Jul 14, 2016 Friday Fictioneers
This is a re-run of my 2014 story (which appeared on my first blog, which lasted for a year, and which I’ve now set on a shelf). Thanks, as always, to Fairy Blog-Mother Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who runs Friday Fictioneers! This week’s photo is courtesy of Sandra Crook. 
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Semi-realistic fiction
Sheeples
(Originally titled “Sleep and Nipples”)
©May 14, 2014
By Vijaya Sundaram
I lay in bed, counting sheep.
A car appeared amidst the sheep. Its rear bumpers were visible. I tried to hail it. Nothing happened. The sheep pressed forward, urgent and militant, in my direction.
I reminded myself that I was trying to get to sleep.
The sheep came closer, backing me into a corner of the image.
I tapped at the edges of my mental image, but it remained resolutely two-dimensional.
Sleep never came. Sheep poured in, though.
Beside me, the baby stirred, and made sucking noises. I awoke. Sigh.
I shall never use lanolin on sore nipples again, ever.
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Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Re-Run, #Sheep
Jul 6, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Oneiric Greek Mythology
Recalled
©July 6th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
She walked down a whitewashed alleyway.
White-gold sunlight shafted down, and cerulean skies shone on azure doors.
Before her was the soft sound of footsteps of someone she couldn’t see. Faint music reached her. She strained to see and listen, but the notes faded away into darkness.
Looking down at herself, she saw nothing.
Panic seized her. Still she followed.
Abruptly, the footsteps ceased. Someone turned. She caught a glimpse of his face, and cried out.
A wild wind rose up out of nowhere, sweeping her away, back to the place whence she’d come.
Eurydice ceased to be.
Orpheus wept.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers, with grace, creativity and kindness week after week! Thanks to Jan Marler Morrill for the lovely photograph, which I imagined was either somewhere in Greece, or the Côte D’Azur, neither of which places I’ve visited.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #GreekMyth, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #OrpheusandEurydice
Jul 3, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction
Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
A Fairy Tale Lighter Than Air
©July 3rd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Pearl-grey light crystallized on my window. Weaving leaves on my loom, I awaited that which would break the spell cast upon me and the world by the Queen of Darkness.
And as I wove patterns more delicate than air, the air around me grew lighter. My heart quickening, I wove faster. I dreamed the sun, and wove it into my cloth. The bright green of Spring and the flowers of Summer glimmered into being, as my hands raced across the shuttle.
And then, I wove Her.
NO! she screamed, emerging angrily before me.
Slowly, I unwove her.
Only light remained.
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I decided that I’d write a story that wasn’t about disappointment, lost hopes, sadness and the like this time around. Hope you like it!
Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, and for that lovely photo-prompt! Hope you like my fairy-tale, dear Fairy Blog-Mother!
Tags: #FairyTale, #FridayFictioneers
Jun 30, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized
Copyright – Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The Winter of Our Ennui
©June 30th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
You and I are like frost on that windowpane. Somewhere along the way, ennui and coldness set in. Our children have grown, and have children of their own.
What do you contemplate while you eat your dinner blankly, sitting opposite me? I know what I think of. I think of beautiful, vibrant you, filled with a life-force that seemed that it could never be squelched, back when when I wooed you. I remember your smile scorching me like a bolt of lightning. I miss it, endlessly, achingly, like summer-shine.
I want to break that window. I want to end winter.
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Thanks to Fairy Blog-Mother and story-teller extraordinaire, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for that beautiful photo-prompt, and for hosting Friday Fictioneers with such grace and style week after week.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Reference to Shakespeare's line from Richard III
Jun 23, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic fiction
Airborne
©June 23rd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Settling comfortably in her seat, she looked at her neighbor. His aquiline nose caught the light as he turned and intercepted her frank gaze, his brown eyes bright, expression blank. He looked away.
What if he’s a terrorist? she asked herself with a tremor. Should I tell the steward?
She scolded herself for being paranoid, she, who prided herself for not judging someone by appearances.
Still.
What should I do?
Making up her mind, she said, “I’m Anu. I’m a science teacher.”
He shook her proffered hand. “Firdoos Hassan. Morocco. Physics professor.”
