Wednesday's Words on a Friday

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

This month the words are supplied by ME and can be found right here each Wednesday

This week's words are:

1. noose
2. moose
3. soon
4. omen
5. shoe
6. onion

and/or:

1. hourglass
2. fireplace
3. fragment
4. paradise
5. discussing
6. wondering

Here is my story, a longish chapter two continuing last weeks beginning

A couple of days later, Harry and Eleanor were sitting by the fireplace, discussing the paradise their new garden would be, listening to the hum of machinery as a winch was employed to haul that troublesome large weed patch out of the corner.

They heard the gardener, Bob, suddenly shriek like a little girl, then come running towards the house. “Harry! Harry! Come quick. You have to see this. Eleanor, I think you should phone the police right away!”

“Whatever is the matter Bob?” asked Eleanor. “There’s a skeleton all tangled up in the roots of that weed,” said Bob. “Get on the phone, tell them we’ve found a body!” Eleanor immediately phoned the nearest Police Station and asked that someone be sent out as soon as possible. She then ran outside to find Bob and Harry erecting the old canvas awning over the area. Harry motioned her to stay well back. He’d read plenty of crime novels and knew about not contaminating the scene of the crime.

“But it may not have been a crime,” said Eleanor. Maybe someone had an accident and just never got found. This whole area was very sparsely populated long ago and isn’t much better now.”

“Oh, it’s a crime alright,” said Bob. “Look over here, there’s a noose around the neck and only one shoe. The clothes are pretty much rotted away, and I’d say he’s been here a long while.”

“Good thing Mum’s not here,” said Harry. “She’d start in on how this is some sort of omen and we’d better start throwing salt over our shoulders and covering mirrors and all that rubbish.”

“Where does she get those ideas?” asked Eleanor. “Probably those trashy voodoo novels she likes to read, says she likes to scare herself a bit now and again,” said Harry. “I’d say this will give her enough of a scare to last quite a while,” said Bob, who had known Maxine through school. She’d been best friends with his wife.

Harry leaned over to get a look inside the hole where the weedy shrub had been. “There’s a fragment of something sticking up,” he said. “We’d better leave it all for the police to uncover though.”

After making sure the awning cover was secure, they all trooped inside to wash their hands and start a pot of tea going. Until the Police arrived, all they could do was sit around wondering who the unfortunate person had been and what had happened. “I’d say murder or suicide,” said Bob. “There is the noose on his neck, rotted mostly, but recognisable.”

“I’m going to phone Dad and let him know, he’ll break it to Mum and I bet they’ll be over before I can hang up the phone. They’ll probably stay for tea too, will there be enough Ellie?”

I can make up a packet of that instant French Onion soup as a starter, then there’ll be enough, but why don’t we wait and see. I hear a car,” she said going to the front door, hoping it was the police.

It was and they soon had calls in to the crime scene technicians to come out and keep uncovering what they could and collect evidence in those little plastic bags they had a never-ending supply of. While the senior Sergeant began questioning Bob and Harry, Eleanor carefully turned over the big antique hourglass by the stove and just stood there a moment watching the sand run through. When it was finished it would be time to take the meat out of the oven. She kept an eye on the driveway too, looking out for Maxine and Laurence.