sure this will work?” Bran said to Littlefinger.

The older man nodded. “I saw it in a movie. I think it was one a them Tom Cruise flicks.”

“Oh, he’s great!” Bran said, unlocking the door with the key he’d stolen earlier during his illness ruse.

“Keep your voice down,” Littlefinger warned. “Else we’ll have the guards over here.”

The two convicts snuck into the warden’s private office, where Littlefinger had figured out there was a back door out to the parking lot and freedom. He hadn’t known about the liquor cabinet though. “Let’s have a quick drink, Bran. A cure for what ails us, eh?”

Bran frowned. “But I wasn’t really sick. It was just a trick, remember? Don’t you think we should stick to our plan and escape quick down to the cove?”

“Mmm rice wine!” Littlefinger exclaimed. “Love this stuff. Try it, Bran. It’s midnight and we have lots of time.”

“Okay.” Bran tasted the wine. “It is good. A bit sour though. I’d rather have a slug of whiskey.”

“I can’t stand whiskey without ice,” the other man said. “Look, he has Courvoisier. Our warden sure has fancy tastes. I wonder how much he gets paid?”

“Can we try it?” Bran asked eagerly after he sampled the warden’s apricot brandy. “We might get sore heads though.”

“Just a small sip,” Littlefinger said. “One for the road!”

But one led to another and the warden found them both passed out on the floor of his office when he got to work the next day at 7am.

~*~

Written for Rory’s Word Story

Words used from Courvoisier: cove, cruise, cure, ice, is, our, over, rice, ruse, sore, sour, sure, us, voice

Image from Pexels

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

FPQ54: 🙂❤️🎶🎄🎁

Fandango provocatively asks…

Do you believe that, in social media communications, people are going overboard in their use of emojis? Why or why not?

I love emojis! In social media, they play a good role in helping people communicate when we can’t see each other’s faces and body language. The ones I use frequently are the smile, the laugh, the eye-roll, the barfy face, and the heart. I also use others purely for fun and decoration, such as the Christmas tree this past week or the kitty face and the music notes.

Now, it is true that a serious writer would have no need for an emoji. She would be able to convey her passion for a topic in a beautifully worded paragraph and eschew a 💖. On another subject, she’d skillfully portray her disgust sans a 🤮 and insert a bit of witty sarcasm without resorting to a 🙄. In fact, if someone used an emoji in a piece of serious writing, that would be jarring. I certainly don’t put them in any of my poems or fiction.

But Fandango asked about social media. I consider social media to be a source of fun and entertainment, not serious writing, for the most part. It’s a way to be social, not serious, imo, and therefore I consider the use of emojis to be entirely appropriate. This goes along with my general peevery about what isn’t appropriate ~ asking for money to buy coffee. 😡👹🤯

Merry Christmas! 🎄

~*~

Image from Fandango.

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Furry One! [flash 138]

Splat! Hail hit the covered pot that someone had left by the bus stop. But sure enough in it sat yet another lost kitten that someone had left anonymously for Pat to adopt. The poor little thing hissed and spat, but only due to fear. Pat would take it to the cat hospital and then foster it until a spot in a forever home was found. From past experience, Pat could tell that with love and care, this baby would have a good shot at turning into a healthy, furry beauty. Already its tail was big and fluffy for such a tiny critter. Pat picked up the pot and put it in her Honda Pilot, tucking a towel around the kitten. “We’ll get you in top shape in no time, pal,” Pat said. “You just hang in there.”

~*~

Written for Rory’s Word Story

Words used from hospital: hail, hit, hospital, it, lost, pal, past, pat, pilot, pot, sat, shot, spat, spot, splat, stop, tail, this, to, top

Image from Pexels

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

321 Quote Me ~ The Wordsmith

Hey you know the drill by now. This is Rory’s fun game and anyone can play, no tag required. Jump on in! 😻

3 Topical Quotes

2 Music Vids

1 Picture Representing the Topic

This was taken at the awesome Powell’s in Portland, Oregon. What an incredible bookstore! Lots of wordsmiths have their works on these shelves.

~*~

Rory’s 321 Directory

Rory’s Current Post

Images found on Google and in my library

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

The Long Night

Wights were specific undead creatures in Game of Thrones, created and controlled by a White Walker. It took me a while to grok the difference ~ and this was not a slight difference. White Walkers possessed great power, while a wight, while frightening, was merely a pawn. A human could kill a wight in a fight, but he would have to burn its body to ensure it did not reanimate. A truly delightful sight occurred when our hero killed a White Walker. What do you think might happen then? All the wights he had turned would immediately collapse and disintegrate. All right!

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

One-Liner Wednesday

If you can’t grok this dishy 1961 transformational grammar, golden-ager, just lip-synch to some soul music, take a diazepam, and don’t call me in the morning.

^^^ That was my one line… bolded words courtesy of my birth year neologisms. You can find yours by entering your birth year at this link. Diazepam is Valium, if you didn’t know ~ a great invention, if I do say so myself. Yay science! 😍

Here are more neologisms from 1961, grouped in what I think is an interesting way…

-bionic, computer science, operating system

– chocoholic, fettuccine Alfredo, eating disorder

-gunnery sergeant, military-industrial complex, compassion fatigue

-rocks glass, mai tai, after-party

And my personal favorite… benign paroxysmal positional vertigo! Thanks for that one. 🙄

Written for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesday

~*~

©️2019 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.