It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
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With thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother and friend to all at Friday Fictioneers. Thanks to Rich Voza for his photograph, which has made me spawn three stories.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Passing Casablanca reference
Jun 23, 2016 Friday Fictioneers
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Paranormal Fiction
Que Sera, Sara
©June 23rd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I always knew what the future held. It made life unbearable and surreal, but also interesting. Although I saw what was coming, I could not change anything.
For this reason, I was not married, and had no friends. I was lonelier than the God in whom I did not believe.
So, when I boarded the plane one early morning, I did so with pounding heart.
I sat and waited. The announcement came on, “Ms. S, you have an urgent call at the airport.”
I disembarked. An effulgent being waited at the gate.
Behind me, the plane burst into flames.
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With many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, our Fairy Blog-Mother for tirelessly posting prompts every week, and for hosting Friday Fictioneers. Thanks, as well, to Rich Voza, for the photograph.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Jun 22, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Uncategorized
Word Count: Exactly one hundred words
GenreU Greek Mythology
Ship of Fools
©June 22nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Come, Phoebus-Helios, in your chariot of gold. Awaken the sluggish morning – your sister, Eos, lies dreaming, while Tithonus grows as old as Time.
Come, rosy-fingered Dawn, Eos – touch this air-ship thing with gentle light. This imitation-bird, this parody of flight offends the gods, but you, with your brother Helios, sister, Selene, and your son, Zephyrus, can guide it home safely, if you so wish.
Yes, it has wings, not like yours, but wings, nonetheless.
Do they offend you? Take your ire elsewhere. This contains humans.
So, you don’t care for a bunch of pathetic, snivelling fools?
Still, try and restrain yourself.
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Thanks to our Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff -Fields, for her dedication and unflagging encouragement and kindness to us all. Thanks, also, to Rich Voza for that vivid and arresting photograph.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Jun 18, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story, Uncategorized
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Fantasy-Reality Fiction
Pianissimo, Pianissimo!
©June 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
After Freddy Zhang came home from his after-school tutoring class, track team, or Robotics Club (he was forced to attend these), his mother made him practise piano first – no snacks until he was done.
Today, Freddy played scales, then stopped abruptly. He hated the piano, viscerally.
“What’s going on?” his mother shouted out.
Silently, he pressed the panels in front of him. They gave way.
“Freddy?” she called out again.
A clockwork key turned on his back. The piano keys moved silently.
Two hands reached out inside from the panels, and grabbed his.
Unresisting, he let himself be pulled in.
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Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Jun 9, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Drowning and Flying
©June 9th 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Recently divorced, she lives with her son, and struggles to keep them afloat.
Tonight, she dreams she’s underwater. There are no mermaids or mermen, no sea creatures, no coral reefs to be discovered – just water everywhere, greenish-blue salt water, and broken plastic.
She dreams she is drowning in it all, and brackish water is entering her lungs.
That’s when she awakes, heart hammering in her ribs, breath coming out in jerks.
She lies awake, troubled, agitated, thinking of the future her son will face.
Finally, she falls asleep, and dreams of star-ships and warp-drives.
Dreaming, she begins to smile.
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Thanks to Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, and to Doug McIlroy for the photograph.
Tags: #Diving helmet picture, #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Jun 9, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction
PHOTO PROMPT © Douglas M. MacIlroy
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Bizarro Fiction
Strawberry Jam
©June 9th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
The two children hid, naively certain they were invisible.
Wearing a diving helmet, their father approached them. “I see you,” he boomed.
Something was off.
Jade nudged Jolen. “Doesn’t sound like Dad. Let’s jump out the window.”
Observing his father crawling around burbling, Jolen nodded nervously.
Jade jumped into the strawberry bushes below. Jolen tried to follow her, but a squishy hand closed over his leg.
Jolen bit the hand. It immediately let go. He jumped out.
“Funny, he tasted like jam,” he remarked, as they ran.
Inside, an oozing beast roared as it tried to eat its own head.
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With thanks, as always, to Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, and to the incomparable (and currently absent from FF) Doug McIlroy for that very strange photograph.
Tags: #Bizarro Fiction, #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt