A to Z: What starts with Z?

 

Z: What starts with Z?

As I prepared my post for today, I threw around Zelda, and zilch, zero and Zander. And then I decided not to. I decided instead to take a minute and say how much I’ve enjoyed this year’s A to Z, how much I’ve enjoyed all of you. I’ve enjoyed your visiting your blogs, having you visit mine. I’ve enjoyed reading your comments. So, Instead of writing a story that may or may not make sense, I wanted to say thanks for stopping by, and I hope I’ll hear from you again soon. I plan on blogging each Wednesday and also the last Friday of the month. I’ll also participate in the occasional blog hop, just because they’re fun. So stop back. I’d love to hear from you.

-Mel

A to Z: Y is for Yes

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

Y is for Yes

 

“Did you go to school today?” the mother asks, knowingly.

“Yes.”

The mother frowns. “And did you see your teacher there?”

“Yes.”

The frown deepens. “And did you do all your work?”

“Yes.”
She tries one last time, hoping for an ounce of truth, “Did Billy go to school today?”

The child looks up, eyes as bright as the sun. “Naw, not Billy; he ain’t never go to school.  He’s too busy catching fish. You know; man stuff. Real stuff. Hey, you want to see the fish we done caught down by the river today?”

“No.”

 

 

-Mel

A to Z: X

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

X

In the spirit of David Letterman, I present you with: Top ten list to becoming a writer

10.  Read good books

9.      Learn Grammar

 8.  Learn how to spell

7.      Find a place to write

 6.  Find something to write on (notebook, computer)

5.      Find something to write about

4.  Read more good books

3.  Write

2.      Write

And finally, the number one thing to help you become a writer: Write some more.

 

-Mel

A to Z: W is for Waterworks

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

W is for Waterworks

Lisa ran from the house, as was her custom. It was seven p.m., you see, and her father was due home any minute. Her mother stayed as she was, sitting on the couch. She knew how this went. Strangely, Lisa’s father did not. He heard the tears upon his arrival and tore back out the door, finding Lisa flung upon the ground just past the neighbor’s watchful eyes, because, of course, this show was not meant for them. Lisa’s father, to whom all this was directed, knelt down next to her. Lisa gave a muffled sob before rolling onto her back, letting a single tear roll down her cheek. He picked her up, cradling her in his arms and carried her back into the house, past her mother who still sat on the couch, rolling her eyes as they went. Lisa didn’t notice. She only had eyes for her father. He carried her up to her room, and set her on her bed. They hugged for a moment, both of them satisfied. She was still the daughter he loved, and he was still her hero.

Maybe he knew how it went, after all. 

 

-Mel 

A to Z: V is for Valentine

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

V is for Valentine

Oh my love was a red, red rose, perfect in every way.

Oh my love was a red, red rose, then to my dismay,

A thorn appeared, and my love faded away.

 

-Mel

A to Z: U is for Utopia

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

U is for Utopia

The sun is shining and the bees are buzzing; the air is stirring and the trees are swaying. The people are working, each at their assigned tasks, much like the bees and the trees.

The land is emptying and the spies are spying; the government is watching and the news is reporting. The people are puffed-up, each believing in what they’ve been fed, much like the spies and the news.

Everyone has smiles on their faces; because they don’t know well enough not to.

 

-Mel

A to Z: T is for Treasure

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

This is the finale of a three part tale. Read part one: L is for Larry’s Quest here, and part two: Q is for Quest here. And now:

T is for Treasure

Larry tucked the letter into his pocket, leaving the rest there. That was his first mistake; his second was going back to his car. He’d suspected that his mother’s neighbors had been watching him, and he’d been right. They were waiting for him by the building when he rounded the corner.

Larry skidded to a stop.

Leon, the ringleader, spotted him first. “Hey, you’re Alberta’s boy, ain’t you?”

“That’s him,” a voice answered from behind him. Larry turned to see a man coming at him, carrying the box of discarded letters.

Larry silently swore under his breath as his mind tried to come up with something, anything, but he didn’t have to bother. Leon came up with it for him.

He grabbed the box from the other man and rummaged through the letters; letting most of them spill to the ground. He looked like a man with a purpose, like a man who knows what he’s looking for.

And he was. Leon’s eyes lit up as he grabbed a single letter, as he let the box fall to the ground.  Those with him seemed to recognize it as well. They, all of them, knew Larry’s parents and their treasures much more than Larry ever could, as Larry himself was just beginning to see. 

Regret was the extent of Larry’s treasure; shame his only prize.

-Mel

A to Z: S is for Savor

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

S is for Savor

My eyelids flutter shut, an automatic response to the vapors wafting towards me. I inhale deeply, filling my nose, my mind with what will soon be mine:  All bitterness and sweet, creamy and frothy. It’s love in a cup.

The mug is warm as it grazes my lips, a foretaste of the bliss to come, and it is bliss. Bliss as it fills my mouth; bliss as it lingers there, enveloping each one of my taste buds. Finally I give in, I swallow, letting escape the contented moan that has threatened to break free since that first inhale. And then another, and another.

-Mel

A to Z: R is for Real

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

R is for Real

 

Rachel’s finger grazed his back; just a touch, but it was enough, enough to know things were about to get real.

“What do you want from me?” he asked, not turning to face her, not yet.

She leaned in, until her mouth rested lightly on his ear. “You should know.”

His eyes closed; she was right. He knew. “And then what? You leave?”

Her silence answered more than any words could. She would take. She would leave. Again. But did he have to let her? Her lips stayed on his ear, waiting.

He turned to face her.

Her eyes widened with the unexpected gesture. She was being herself, she was being real, but she’d never expected that same favor from him, and for good reason. He’d never been before.

He let out a measured breath. “I don’t think so. Not this time.”

That’s new, she thought as she pulled back, as the mask covered what was real.

He held up his left hand. For the first time she saw the ring there.

He shrugged. “I couldn’t wait forever.”

What was left of her retreated to the background, carefully hidden behind the frost and ice. “My loss.”

He wisely stayed silent, as she quickly made her escape.

 

-Mel

A to Z: Q is for Quest

 For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

 

Q is for Quest*

Larry tucked the box under his arm and left, leaving the doors open as he did. They’d been open when he’d come, and he knew they should stay that way. Larry wasn’t a genius, but he did know that. He knew his mother. He knew she loved to tell stories. And maybe, just maybe, some of the other tenants might have believed some of them. A closed door now would be like a neon sign.

Larry couldn’t take that chance.

He rushed down the stairs and as he did he felt them, all of them, watching him, wanting what he had. He quickly escaped out the front door.

Knowing they’d expect him to get into his car and drive back home, he walked past it. Instead, he went to the library around the corner where he’d hidden away most of his childhood. No one would think to look for him there.

The library was empty, same as always. Larry made his way to the far back corner, where he set himself on a chair and the box on the table in front of it. He quickly got to work. There wasn’t a single one of those letters that he didn’t scan thoroughly. An hour in, he found what he was looking for. In the right hand corner of a sappy love letter was scribbled two lines written in his father’s hand:

54 Court Way, Lexington.

You will find the beginning there.

Larry smiled. Beginning; he liked the sound of that.

-Mel

*Read the conclusion of Larry’s tale on A to Z: T for Treasure

A to Z: P is for Paying Paul

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

P is for Paying Paul

People are still talking about it; that time when John stole from Peter to pay Paul. It was the most scandalous of events. Peter had just taken out his life savings, life savings I tell you, in order to build that building to house those orphans. And what did John do? He took it. All of it. Three days later Paul was building that same building, next town over. And do you know who lives there now? Orphans. Orphans. And you’d think Peter would be furious about it, wouldn’t you? But he isn’t. He actually works at that house now. He actually looks happy about it. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

The moral: It doesn’t matter who gets credit for the work as long as it gets done.

 

-Mel

A to Z: O is for Others

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

O is for others

The world doesn’t see them, the others who linger in the shadows, just past where their eyes reach. That type of seeing is only in their souls. But it’s enough; enough to make them turn, enough to make them walk faster, relaying in their mind that it was nothing, nothing, all the while knowing that it’s not. It’s easier that way; easier to go about their day, their work, their lives, easier to forget that the others are watching them. Watching and waiting.

