Archive for the ‘Wrting challenges’ Category

Below Or Beyond… Your Choice

Posted: January 27, 2020 in life lessons, Novels, Wrting challenges
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First, I want to point out that I struggle with the concept of “A God” You’re thinking that something happened in my life to question a divine-intersex’s existence. Yes, but it’s not what you think. The battle has to do with the use of the word vs action.

Everywhere I go, I hear, “Thank God.” A baby falls out of a three story building and lives, by a feat of heroism or—dare I say—a miracle. Who do we blame when the baby dies? We don’t scream at the devil. And what about those people who saved the baby? They are thanked but only as a tool of God. People devote many years of their lives studying ways to save human lives. Most police officers understand that their job sometimes require the ultimate sacrifice. Our military suffers the most yet when they manage to survive and make it home, God is nowhere to be seen, to ensure the healing and gratitude they earned.

Now I want to tell you a story/joke. You may have heard it somewhere before, but It’s a story/joke that’s stuck with me. I, of course, am adding my own twist to make a deeper point.

A man stood on his rooftop surrounded by rising water. He prayed to God. To help him.

A man in a rowboat came by and told him to hop in. The man refused, saying God would save him. The water rose higher. A man in a motor boat came by and told him to hop in. Again, the man refused saying that God would save him. Just as a helicopter flew to him and hovered a few feet above his head, the water rose up over the man’s ankles. A rope ladder was thrown down to dangle just able the man’s head. A woman yelled for him to climb up and instead of grabbing hold of the ladder. He pushed it away and said, “I don’t need your help. God will save me. The helicopter pilot flew away.

The man drowns and goes to heaven where he meets god. The man is furious. He yells, “I had faith in you! I had faith that you would save me, and  instead you let me drown!” God smiles and says, “I sent you a rowboat, a motor boat, and a helicopter.”

“But that was not you,” the man whined.

“Of course it was,” God replied in a voice that projected a murmur of many tones, female and male. “Every choice you make brings you closer to us or further from us. It is not the acts thrust upon you, but the reaction to those acts that define who you are. Together we are invincible, apart we are vulnerable. That is why we test each other. We are the good actions and the bad actions that stand at every crossroad. On earth, our choices affect all like they do here, but there on, on earth, you think you’re alone and that makes you prey to fear which leads to hate which causes pain to millions who you refuse to see or know. If on earth you can see others outside of your skin, then ascension has begin. For, if you can feel beyond the limits of your body you will never feel alone again.

“What does this mean for me?”

“Back down you go.”

”Noooooooo.”

We are not Alone and you can’t take pictures…

Posted: August 19, 2013 in Wrting challenges
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alone-on-the-playground

That is the day I realized I was different from everyone else. I remember sitting on the merry-go-round across the street in daycare wondering why me? I spent a lot of time on the broken ride watching the other kids run around playing tag, kick ball, trying to make hoops in the too high basket. They didn’t want to play with me anymore. A month ago, by accident, I let my secret out. I didn’t mean to. Mommy said that there are others out there like me, but not to tell my friends because they wouldn’t understand. Why would my friends abandon me for something that I didn’t have any control over? It didn’t make any sense. I stuck by Tommy when he sneezed in the library and got snot on his book and everyone called him snotty Tommy for a week.

Okay so this is what happened. Me, Tommy and Annabel were playing hopscotch. Katie and Greg were yelling at each about the rules to a game they’d made up. They always make up games and they always spend most of playground time fighting about the rules. Billy as usual swung high on a swing. Raymond and Mark were teeter-tottering.    

I threw the rock into square three and was about to hop into one when Cornelius appeared. I mean literally… appeared.  He’d been appearing to me for as long as I can remember. This wasn’t a normal visit. Cornelius looked very upset. He kept pointing at Billy. I saw a terrible sight in my head and started screaming. I yelled at Billy to get off the swing and go inside. I screamed at everyone to go inside. Ms. Cane stomped toward me. She would take me inside and Billy would get hurt, really hurt or die. I ran to Billy’s favorite action figure leaning against the fence, grabbed it and ran toward the door. Billy jumped off the swing and ran after me. All the other kids and teachers ran after me, following me into the cafeteria. That’s when the big boom came. A loud crashing sound that hurt my ears. Everyone froze. I ran to the window and saw a car on fire with part of the swing set inside the front window. Cornelius Appeared again, just outside the window I glared out from. He looked so happy, jumping up and down clapping his hands doing our funny dance. I laughed and starting dancing along with him. That’s when everyone tore their eyes away from the sounds of glass breaking outside to gape at me. “Cornelius saved Billy’s life,” I blurted out.   

Ms. Cane ushered us into another room, further from the playground. Sirens drowned out the roar of fire. Ms. Cane pulled me aside and asked me who Cornelius was. I told her he was my imaginary friend. I also said that he showed me what would’ve happened if I didn’t get Billy off the swing set. Mark called out to the others that I had an imaginary friend and all the kids started to laugh. Ms. Cane shushed him.

But it was too late.

Now a month later no one would talk to me. They weren’t mean or anything. They just wouldn’t talk to me. Cornelius looked down on me from the window. He was sad, too. I started decided to count the bricks on the building across the street when a shadow crossed my view. Billy stood over me and then sat in front of Jiminy Cricket and handed me an Oreo cookie.  I looked at the cookie. I looked at him and then I looked at the others playing. He took a bite of his cookie and said, “Thank you for saving my life, Mary.”

I said all I could say. “You’re welcome.”

