The Promotion

 

Carin pressed her manicured finger on the speaker button, placed the receiver in its cradle, and rubbed her neck. “You know I’ve applied for that. There’s a position in HR you’re more than qualified for.”

Silence.

Ellen’s voice filled the office, “I’m already meeting with Greene about the job tomorrow.”

Carin rolled her eyes, swiveling her chair around before catching sight of two chipmunks on a limb of the oak outside her office window. They dashed toward each other then scurried away, darting back, scrambling for the one acorn that rested on the branch their furry feet danced on.

 

 

March 25 Prompt: Juxtaposition (Write a story that includes a juxtaposition between the ordinary and natural worlds)

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

Breakfast in Bed

 

“I hate these,” she fingered the rough cotton of her hospital gown.

Her husband looked at the ceiling, a loud sigh escaping his lips.

“I’m the one getting stuck with needles. What’s your problem?”

“Just…”

“Whatever. Always bitching. Oh, sorry. You’re a guy. I must be the bitch. So you’re, what, a passive-aggressive asshole?”

The door opened. “So,” the doctor began as a larger unfamiliar man followed him into the room.

Her husband jumped up. “Is she…?”

“Of course I am,” she spat. “The nausea, fatigue, vomiting. How far along doc? And who’s this lughead?”

“This is officer Norwood.”

 

 

March 18 Prompt: Symptoms (Write a story to reveal a characters symptoms)

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

Birthdays & Burial Masks

 

He didn’t believe in reincarnation.

Standing on the cliff, he savored the sensation of his toes no longer feeling earth beneath them. His rough hand held the smooth turquoise stone.

Memories flooded his mind—mosaics, ceremonial masks, necklaces… The blues and greens of lapis lazuli, jade, jasper, beryl, aventurine inlaid with turquoise.

“Happy Birthday,” he said, the wind pulling his words. Twenty years on this earth. Already or again?

He had insisted on traveling alone. To a place he had never been. The stone, wedged in red rock, waited for him. He had left it there twenty years ago.

 

 

March 4 Prompt: Turquoise

Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch

River

 

He perched on a rock, tilting his face to the sun and listening to the trickling stream. It used to snake through the woods, rushing by this spot. A dip in the earth, full of fresh water splashing up and over boulders like the one he sat on.

At least that’s what they told him. He had never heard the water crashing into stones and trees. Sometimes he thought about what clean water would taste like. He imagined it was sweet, like berries.

The elders knew. They knew the river was drying up and they prayed.

“River!”

“Coming, Mama!”

 

 

February25 Prompt: River (Write a story that includes a river and a person. Who is experiencing the water? How can a river and a character merge with meaning?)
Flash Fiction Challenge over at Carrot Ranch