Week 28 participating in the very popular #vss365 challenge on Twitter. The aim, to write a daily Very Short Story in less than 280 characters, a single tweet. Yes, that’s characters! Not words.
The prompts themselves are seemingly random single words, the whim of this month’s challenge setter. This months fun is organised by Dunglish (@EdHaiku575). I’ve taken some liberties with formatting simply because WordPress is not Twitter and to make it easier to read.
This weeks image is of a garden spider an orb-weaver. This monster routinely makes a sport of capturing me in his huge webs spun across the garden. There’s nothing worse fan a face full of spider web knowing there’s a good probability the spider is on his way to finish the job.
Writing progress this week. I’ve employed an editor to perform an editorial review of one of my short stories. I should have the feedback within the month, so that will be interesting. Hope to learn a lot. I’ve been writing a story for a competition. I suspect it won’t make the grade so don’t be surprised if it turns up on the website next week.
“You let that one go!” said his wayward progeny. “Is that a #spark of humanity in your eye?”
“You think?” he said, clutching his chest. “Might this ancient heart still beat?”
Thumping his chest, he coughed. “Nope heartburn!”
A blur of darkness proceeded the muted scream.
There is an undeniable power in words. Words, once written or #spoken change our world. They can bring us together or pull us apart, heal us or harm us. So, be careful with your words. Learn to use them. Remember the most powerful words are those that remain unspoken.
“Surely you’ve got a name for it. A #word even?”
“No. That’s the problem. Words just don’t seem to take. Try it.”
“Well, it’s a … you know a …”
“See what I mean. Literally, there are no words.”
“Nonsense, it’s just a …”
“And that’s why I can’t publish my research.”
Wednesday 11th March – Unfathomable
Far below in the #unfathomable depths, the leviathan stirred, hungry after its long slumber. Rising from the abyss its monstrous yellow visage threatened to capsize the tiny fishing boat. With a mighty roar, it was back. “Quack!”
“You better be getting bathed in there!”
Thursday 12th March – Insurmountable
His boot sank into the red sand, his father’s words echoing down the years. “Nothing is #insurmountable with a long enough run-up.”
“Well, old man. You were right,” he said, recalling his twenty-year endeavour.
“You broke up there,” crackled the radio.
“Sorry, Houston.”
“Be yourself,” they said. “Or if you can’t do that at least try and be #normal”. Great advice I grumbled walking up the drive. Normal! I was the most normal person I knew. Halfway to his door, it opened and in a panic, I commando rolled into the bushes. All very normal.
“Good afternoon. Jim Smith, resident ophthalmologist. How can I help?”
“Hi, Jim. We think the patient might have a #foreign object in his eye.”
“Let’s take a look shall we,” said Jim pulling out his ophthalmoscope. “Okay, what you’ve got here is an ice pick.”