Weekly Writing Challenge: 1,000 Words

Posted: August 19, 2013 in Wrting challenges
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Weekly Writing Challenge: 1,000 Words

  

That is the day I realized I was different from everyone else. I remember sitting on the merry-go-round across the street in daycare wondering why me? I spent a lot of time on the broken ride watching the other kids run around playing tag, kick ball, trying to make hoops in the too high basket. They didn’t want to play with me anymore. A month ago, by accident, I let my secret out. I didn’t mean to. Mommy said that there are others out there like me, but not to tell my friends because they wouldn’t understand. Why would my friends abandon me for something that I didn’t have any control over? It didn’t make any sense. I stuck by Tommy when he sneezed in the library and got snot on his book and everyone called him snotty Tommy for a week.

Okay so this is what happened. Me, Tommy and Annabel were playing hopscotch. Katie and Greg were yelling at each about the rules to a game they’d made up. They always make up games and they always spend most of playground time fighting about the rules. Billy as usual swung high on a swing. Raymond and Mark were teeter-tottering.    

I threw the rock into square three and was about to hop into one when Cornelius appeared. I mean literally… appeared.  He’d been appearing to me for as long as I can remember. This wasn’t a normal visit. Cornelius looked very upset. He kept pointing at Billy. I saw a terrible sight in my head and started screaming. I yelled at Billy to get off the swing and go inside. I screamed at everyone to go inside. Ms. Cane stomped toward me. She would take me inside and Billy would get hurt, really hurt or die. I ran to Billy’s favorite action figure leaning against the fence, grabbed it and ran toward the door. Billy jumped off the swing and ran after me. All the other kids and teachers ran after me, following me into the cafeteria. That’s when the big boom came. A loud crashing sound that hurt my ears. Everyone froze. I ran to the window and saw a car on fire with part of the swing set inside the front window. Cornelius Appeared again, just outside the window I glared out from. He looked so happy, jumping up and down clapping his hands doing our funny dance. I laughed and starting dancing along with him. That’s when everyone tore their eyes away from the sounds of glass breaking outside to gape at me. “Cornelius saved Billy’s life,” I blurted out.   

Ms. Cane ushered us into another room, further from the playground. Sirens drowned out the roar of fire. Ms. Cane pulled me aside and asked me who Cornelius was. I told her he was my imaginary friend. I also said that he showed me what would’ve happened if I didn’t get Billy off the swing set. Mark called out to the others that I had an imaginary friend and all the kids started to laugh. Ms. Cane shushed him.

But it was too late.

Now a month later no one would talk to me. They weren’t mean or anything. They just wouldn’t talk to me. Cornelius looked down on me from the window. He was sad, too. I started decided to count the bricks on the building across the street when a shadow crossed my view. Billy stood over me and then sat in front of Jiminy Cricket and handed me an Oreo cookie.  I looked at the cookie. I looked at him and then I looked at the others playing. He took a bite of his cookie and said, “Thank you for saving my life.”

I said all I could say. “You’re welcome.” And ate my cookie.

I remember…. The challenge

Posted: August 6, 2013 in Wrting challenges
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] Going fast in a fishing boat out in the bay by my grandmother’s house. The smell of fresh gnocchi laid out on a table while tomato sauce simmers on the stove. My cousins, we called ourselves the wacky cousins, sang and danced in the basement to grease and songs on old 45s. Being yelled at for dropping a stone on my cousin Ralph’s head. I don’t know why I did it. Fighting in the house in the middle of the night waking me up. My father coming home and getting drunk. He was a cop.  abad one. The fighting over other woman and the lies he spewed to us that we believed until we got older. Playing o the stairs at my Mom’s mom’s house while they played cards. Sometimes grandma’s friend took off their shirts and we had to stay outside. I remember a reoccurring dream where I was afraid of the basement and would always end up locked down there. Running from my father. I don’t know if it was a dream. but I felt real all these years. I remember my sister and mother fighting. My sister had what she wanted to do and my mother had other ideas. I remember the moment I realized why my mother was so protective. I matured a lot that day and decided to stay in the dark so as not to cause her more fear.  I remember the hell I went through in school. Sometime after kindergarten I developed a target on my back. I never knew why and now I don’t care. I remember being spit on, made fun of and even taunted into fights. Fighting was easy. I was used to that, but I didn’t gain skill and confidence until much later on so I didn’t always win. I do now. I remember making my first really good friends. fellow outcasts. My family would question me as to why these were my friends. They didn’t get it. These people were like me. Different, weird and socially inept… like me. And they were there for me. But like everyone else people saw them for what they looked like or their unique outlook on life. I am a better person today for having such broad minded misfits in my life. I remember the day my father went to jail. It’s when I stull cared about him. I didn’t really think he would go. Who would? I went to school and broke down. My best friend and a teacher let me cry. High school is where I was rewarded for all I’d been through.

I met who would be the best person in my life, My husband. The moment our eyes met my world changed. Because of my father, I hated men, but this boy floored all my hate, picked me up and lifted me onto cloud nine. I remember being conflicted. I loved this boy instantly but there was no way in hell I would let him hurt me. If my father could do what he did to a beautiful loyal woman like my mother, who was I to be treated any better. Billy was persistent. Called everyday. We talked more than once everyday. We would hang out. He introduced me to dungeons and dragons. lol. My mother, at the time, basically pushed me out the door because I was such a home body. Of course later when she realized I had feelings for him, she did everything to break us up. Her fears reared their ugly heads. She didn’t understand that he gave me security, unconditional love, loyalty above and beyond the call of duty. Initially I gave him hell. My fears grew teeth and bit hard. Yet through every stupid test I put him through he stayed and just loved me.  (this has not been proofread or edited in any way. I hope you like it. Ill read it in a few days)