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. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems.

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 prompts are supplied by Mark Koopmans and can be found here.

This week's words/prompts are:

 1. toilet
2. sunlight
3. dogma
4. spurs
5. vine
6. wilting

and/or: 

1. ashen
2. Brexit
3. Colgate
4. distillery
5. elegance
6. flighty

Here is my story:

"What's in the paper today Robert?" said Pauline, on her way to hang the sheets out in the sunlight. "A lot of hoo-ha about the panic buying of toilet paper, people are actually fighting in the shops over it!" said Robert, "and Colgate is on special this week, do we need more toothpaste?"
"I heard that on the TV news last night, about the fighting, they had to call security guards in," said Pauline. "I'll be phoning Colin later today to see if he has enough supplies, that wife of his has become so flighty, she forgets that things need to be shopped for before they run out of whatever is on their shopping list. Honestly, does she not remember that you can't cook dinner if you haven't bought the ingredients?"
"I spoke to Colin just last week, forgot to tell you, Maxine is a bit more than flighty these days, she's forgetting other things as well," said Robert.
"Like what?' said Pauline, nudging open the screen door which promptly swung back and smacked her on the knee. Robert got up to hold the door open, then followed her out to the clothesline.
"Well, he said last Saturday, he got home from lawn bowls  and said "Honey, I'm home", but Maxine didn't know who he was!" He handed pegs to Pauline as she pulled the sheets so they'd hang straight. "Colin thought maybe she'd just woken from her nap and gave her a minute to clear her head and then she did say, "Oh it's you Colin", so he just got his one beer from the fridge and went to watch TV, but he admitted to me that's he's a bit concerned."
"I think we should get our spurs on and hustle on over there," said Pauline. "We need to know if this is something serious, like Alzheimers. Maxine is 83," she said. 
"Just a minute," said Robert. "Look at this potato vine on the fence here, it's wilting, and I distinctly remember watering it, I'll keep an eye on it for a week or so, maybe the soil there needs some sort of nutrient, there might be too much root competition from the passionfruit in Joe's yard next door."
He followed Pauline inside and locked the back door. "Are we going to Colin's right now?" he said. "I'll just take off this apron and put together a plate, it's close enough to morning tea time, we'll pretend we've come for a cuppa," said Pauline as she loaded scones and cake slices onto a platter. 
"Righto then, " said Robert, "but let's hope he doesn't get started on the whole Brexit thing again. I've heard more than enough, why not mention that distillery we visited, that will keep his mind off anything going on in Europe, for a while at least." 
"Good idea," said Pauline. "Go and find the photos we took that day, Colin always was interested in seeing how things are produced, especially wines and spirits, beer too, he loved the Brewery trip last autumn."
Robert found the photos in the hallway desk drawer and opened the front door for Pauline who was carrying the cloth covered tray. "You look the picture of elegance in that new dress," he said to her. 
Pauline blushed a little as they began the three block walk to Colin and Maxine's house. "Thank you, dear," she said. "I didn't think you'd noticed." Robert said," well I didn't until you took off that big apron. What's that colour called?"
 "It's teal," said Pauline, "the sales assistant said it would bring out my eyes."
They strolled along, enjoying the autumn sunshine and admiring the gardens along the way, until they reached number 18, where an ashen-faced Colin was just rushing out the door.
Looking a little panicked, he told them Maxine had fallen and he was on his way to stand by the gate so the ambulance he'd just called knew which house to stop at. "I think she's had a stroke," he said. "Maybe that's why she didn't know me last week, she might have had a small one while I was at bowls." Tears began to roll down his cheeks. "What am I going to do?" he wailed. "I'll go in and sit with her," said Pauline. "I've brought scones, have you eaten yet today?"

Comments

  1. Sad and not all that unusual in my age group.

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    1. Arkansas Patti; sadly, these things do happen.

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  2. This is a lovely slice of reality. A reality for far too many.

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    1. Elephant's Child; Even when I do sad, I like to keep it real.

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  3. Lovely story. Lovely characters. A bit sad, but I'm adding a sort of bonus reel in my mind where they get her to the hospital in time and after some rehab, she's good to go for several more years.

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    1. Elizabeth Seckman; thank you. Your ending would be nice.

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  4. Thank goodness Robert and Pauline got there in time to help!

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  5. Sometimes I´m not sure if to laugh or cry. If I´m too naive or just "normal". Maybe still somewhat "young", so I could handle that darn virus, but Hubby is older and coughing his head off. Crazy times, you pointed it out well!
    Let´s hope Alzheimer´s won´t visit, right. My neighbour´s wife had a heart attack, three strokes and Alzheimer´s. She´s in a cared home. She was sucha nice lady.

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    1. Iris Flavia; hubby is coughing? Has he been checked for the virus? Try to stay safe.

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  6. How deftly you weaved in all those words, from Brexit to Colgate! Great story. Very sad.

    Around My Kitchen Table

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  7. Your piece of fiction is a sad reality for far too many people. Well-written, and as always, you worked the list of words in here seamlessly.

    Have a super weekend, and take care.

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    1. Susan; thank you. Seamlessly is my middle name, ha ha. You take care too.

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  8. Replies
    1. Lee; it wasn't meant to be topical, but I can see how it is. I was picturing the 1950s.

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  9. My favorite slice of realness? The screen door whacking her on the knee.

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    1. Val; I put that in to give people a giggle. It's a time when laughter is needed to help us through this.

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  10. An excellent slice of life story.

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  11. I thought we would never been posting about toilet paper

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    1. Dora; toilet was one of the words given, so I threw in the toilet paper panic buying just because it is something everyone knows about.

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