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 to read it and add a few encouraging words.
This month the words/prompts are supplied by David M. Gascoigne and can be found here
This week's words/prompts are:
1. temperature 2. hope 3. roost 4. gentle 5. humidity 6. change
and/or:
1. cope 2. reality 3. carcass 4. landscape 5. light 6. weather
Here is my story:
With temperature and
humidity both rising, Maxine fanned herself with her newspaper and hoped she could
cope long enough to carry out her task. She trudged across the field scanning
the landscape for the tell-tale black cloud of flies that would indicate yet
another carcass to be buried.
Normally, Greg would be
doing this, but he was taking advantage of the dry days to repair the shed roof
and the windmill before the weather change predicted by the TV news. For days
now the gentle morning light had been marred by heavy black thunderheads on the
horizon. The shed was to be transformed and fitted out for the chickens to
roost in, it was much more spacious than the original tiny chicken run.
Maxine spotted a black
smudge and headed that way, pulling her small folding spade from the pouch hanging
by her hip, hoping the ground would be soft enough for a decent depth grave for
whichever animal this was. This reality of farm life was not new to her, but
that didn’t mean she had to like it. Things might be easier once the windmill
was properly operating again, bringing up artesian water for the stock.
Greg could fill the
barrels and truck it to the far field again.
Another lovely snippet. Thank you - I hope we hear more of Maxine and Greg too.
ReplyDeleteElephant's Child; I'll have to see where next week's words take me. I do have a lot of unfinished beginnings don't I?
DeleteDavid Gascoigne took his own temperature and it was his fervent hope that his chickens would not come home to roost. There was a gentle breeze but the soaring humidity showed little possibility of change.
ReplyDeleteSometimes David felt that he could not cope with the reality of living inside his own carcass. He surveyed the landscape and something about the light made him feel that the worst of the weather was over.
Yorkshire Pudding; I do hope David feels better and more able to continue living very soon.
DeleteSo clever. Poor David!
DeleteFarm life is not easy. Excellent use of the prompts.
ReplyDeletemessymimi; I haven't had a lot of farm experience, but I imagined carcasses and a lack of water would fit. thank you.
DeleteYour stories are always well thougth out, small glimpese into a story. LIke me, I suppose, you love new beginnings, but are not so hot on endings ;) I hope to read much more from your hand.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte; thank you. I do have trouble with endings which is why none of my longer stories are finished.
DeleteFarm life is far from idyllic, particularly in harsh climates.
ReplyDeletejabblog; so true.
DeleteVery well done again - my Mum had a friend who had a farm. They had rain boots for me. There was a dead mouse inside, LOL. (I found out with my foot!)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I join you later.
Good that the mouse was not alive and bit you :) Always shake out footwear before donning and blankets before going to bed. This sound advice was given to me by our host in Italy when we told him that we found a scorpion in our bed.
DeleteIris; oh yuk! stepping into a dead mouse! I need to get new rain boots for this winter, when it rains heavy the roads get flooded and it is hard to walk to the shops without getting my shoes soaked.
DeleteWell done. Now I feel sweaty and thirsty!
ReplyDeleteVal; have a long cool drink of lovely clean well water.
DeleteBeen out of town and just returned! Here is what I wrote:
ReplyDeleteTemperatures rose quickly in the humidity of Illinois weather. Kate shook her fist at the sky, shouting “I can’t cope with this anymore! Dammit!”
Change had become a reality. Becoming pregnant fulfilled a long-held hope for a child. With gentle hands, she laid a hand on her abdomen.
As a light rain began to fall, Kate sighed. Only three more months more and she would be holding a baby in her arms. But, living in Illinois where humidity hung in the air, Kate hoped three months would pass quickly and that air conditioning would appear magically in her home.