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 Charlotte and can be found here
This week's words/prompts are:
1.snake 2.linen 3.tired 4.letter 5.clip
and/or:
1.brush 2.matter 3.rake 4.blue 5.bush 6.read
Here is my story:
It had been a day of
disaster, beginning with the unexpected discovery of a snake slithering past
the washing machine, our laundry was currently under repair, so the washing machine
was on the back porch. Joan’s shriek scared our cat, Lucifer, who took off like
a rocket, bumping the ladder as he shot past it heading for the bush beyond our fences.
Jack was up on that ladder painting the
window trims and grabbed for the paint tin as the ladder wobbled, but he missed
and the rose bushes became a lovely shade of blue at the paint sloshed all over
them, Jack’s paintbrush, freshly loaded with blue paint slipped from his hand
and spiralled downwards, landing in the basket of freshly folded linen Kerry
had just taken off the line.
The resultant shouting
and swearing had Mrs Williams next door poking her head over the fence, “whatever is the
matter? I never heard such goings on!”
Martin came running
from the front yard where he had been tidying fallen leaves with the new rake. Eyes wide, he declared “you can’t blame me this time, I wasn’t anywhere near
any of this!” We agreed that he was in the clear and he sat back grinning. “Usually
I’m the one in trouble, so what’s happened to kick off this kerfuffle?”
Explanations ensued and
Martin headed towards the shed in search of cleaning rags, while Mum said, “don’t
bother, the paint will just have to wear off the rose bushes and nothing else
needs cleaning except those sheets and they are old, so the ones with paint can
go into the cleaning rags bag once they dry and have the paint sections cut
off.”
Mrs Williams offered to
help clip the rose bushes once the paint dried, while Jack, looking tired after
doing most of the windows, said he would take the paint can to the hardware
store to get more paint in the same shade of blue.
“Let’s put everything
on hold for a while,” said Mum. “We can all sit with a cup of tea and some
cake, have a breather before we start up again. Did anyone see which way the
snake went?” Nobody had, so we were all warned to keep a lookout. Nobody
worried about Lucifer, he always came back safe and sound. Jack read through
his old receipts to see how much the paint had cost, he wanted to be sure he
had enough money to replace it.
Oops, what a chain of mishaps from that poor snake. Tea and cake is a remedy to many evils. Well written!
ReplyDeleteCharlotte; it's surprising just how much difference a quiet cup of tea can make.
DeleteAdorei a história e3 ninguém merece iniciar o dia com uma cobra rastejando perto da máquina! Morro de medo! Afff. Adorei! beijos, tudo de bom,chica
ReplyDeletechica; snakes aren't so common here, but depending on where you live, maybe close to what we call "the bush" and others might call "scrubland" the odd snake can be seen. Thank you.
DeleteHi ha dies que és millor no aixecar-se del llit. ;-)
ReplyDeleteUn pastís i una tassa de te és la millor opció.
Bon relat!
Paula; I have days right now where I wish I could stay in bed, because of the winter cold. Tea and cake is often a good remedy for recovering from disaster. It gives you time to think.
DeleteKerfuffle ..great word. Snakes always make for a lively post.
ReplyDeleteSusan kane; thank you, kerfuffle is one of my favourite words.
DeleteBeing a three-year-old gives a child a sense of deniability, freedom from most consequences, and plain fun. No matter the time of the day, Patty met it head on.
DeleteIf there was a snake trying to sneak under a bush, she would race and grab it to show to her brothers. Patty loved to race through life until she was too tired to move. But the enticement of cake was enough for her to beg for more.
The worst thing for Patty was when Mommy captured her and tried to brush her hair. She always said that a rake would be more effective. A clip never stayed put.
Neither did Patty.
Susan Kane; great story. My twin grand daughters are rarely still and brushing their long and curly hair is almost impossible.
DeleteYikes! It sounds like something which would happen here. It’s a wonderfully written story, I can just see it all.
ReplyDeletemessymimi; thank you. I based it on a memory of living in Queensland, the laundry there was separate from the house and every morning that I needed to do laundry I would check to see if the resident snake was sunning himself across the laundry doorway. If he was there, the laundry waited for the next day.
DeleteI enjoyed how the story captured the everyday messiness of family life -- one small mishap leading to another until laughter (and tea) becomes the cure.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written, River!
Veronica Lee; thank you, I enjoyed writing it.
DeleteOh gosh a snake, the paint and what a mess but at least no one was hurt. Lovely story, R.
ReplyDeleteMargaret D; thank you.
DeleteFantastic job. Very clever
ReplyDeleteRuby Rose and the Blig Little Angels 3; thank you, this was fun to write.
DeleteI want tea now, hoooof, what a mess. Funny: On TV was "Young Sheldon" and they had... a snake in the outdoor-toilet!
ReplyDeleteIris; I don't remember that episode, I know they have an inside toilet, so where was the outdoor toilet? I'll have to watch it all again.
DeleteThe twins are teens already, so, not the early episodes.
DeleteWell, what a to-do. Paint is awful to clean up, but it's understandable that it's spilt when a snake is involved!
ReplyDeletejabblog; thank you. Paint is hard to clean up but at least this lot landed where it won't be too big a disaster.
DeleteNot a bad diasater but still scary with a snake running about. Good use of the prompts.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
lissa; thank you. No one wants to unexpectedly see a snake, though this one wasn't a poisonous one.
DeleteThat was an unfortunate series of events! But CAKE will make it all better.
ReplyDeleteVal; tea and cake always helps
Delete