May 18, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story
The Wait, or The Tame Elopement
©May 18th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
We waited with drumming hearts. We were breaking a rule.
“Next!” came a voice from the office. We entered with our friends, Ajit and Randy.
“Sign here,” said the magistrate. We signed. I didn’t remember much else in that bureaucratic blur.
“Have sweets,” he ordered us. The dingy room burst into applause as we exchanged pedhas.
Later, after a wonderful thali lunch, followed by a happy party at W’s house, I went home.
That was precisely one day short of twenty-eight years ago.
Six months later, we were “officially” married in a Hindu ceremony.
And we began our married life.
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With thanks, as always to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother of the whole Flash Fiction universe (listen, all you other flash fiction writers out there!), and to J. Hardy Carroll for that photograph that makes us all think of waiting spaces.
This is a true story. Obviously, I’ve left out a LOT of details. It was a whole lot more confusing and crazy and exhilarating than I could say in a hundred words.
And our 28th Wedding Anniversary is tomorrow! What a wonderful ride it’s been!
Tags: #Elopement(ofasort), #FridayFictioneers, #Marriage, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
May 13, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction
PHOTO PROMPT © CEAYR
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Somewhat-Grim Realistic Fiction
Escape
©May 13th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
When they came, I was asleep in my sleeping bag in the wooded park far from home, where my step-father had contributed to a life of mute terror.
The woods bordered a lake, across which blue-gold city-lights glowed. Along the trail, I’d salvaged chicken sandwiches thrown away by careless picnickers. That night, I slept contentedly.
I awoke suddenly to a bright blue light, and quiet noises. Creeping over to where I’d heard the sound, I saw policemen with dogs and flashlights. Without waiting, I ran for the lake, and plunged in.
What did it matter that I could not swim?
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I must be addicted to flash fiction! Not content with writing an inter-galactic romance in 100 words yesterday, I decided to go the route of grim fiction today in another 100 words.
With thanks to Fairy Blog-Mother and brilliant story-teller, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, and to the master of micro-fiction CEAYR, for the mesmerizing photograph.
Tags: #FridayFictioneers, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #RealisticFiction
May 5, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Song of the Air
©May 5th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
When things got unbearable, Lali would go up to the attic, escaping the constant carping of her mother. Her cowed father’s silence, the result of his being sniped at daily, didn’t help.
Once alone, Lali would throw open the window and stare out at the birds, who ranged themselves on a wire, and sang to her, inviting her to join them. And she would dream.
Today was different. An ‘F’ in her science exam had gotten her a beating from her mother. She wasn’t allowed to play outside for a month.
The birds seemed to be calling extra-insistently to her.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother Extraordinaire, for hosting Friday Fictioneers with her usual grace and élan , and to Roger Bultot, for that lovely, if gloomy, photograph.
Tags: #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
May 4, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction
PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Whimsical Bird-Fiction
Dave
©May 4th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
“Where’s Dave?”
“Oh, you know Dave!”
“He’s late, dammit! This concert will be a disaster without our bass player.”
“We could do “Flight of the Bumble Bee.”
“Nah, that’s too overdone.”
“What about “The Lark Ascending?”
“Only you know it! The rest of us aren’t that familiar with old Vaughn.”
The evening grew cloudier, darker. They shifted around. The audience began filtering in.
Suddenly, Dave arrived, amidst a flutter of whispers. Taking up position, he bowed, and started a bass line in five-four.
The others joined in, one by one.
Thus began “Conference of the Birds.”
Peace descended.
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Tags: #Conference of the Birds, #DaveHolland, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Apr 29, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © Mary Shipman
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Semi-realistic fantasy-fiction
Genii
©April 29th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
My husband had died. My son had taken the house. My relations were scattered.
All I was left with now was the shop. No one wanted it. By law, it was mine (an old will left by my husband before things soured).
I sat there, my heart in pieces, selling a small thing here or there, just enough to buy food, and pay for my heat.
“How much for that lamp?” asked a bell-clear voice.
I looked up.
A beautiful gray-haired woman stood there. Her eyes were mist-gray. “I’m Jeanie,” she said, “I need that lamp.”
I fell in love.
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This is my third attempt. Bear with me, please! Something about this photograph calls out to me.
