(3X) Flash in the Pan – Fire

Another snowstorm loomed; phones silenced. Nothing from her mother for two weeks. Millie packed her car with homemade soup, stews, coffee, and blizzard essentials.

The house appeared neglected; no smoke curled from the chimney. Icicles, like daggers, hung like custodians.“Mother—mother?!The house creaked, as frigid as a tomb. Her mother lay buried under mountains of covers.

wikipedia commons

“Mother?” Millie stroked, massaged, prayed.

Eyes staring, lips working, the woman stirred. “That’s right,” her daughter said. “Here’s coffee. I’ll help you.”

Millie kneaded her mother’s shoulders. “I’ll start a fire…be right back.”

*

Click http://mommasmoneymatters.com/flash-fiction/ for the rules of this challenge.

The word limit for Fire is 125 words. I used 93.

____________________

Bill blew the horn. Marnie peeked out her car window. He grabbed her for a quick embrace.

“Quit it, Bill, they’ll be out in a minute.”

“What a wet blanket.” He grinned. “Alright, how about a word game? Orange.”

She pouted. “Pumpkin.”“Cards…”

“Thank you.”“Hm, interesting—”“Boring…”“I meant interesting answer. ‘Bill’…”

“Ring”

“What? Say again…”

“You said bell and I said ring.”

He squinted, blue eyes calculating, and chewed on a hangnail. “I ain’t buying you no ring for Christmas.”

“Oh, get a life!” Marnie bolted; car door smashed shut.

Click http://mommasmoneymatters.com/flash-fiction/ for the rules of this challenge.

The word limit for Ring is 100 words. I used 92.

____________________

The harried staff dashed and whirled, moped and polished, grumbled and smiled. Discordant voices buzzed in the air.

“Pickup—two turkeys,” Nick hollered at Angel. “Pickup, pick up.”

The fat cook, red-eyed and tired, turned to the new girl. “Hurry with those pastries. More clean plates please.” He turned back to the window.

wikipedia commons

“Pickup—one tender.”Where the f**k’s that shell? “Hey, kid, did you see my turkey carcass?”

“Yep, I dumped it in the garbage.”

“What?” he growled, “Fish it out. I’m making turkey soup tomorrow.”

“There’s cigarette ashes—“

“So wash it!”

Click http://mommasmoneymatters.com/flash-fiction/ for the rules of this challenge.

The word limit for Fish is 100 words. I used 94.

When in Doubt

One home safety rule is to never clip your car door opener inside your car (on the visor). I kept mine in the car for many years but I smartened up; it made sense to carry it in my purse. Until I smartened up again.

 The problem lies with my purse.  One in particular, a soft shelled one, is a problem because at any time it can be bumped (with books, grocery bags, my coffee mug), and the garage door becomes activated after I’m inside the house and I’m none-the-wiser for what just happened. Danger.

 Last night, our garage was pilfered. It’s my fault. I’d been out and had returned home around 10:30 PM with no idea I’d opened up the floodgates of temptation to any passerby.

 The next morning, my daughter advised me the garage door was wide open when my son-in-law left for work. She also thought she heard something but figured it was one of the girls moving around (in bed). Thank goodness she didn’t investigate. The laundry-room door, which opens to the garage, had been tampered with.

A case of beer went missing as well as some restaurant equipment (my son-on-law works for the restaurant supply business).

            I felt exposed, afraid and creeped me out.

This is not my house

In addition, I had an appointment in that afternoon. I couldn’t get my car out of the garage. It was locked somehow, even my remote didn’t work. I tried to contact my son-in-law on his cell phone and ordinarily I would have been able to get through. Just my luck he was off-line, busy training new employees.

I was stuck at home and forced to cancel my appointment. ‘ve never felt so helpless. I apologized for the accidental door opening.  It’s unfortunate I was locked in but who thinks of everything when you’re worried about your family? I do not carry my remote in my purse anymore.

If you park your car outside your house, never leave the remote inside. If your car gets broken into, your house is an oyster ready for plucking. Think about it.

Summer weather is coming. While entertaining in the backyard, make sure your front door and your garage doors are locked.

Share Your World #15

I’m a little pressed for time today.  Have been wanting to try one of these, so here I go.  I’ve just finished reading:

http://susanwritesprecise.com/2012/03/19/share-your-world-15/

with link to Cee’s page describing the rules. Here is that link:

Cee’s Life Photography Blog             

If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?

I would love to live in Spain. When I was a little girl, without knowing anything about it, I’d made up my mind that’s where I would like to live. Even after I was old enough to think about it, it stuck as my first choice. It must have something to do with reincarnation. Go figure.

If you were a car or truck what make, model, year and color would you be?

I would definitely be a Nissan Cube; 2012 model year. The first time I saw one, I fell in love. It’s so cartoon-like and fun looking. I’d be the next best thing since the latest version of the Volkswagen Beetle. Beautiful in white. Just look at my gently rounded silouette. Just look at the Flintstone windows!

 What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?

I would like to leave a legacy for my grandchildren. Hopefully, it’ll be something thought provoking and interesting that they’ll be proud of.