-Mel

A to Z: N is for Narcissist

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

N is for Narcissist*

There are three hundred-sixty-five days in a year, twenty-four hours in a day, sixty minutes in an hour and sixty seconds in those minutes. If you’re average, eight hours of those minutes and seconds are spent sleeping. But I’m not average. I can make it all happen on five. Which means three additional hours, or one hundred-eighty minutes, or ten thousand eight hundred seconds and that’s just one day. Imagine adding up a whole year. You’re talking three million, nine hundred forty-two thousand additional seconds of me, doing my thing. No wonder I’m so much better than you.

                                                                                          

-Mel

*In case you’re offended, this is a work of fiction. J

A to Z: M is for Marriage

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

M is for Marriage*

The man shifted his tie, loosening it, before finally pulling it over his head. It had been a long day, too long. His eyes went to the bathroom door, closed tight. And it’s not even close to being over.

The water from the shower cut off just a second before the door opened. His wife stood there, naked, but not for him. She went right to the closet, closing the door behind her, like she didn’t see him, like he wasn’t there.

He sat on the edge of the bed and waited.

The woman who came from the closet wasn’t naked anymore, but she still wasn’t for him. Although that time she acknowledged he was there. She came up to where he was on the bed and slipped the tie back over his head, tightening it, like a choker.

“There. That’s better.”

-Mel

 

*I’m happily married. I promise. To prove it, here is my post for M is for Marriage from A to Z 2013

 

M is for marriage

 

“Did you remember to get the mail?” I hope that credit card statement isn’t in there. That’s the last thing I need to see right now.

“Nothing today, dear.” Wish you’d stop worrying so. We always make do alright.

“And I don’t suppose you remembered to pick up the milk like I asked you to.” Even that’s more expensive than it should be. Why I remember when you could buy a gallon of milk for under a dollar. Now it’s four times that.

“It’s already in the fridge.” Look at those eyes; they haven’t changed a bit in all these years. So beautiful...

“And what are you smiling at?” Foolish old man, but he’s all mine.

“You.” That’s right. I’m yours.

                                                                                                 

 

                                                                         

A to Z: L is for Larry's Quest

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

L is for Larry’s Quest

Larry pulled up short. The building didn’t look right; it was almost smaller, if that made sense. To him, it did. It had been over thirty years since he’d been back; it should be smaller.

The door was propped open with a brick, like it always had been. Larry shook his head. It’s like they’ve never heard of crime before.

And, proving him wrong, a twenty-something stuck his head out through a lower window. “You Alberta’s boy?”

Alberta’s boy. It had been years since Larry’d been called that. It left a bad taste in his mouth; it all did. He nodded briefly before continuing on his way up to his mother’s apartment. Well, technically his mother’s old apartment. Which is why Larry was there that day. His mother was gone and he was there to clean up what was left of her.  

Her apartment door, like the one downstairs, was propped open with a brick. Larry shook his head as he stepped over it.

The apartment was the same: same furniture, same pictures on the wall, same smell. Larry held his breath as he went straight to the bedroom closet, like he knew just what he was going for, and he did.

That door was open, too, like his mother knew right where he’d go, like she was luring him there. That surprised him. He had no idea she knew him so well.

His eyes and hands went to the box on the shelf, the one he’d spent his childhood watching, the one that was now his.

He had to let his breath out as he pulled it down, it was heavy. He’d known that, too.

Taking the quickest of inhales, he lifted the lid. They were all there; crammed in so tight some slid to the floor.

He reached down and grabbed them, carefully setting them back with the rest. It would be just his luck if one of them turned out to be the one. He couldn’t take that chance.

If his mother was to be believed, it was in there, in one of those letters. His eyes trailed to the picture on the wall opposite the closet; the one of his father standing next to the golden chest.

And now it was his time, his turn, for his own kind of quest.

 

-Mel

A to Z: K is for Kindness

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

K is for Kindness

The woman was the first to see the child. It was no surprise; he was quite small, and alone, sitting on the far edge of the stoop. She bent down to his level. “Is your mother here?” she asked, already knowing the answer. A boy with a mother wouldn’t be alone in a city such as this.

He shook his head slowly, eyes fixed on the ground.

“Your father, then?”

Another shake of the head.