Once again, many thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother of FF, for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where we get to read the work of some of the best story-tellers in the blogging world. Thanks, too, to Mary Shipman for that lovely photo-prompt!
Tags: #Genie, #Genii, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt
Apr 28, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © Mary Shipman
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Realistic fiction
Parallel-Life
©April 28th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
I’d travelled many miles. Bandits had taken all I had. My only child had died when they attacked. I had to bury him in the forest, my heart a stone.
Grief and hunger assailed me. I hadn’t eaten for five days. I’d walked for miles. The berries I’d found had made me sick.
I reached a shop. Incongruous things hung there.
“Please,” I croaked, collapsing at the door, “Some food …”
A boy came out of the shadows. “Come in. My father went out five days ago, and never returned. My mother’s in shock.”
He seemed strangely familiar. I crawled in.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother Extraordinaire for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where we get to meet and mingle with some of the finest story-tellers in the blogging world. Thanks, as well, to Mary Shipman for that photo-prompt!
Tags: #Coincidence?, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #RealisticFiction
Apr 28, 2016 Friday Fictioneers, Original Flash Fiction, Original Short Story
PHOTO PROMPT © Mary Shipman
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Fairy tale? Demon-Tale! (Alas, I seem to not have much realistic fiction left in me – I’ll give it another try!)
Shopping Trap
©April 28th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
It was a curious shop. Rolling pins, lamps and chemises hung down. At the far end, wearing a long, dirty nightgown, sat a man, with wispy white hair on his head. His teeth were yellow-stained, his fingernails dirty.
As far as Nina knew, he’d never sold anything. Day after day, she passed his shop; the same things hung down, or sat on the shelf.
Passing one day, she looked straight into his eyes.
His returned gaze rattled her. Despite herself, she entered.
In seconds, the shop, the man, and Nina vanished, before the mournful words, “Another one gone” echoed everywhere.
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, Fairy Blog-Mother Extraordinaire for hosting Friday Fictioneers, where we get to meet and mingle with some of the finest story-tellers in the blogging world. Thanks, as well, to Mary Shipman for that photo-prompt!
Tags: #Fantasy-FairyTale-Mystery, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Shopping
Apr 13, 2016 Friday Fictioneers
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Fairy tale
Ars Longa, Vita Brevis
©April 13th, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
A castle stood deep in a forest. An imposing tower frowned upon the trees that ringed it. A timid moon shone behind the smaller turrets around it.
The oaken gates opening onto a courtyard revealed a strange scene:
On a velvet couch, lay a maiden with floating hair, and star-flecked lashes. Her scarlet cloak lay athwart her shoulders, and her hand held a knife.
Into this space stepped a man in a whoosh of air.
Holding a palette and brush, he began painting the rest of her.
Awaking, she saw him, smiled slowly, and asked, “What took you so long?”
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Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, our Fairy-Blog Mother, for her lovely hostliness while maintaining the purity of Friday Fictioneers, and kind words to all of us from every Wednesday to the Tuesday of the week, as we struggle to put our stories into words. Thanks, also, to Kent Bonham, for that mysterious photograph. I had to figure out what to do with it. It was fascinating.
Tags: #ArtvsReality, #Galatea, #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #Pygmalion, #VitaBrevisArsLonga
Apr 2, 2016 Friday Fictioneers
Word Count: 100 words of text, exactly
Genre: Grimly-Realistic fiction
Chance
©April 2nd, 2016
By Vijaya Sundaram
Aparna stood, transfixed. Beside her stood Ajay, her husband. Together, they gazed out on the city.
The city was everything she had imagined. The morning sky was clear and blue. The streets teemed with life. Somewhere within, however, she felt a tremor, a tectonic shift.
Shivering, Aparna said, “I’d like to go down, now.”
“Why?” said Ajay, who didn’t like changing plans midway.
“Please,” she said, her hand tightening on his.
He knew her too well to argue. They made their way to the elevator.
Just as they reached the street, the building collapsed.
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Not entirely satisfied with my last story, I tried again. Thanks to our Fairy Blog-Mother, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers with patience and grace every week, and to Marie Gail Stratford for the photo-prompt this week.
Tags: #Original 100-word Flash Fiction based on a photo-prompt, #RealisticFiction