Where do you eat breakfast?

I have my breakfast hanging over the morning newspaper.

* * *

You know, of course, that these are my deepest secrets and I would ask that you not devulge this information to ANYone.

Lost My Place

Damn it’s cold. It’s Friday afternoon and I’ve errands to run. The weather is nasty and it’s starting to snow. I run into Walmart because it’s the closest store with one stop shopping in my neighbourhood. Saves gas, time and energy. I grab a buggy (a big mistake).

In the card department, I pick out a birthday card with infinite care. This is time consuming. Then I rush over to the cosmetics department for some moisture cream and face wash: both Nivea for Mature Skin. I’ll need some soon anyway so I might as well get it now. There’s the book aisle. I’ve read a borrowed copy of Stephen King’s latest novel: 11-22-63, but I want a copy of my own.  I’ll check out what kind of discount is being offered. Forget it; I’ll wait to buy a copy later.

Might as well wander over to the produce department while I’m here. Will there be any blueberries today, I wonder? Oh Great! Three pints for five dollars! Many other times when I’ve come looking for some, there was no hint of any. Then I remember that I‘ll be out of yogurt and milk soon. Look at that. Butter’s on sale today. Good idea to store extra in the freezer at this price. My buggy is starting to look pretty loaded. Better get out of here before I get carried away. I only came in for the birthday card after all so why did I grab a buggy?

While rushing back towards the cash registers, I notice a special on a two-pack of whole chickens for just $12.00. I’d be nuts to pass that up. In the refrigerator unit just around the corner from produce, I notice small plastic containers of baby spinach for only $2.00 each. Must get some for a change up in salad variation. The container says it’s prewashed too. Why don’t  I back track to the cereal aisle? Maybe cereal  of my sort is on sale? I’m only interested in Fibre 1 or Fibre First. Nothing. Can’t get lucky all the time, I suppose. Still, it doesn’t cost to take a gander.

The lineups are horrendous. When aren’t they, though? The shortest line I can find has people doing comparison shopping. They’ve produced other stores’ ads, which Walmart promises to match. I’m ready to dump the buggy and fly out of here. Wait, the lineup by the whatchamacallit is moving along pretty well. Few customers have overloaded buggies there and the mechanical female voice announces, “Proceed to Aisle (such and such) please,” at regular intervals. So I march into line. Fifty-five dollars later, I’m ready to escape but there’s MacDonald’s right in front of me. Heck, doesn’t that sound like a fabulous idea? A nice hot coffee to warm me in the cold? What, no lineup either? Don’t need to think twice.

* * *

WHERE IS MY CAR? Somebody stole it. It’s only a little Nissan, Cherry Bomb Red to be sure, but why would someone do that to me? How could they manage to steal it in broad daylight without my key? Oh dear. Where are my keys? Here they are. Safe! Sweat breaks out on my forehead.

I wonder around, then stop and slowly rotate. Maybe I’m mistaken. Could happen. Not often but sometimes in parking lots. Especially when I park in a different area / aisle I don’t usually frequent.

Oh, there it is! I’m sure that’s not where I parked it before I went into the store. Consternation.

I’ve Still Got IT!

I’ve kept putting off taking my car in for repairs. My muffler has been howling for several weeks, louder each day. A sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t just the tailpipe stretched out my procrastination.

This morning, I finally grit my teeth, grabbed my Visa card and off I went. Since I bought my Nissan Sentra (11 years ago), I have always taken it to the dealer for everything. All maintenance is done by the book and I followed all the rules. This is the first time I’ve cheated on them. OOOooops. My son-in-law suggested I go to an established mufflers only place. Why? Because it’s cheaper. That’s all they do and they do it well and fast. The cheaper part grabbed my attention.

The waiting room was much nicer than the ones I’ve previously visited at Speedy Muffler. And it was full of men. Old ones, young ones, skinny ones and not so skinny ones. A technician was discussing work needing to be done with the fellow ahead of me. The technician, without looking up from his monitor, barked out that he’d be with me in a minute. I politely said that was fine.

The big male being waited on, slowly and nonchalantly (not in my book, ha ha) turned around to have a look at the chick who just said that. Hmm. Maybe I have an attractive voice. That could be it. As soon as I’d walked in, though, six pair of eyes checked me out like I was the new flavor babe of the month. At least I was for about ten seconds. I haven’t caused such a stir for ages. It made MY day.

When I’m right, I’m right! Turned out the whole exhaust needed replacing. We talked chrome and then aluminum. I had chrome to start with so I went with that. Of course chrome will last longer too and costs more. I don’t know what I am if not a BIG spender. I almost forgot we were talking car parts and not something more interesting like kitchen appliances. Who would have thought getting a new muffler could turn out to be such a shopping experience?

The trick was getting my exhaust fixed before it all fell OFF and the treat was I had to pay $560.42. No, wait. The treat was that they forgave me the .42₵ because I was paying cash. No, I don’t carry that kind of money on me. I had to go to the bank because I’d switched credit cards. My old one had already been cancelled and the new one was at home. That’s my Halloween story for today. What’s yours?

Happy Halloween!