Month: June 2020

City On The Edge

“I don’t begrudge you and your line of work Paul.  This has got to be a tough time to be a cop.” Mark said as he and Paul stood up to leave the coffee shop.

“It just irritates me that most people only see the idiot cops that ruin the job for the rest of us who do serve the public well.”  Paul held the door open for a couple coming into the shop. 

“Just ride the tide out.  Things are definitely going to change, but I think your job is still safe.”

“Yeah, I just worry about my city.”

(100 words)

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – begrudge https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/28/fowc-with-fandango-begrudge/

(Photo by Life Matters on Pexels)

No More Funding

She came in through the garage door and put her notebook on the counter.  Her husband looked up from his newspaper and asked, “How did the meeting go?”

“Don’t ask, it was horrible!”

“Want to punch a pillow horrible or just scream really loud horrible?”

She smiled a little and said, “Ugh.”

“Tell me what happened?”

“On the stupid school board wants to abolish the entire after school program.  I mean it is the only source of art and music most of those kids get and it is “free” after school care so the kids are safe.  It is crazy!’

(100 words)

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – abolish https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/27/fowc-with-fandango-abolish/

Precious

Every small step so precious

Every smile so sincere

Like a small gift from heaven

Every child’s so dear

And how about another kind of baby… the lyric in this song was the first thing I thought of…

For Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – baby https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/26/fowc-with-fandango-baby/

Picture from Ivone De Melo at Pexels

Mumbles … Diminutive

My Dad knew everything. Ok, so maybe he didn’t really know everything, but he did come up with some things I have never heard anywhere else.  I was reminded of that tonight when this word prompt sent me looking for definitions of agate. 

Flashback to my youth. We knew some people who had some just born puppies.  Of course, we fell in love with them and “had to” have one.  They were a Pekingese and Poodle mix – a Pekipoo.  Of course, we had a tough decision to make, what to name the little guy.  I don’t really remember any of the names that were thrown out in the voting hat except the winner, the one Dad came up with.  I still remember him walking into the living room with a dictionary in hand saying, “How about Agate?”

Dad was a “rock-hound” and had studied Geology in college.  We were all thinking Dad wanted to name our dog after a rock.  No way!  That is when Dad began to read out one of the definitions in this old dictionary we had. “Agate means a small diminutive person.”  After the jokes were passed around about our short mom, we began to warm up to the name.  It was unique.  It described him well as he was small.  So, Agate became a part of our family.

Tonight, when I saw the work prompt, I began to look up that definition and finally found the site Word Finder where it talked about the old outdated definition. This is a link to that page https://findwords.info/term/agate#:~:text=%5CnThe%20earlier%20English%20form%20of,called%20in%20Great%20Britain%20ruby..  So I learned tonight that definition is no longer in Websters or on Dictionary.com.  My Dad knew it though and that is all that matters.

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – diminutive https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/24/fowc-with-fandango-diminutive/

(The above picture is from a Google search but looks quite a bit like Agate did. All my pictures of him are on a flash drive that is no longer recognized by my computer.)

Sign Here

Billy came home from school and dropped his backpack in the entryway.  His mom called out from the kitchen, “Hang up your backpack.  Do you have homework to do?”

“No, but you have a form to sign.”

“Bring it in here.”

Billy dug out a letter from his backpack.  He knew this would not go well as it was a disciplinary sheet from the vice principal.  “Here you go mom, just sign the bottom and I’ll put it back in my bag.”

“Wait a minute.  This isn’t from your teacher.”

Billy started to say something but was interrupted by his mom, “This says you caused a disruption during the assembly today.  Is that true?”

“It was no big deal.  I just talked while the speaker was talking.”

“You know better than that.”

“It was boring,”

“That doesn’t matter.  You have to show respect to others.  If you want people to listen to you, you have to listen to them.”

“Are you gonna tell Dad?”

“I will, but as long as you promise to respect others you will only loose your screens for 2 days.”

Billy sighed and said, “I promise.”

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – disruption https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/22/fowc-with-fandango-disruption/

Company Image

“Okay, I give up Sam.  Why are you so gloomy today?  You have been moping around since you got up,” said her roommate Jan.

“I am just really dragging my feet for tomorrows vis-à-vis with management.”

“You haven’t done anything wrong though, have you?”

“Well it depends what kind of mood the bosses are in.  If they are all pissy about company image, I could get in trouble for being at the rally last night.”

“That was a perfectly fine demonstration for BLM.  There was no violence, no looting, no vandalism it was a peaceful protest.  Are their employees not allowed to have a voice in this world?”

“Don’t snap at me.  I know it was right to be there.  This violence has to stop.  But 2 of the 3 managers are old white guys with privilege.  I just don’t see them as the type to support anything like this.”

“Now who is being prejudice?  Give them a chance.  Are they talking to you in groups or individually?”

“No one seems to know.”

“Well don’t worry about it tonight, let’s pop some popcorn and watch a movie to get your mind off of it.”

“Now that is the best thing I have heard all day.” 

(I know my memory is not the best, but I heard a news report about someone being fired because they wanted to wear a BLM mask to work and they had also been a part of the protesting. It is so wrong to fire someone over standing up for people’s rights.)

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – vis-à-vis https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/21/fowc-with-fandango-vis-a-vis/

A World Beyond The Window

Photo by mikoto.raw on Pexels.com

She stares out the window

Lost in a dream

Trying to find solutions

To life’s inequality.

A pensive look

Upon her face

She hopes for peace

And an end to hate.

She knows it will be

A long uphill climb

But the reward will be worth it

No more violence in the street

She stares out the window

Lost in a dream…

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – pensive https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/20/fowc-with-fandango-pensive/

Too Much

“Ben, don’t be so childish!” Tanya was so frustrated with her date.  They had gone out only twice but this was turning out to be a mistake.

“Ah come on it’s jus one lil’ kissss,” Ben slurred his words when he spoke to her.

She came close to him and said, “Normal people don’t taste like a distillery either.  You are drunk and you need to go home.  Do you need my help up the stairs?”

“Nah baby, I jus need you.”

“That’s it.  Call me when you mature a few more years.  Life is not always a party!”

Written for Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (FOWC) – mature https://fivedotoh.com/2020/06/19/fowc-with-fandango-mature/