She looked closer at him; he had all the tell-tale signs of one who is of the streets, all hollowness and that not just from hunger. She looked at him closer still, and loved him. “Would you like to come with me, then?”

The boy looked up for the first time.  His hollowed eyes brightened slightly, on their way to being filled.

 

-Mel

A to Z: J is for Justice

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

J is for Justice

The jury ambled back into the room, sitting solidly on their bench. There were twelve, only twelve and all eyes were drawn to them. Not the lawyers, not anymore; not even the killer who would soon be set free. A technicality, the defender had called it, technically it was, but it changed everything, as the hidden smile on the murderer’s face showed.

A technicality.

The killer had an alibi. His wife swore she was with him the whole night. How can you convict a man like that?

Simple. You couldn’t.

The head juror rose. “We, the jury, find the defendant.” There was a hush as the room as a whole bent forward to hear. “Not-guilty.”

No one was smiling, no one but the woman in the back, the woman with the gun, the woman who walked up to the killer and became a killer herself.

As the man lay dying she whispered in her husband’s ear, “Next time you might want to kill your mistress in a state that has the death penalty.”

-Mel

A to Z: I is for Invitation

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

I is for Invitation

His lips touch mine, just a brush, just a hint of all that could be mine. He waits; there but not quite. He could pull back now and say it was just a friendly thing, nothing at all meant by it, and we’d both laugh and move on. We’d pretend we didn’t know the truth: that he was offering himself to me.

Do I want this? His lips taste like chocolate: warm and full. My tongue slides over mine, just to moisten, I tell myself, as I offer as much as he has, as my tongue lightly grazes his lips.

Those same lips which turn up into a smile: invitation accepted and returned.

 

-Mel

A to Z: H is for Hope

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

H is for Hope

Winter had ended. Finally. There might still be snow on the ground, but no matter; the sky was blue, and not a winder blue. This morning it was a real blue. Summer blue.

The cows didn’t believe me when I told them; mother, neither. She just saw sky, same as we’d all seen for the past three years. She didn’t notice the difference.

She just handed me the same ol’ bucket, expecting me to do the same ol’ chores, like nothing had changed. And I went, thinking maybe it hadn’t.

There ice was just as thick in the trough, the sheep just as ornery. With a grumble almost as loud as theirs, I slid the barn door closed. That’s when I saw it: a tiny white flower pushed up through the snow.

 

-Mel

A to Z: G is for Gotcha

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

G is for Gotcha

Gloria dropped the letter in the box with a half-smile on her face. The handwriting was spot-on, not to mention the perfume: Vanilla Grass, just like the collar of her husband’s shirt every Thursday night when he stumbled home from another “late night at the office”.

What’s in the letter, you might ask? Trust me, it’s not important, at least not as important as the fact that there’s a letter at all, especially since a certain young girl is about to go missing. A certain young girl who needs to learn to keep her hands to herself.

-Mel

A to Z: F is for Fire

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

F is for Fire

No one knows where the fire came from, which is strange, since they seem to know most everything else, or suspect it. They know about the barn at least, and how I let the cows out that night last week. And they know I stopped-up Old Man McGregor’s well. They came to me, all of them with their accusations and their threats. But not after the fire, even though the lowing cows had hidden the sound of the flames and they couldn’t put it out because there was no water in the well. 

 

-Mel

A to Z: E is for Escape

For A to Z 2015 I will be posting flash fiction, all random, all the crazy musings of a crazy mind. Hope you like them.

 

E is for Escape

The girl sat on the train with her back pressed up tight against the seat. There were four others on the seat with her, the seat made for two. The girl knew none of them. Actually, that is not true. She knew they were escaping, like her. That is all anyone need know in times such as these. What told her, you may ask? Simple: They were silent.

The train, however, was not. It rattled and rolled down tracks laid centuries ago, by others looking for their own kind of escape. The bell sounded as the train came to a stop. She stole a quick glance to the boys to her right. Would they be brave enough to step off? Would she?

The bell sounded again once, twice, and the train began rolling. None of them had moved, and then one of them did. One of the boys darted out the nearest door.

The girl watched out her window to see his fate. Those next to her didn’t dare, and for good reason. The guards had him already, one on each arm.

The girl looked straight forward again. She had known that wasn’t her stop. 

 

-Mel