Fiction | But I Smile Anyway...

April 26 – Flash Fiction – A Fish Tale

27 Apr 2018 34 Comments

by Ritu in #CarrotRanch, Fiction, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #CarrotRanch, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Charli Mills, Fish Tail, Flash Fiction

Charli’s prompt this week:

April 26, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a fish tale. It can be about fishing from any angle, about those who fish, or what might be caught. Go where the prompt leads.

I’m sorry, but a silly take from me this week!

Fish’N’Chips

“Oh, he’s going to be so excited!”
“Fish will finally have his Chips with him!”
Voices filtered through the water, reaching Fish as he swam around in his little tank.
What on earth were they going on about? Why was he going to get excited? Who Chips?
Just then, the water rippled and he came face to face with Chips for the first time.
Great.
“Let me just get this straight,” he said, “this is MY tank, and-“
Chips opened her mouth into a coy O shape and let loose a flirtatious bubble stream…
“-I think I love you!”

https://carrotranch.com/2018/04/26/april-26-flash-fiction-challenge/

#WritePhoto – Splash!

26 Apr 2018 42 Comments

by Ritu in #WritePhoto, Fiction, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #WritePhoto, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Memories, Pond, Splash

Sue’s #WritePhoto Prompt this week:

Well, this photo sparked some memories!

Sashaying around the house, 11-year-old Ritu was so proud of the new boots her parents had bought her.
She felt so grown up, so in fashion – something she had rarely been in the past. Actually, the boots had been given to her a few weeks back, and she had debuted them at her school residential trip, at the disco, along with her rainbow coloured dress.
Oh yes, so on-trend was Ritu!
They were the boots of her dreams, grey suede pixie boots, with a slight slouch to them. Ritu had never owned something so ‘cool’!
Today, they were visiting some family, and she was looking forward to showing off the funky footwear.
It was a beautiful sunny day so Ritu, her brother and cousins were playing in the garden. The boys played football – obviously – and the girls wandered around chatting.
Splash!
Stupid boys! They’d kicked the ball into the pond. Ritu couldn’t let the young ‘uns risk getting the ball out, so off she went, heroine extraordinaire, to rescue the situation.
Bending over she reached out to the middle of the pond to gently coax the ball towards the edge of the pond…
Even bigger SPLASH!
Ritu was sat in the pond, dripping wet, amongst the frogspawn… then she remembered her beautiful boots!
Ruined!

Based on a totally true event as I was growing up.

I never did wear them again, despite my mother doing some amazing rescue mission to make the boots wearable again… I just kept on smelling frog… (actually, I think I imagined a fishy smell that wasn’t really there…) Those poor boots… and poor me with frogspawn all over me!

They looked a bit like these boots!

#writephoto

https://scvincent.com/2018/04/26/thursday-photo-prompt-splash-writephoto/

April 19 – Flash Fiction – Forest Bathing

20 Apr 2018 26 Comments

by Ritu in #CarrotRanch, Fiction, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #CarrotRanch, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Charli Mills, Flash Fiction, Forest Bathing

Charli’s prompt this week:

April 19, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about forest bathing. You can use the Japanese term, Shinrin Yoku, or you can make up your own ideas about the phrase. Go where the prompt leads.

Peace of Mind

The twigs crackled underfoot.
Leaves rustled in the gentle breeze that blew through the forest.
This was true peace.
Heaven.
Karen had heard about forest bathing, and she was determined to experience a piece of this natural healing.
Strolling along, she could hear the feint trickle of water.
Getting closer to the sound, it appeared to be accompanied by splashes and voices.
As she rounded the corner, Karen came face to face with a group of drunk men, submerged in a pool of water, having a jolly of their own.
Not quite the forest bathing she had been expecting!

https://carrotranch.com/2018/04/19/april-19-flash-fiction-challenge/

#WritePhoto – Waiting

20 Apr 2018 22 Comments

by Ritu in #WritePhoto, Fiction, Poems, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #WritePhoto, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Waiting

Sue’s #WritePhoto Prompt this week:

Waiting…
It’s that time again
Waiting…
Can you feel the pain?
Waiting…
Don’t know what you gain
Waiting…
Crying like the rain
Waiting…
Still wrapped in your chains
Waiting…
Yet I can’t refrain
Waiting…
It all starts to drain
Waiting…
Thoughts inside my brain
Waiting…
And you’ve left a stain
But I’m still
Waiting…

This was actually a poem I wrote a couple of years back… I hope you enjoyed it.

#writephoto

https://scvincent.com/2018/04/19/thursday-photo-prompt-waiting-writephoto-4/

April 12 – Flash Fiction – Howzat!

13 Apr 2018 33 Comments

by Ritu in #CarrotRanch, Fiction, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #CarrotRanch, Bat, Bat Cave, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Charli Mills, cricket, Flash Fiction, Howzat!

Charli’s prompt this week:

April 12, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story that includes a bat. You can use an association to the winged, cave-dwelling critter, or you can explore the word for other meanings. Bonus points for including a bat cave. Go where the prompt leads.

Howzat!

Parker readied himself, bat in hand, waiting for the bowler to release the ball.
He was a top spinner, and a fast one at that; tricky to handle, but he’d been practicing.
Here it came… Parker lifted his bat and slogged it!
It flew over the heads of the fielders, sailing over the boundary.
“Howat!”
Parker started to celebrate his first ever sixer, when it landed, with a crash, through the window of the newly refurbished club bar, aptly named The Bat Cave.
Celebration turned to commiseration – he’d have to pay for that.
So much for this month’s bonus.

And, as His Geoffleship and some others know, my son is an avid cricketer, with a superb left-hand Chinaman spin bowl so I am told… So this is for him!