Kate sobbed into the pillow. Talia leaned over and rubbed her back.
“Kate, it will be all right!” Kate sat up and looked her sister straight in the eyes.
“No Talia, it won’t. Each day, I do my job, I try to help and it seems each day another injured creature must be put to rest. And why? Because humans do not care! They have no time to pick up their waste after a trip to the beach or the park, indeed, they do not care what products they buy as long as it has the brand they want to be seen with or a price they are willing to pay. But who really pays the price, Talia? Those sorrowful creatures that look deep in my eyes as I soothe them and try to comfort them in their final hours.”
“Listen, my dear sister. You are correct, some humans, do not care but not all are like that, and I feel the tide is turning in our favour. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. Until then we must keep campaigning. Keep spreading our word. Keep rescuing the injured. It will be worth it in the end. I assure you.”
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
He was quiet, smart and kind. He gave his heart to all that he did. Not many knew the real him, but those that were lucky enough to, know what a good guy he was.
My husband was ordinary.
He signed up for the military at a young age. He felt it was the right thing to do. He formed friendships and comradeship like many will never know.
My husband was ordinary.
He married, bought a house, and became a devoted father. He woke in the morning, walked the dog and got the paper. He gave the kids bath-time and then allowed them to curl up on his knees whilst he told them one last bedtime story.
My husband was extraordinary.
One time he never came home and the void he left will never, ever be filled.
How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and sheroes
“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer”
– Anonymous
Seeking the City
By KL Caley
He scraped his worn sandals against one another. His wandering eyes occasionally drifted down to the loose thread on his jeans. Don’t pull it, it was fashionable to have holes in them these days anyway, he thought.
As the early sun rose from the sky, the city revealed itself before him.
Leaving his job and his home was the scariest thing he had ever done, but now he knew he was exactly where he needed to be.
And he let his heart wonder, for just a moment, if he would ever see her again, in this city of dreams.
“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer”
My 99-Word short story was originally written in response to:
“I still believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and true love. Don’t even try to tell me different.”
Dolly Parton
Katie closed her eyes and prayed
It was, after all, a holiday
She didn’t often go to church
It didn’t resemble her faith much
Yet in her heart, she felt a pull
She always had since starting school
A little voice that said “believe”
And in that voice she found relief
It may not be the common faith
But in her heart, it had found its place
Be kind, be curious and in all things love
This was the faith that she dreamed of.
“I still believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and true love. Don’t even try to tell me different.” Dolly Parton
This week’s topic on WQW was Faith/Hope. A difficult subject. One I am highly unqualified to discuss in reality so I have gone for a simple poem. I believe everyone’s faith is personal to them, in the same way each friendship, romance, dream, desire and life is personal. I don’t think a one-size-fits-all will ever be accepted by everyone, so your beliefs or faith may be slightly different to the next person, but that’s okay. The closest single message is the #BEKIND campaign, which I think all of the world wishes was more true. ❤
Jess felt like she had been holding her breath for an age. Her breath, her tummy, her neck elongated. Every part of her body felt burning hot and screaming at her to move.
But she needed the money. This was easy money, she told herself. Sit still for a couple of hours in an awkward pose. Just breathe. The artist had told her to breathe in deeply and then breathe out slowly. But I can hardly breathe, she thought. Perhaps it was the hot air. There seemed to be so little air movement in the room.
“John…” she said, her voice quivering. She hated to interrupt him.
“Hmm?…”
“John, I…”
The thud that followed seemed to echo around the room. Pushing his canvas to one side, John rushed over.
“Jess! Oh god.” He took his phone from his back pocket and began to tap in the numbers for an ambulance but the bleeping seemed to cause her to stir.
“John?”
“Jess, are you okay?” He gathered some cushions and slid one carefully under her head.
“I’m fine, maybe just a bit of water?”
“Of course.” Within seconds, John had been across the room to the sink and retrieved what happened.
“I’m so sorry, John.” Her cheeks flushed. “I remember feeling hot and then, I’m not sure”
“No worries at all, Jess. Do you feel well enough to pose again or do you want to go home for the day?”
The thought of all the bills mounting up flashed through Jess’s eyes.
“No, no. I’ll finish” But as she got to her feet, she wobbled again slightly.
“Listen, Jess. Why don’t you lie back on that couch?”
“No, no. You need to finish your sketch.”
“I do, but Jess, you are so beautiful, I can draw you in any position. Why don’t you lie down for a while and we can pick up the other one another day. Perhaps a day which isn’t so warm?”
She smiled. Gratitude filled her flushed face.
“Thanks John.” John nodded and after a few alterations, he was soon busy behind his easel again.
Knowing she could make her bill payments, Jess finally relaxed. As John looked in her direction, his heart fluttered, he thought she had never looked so beautiful.
Many, many moons ago. Whilst I was a student, I modelled for several life drawing classes. I am curvy, pale, with wild red hair, not the person you would usually typecast to be a life model I am sure. To begin with, I was so nervous, but the class teacher was so lovely, the artists were all so kind, often showing me their works after, that despite the fact I was doing it for the money, I learned quite a lot about body confidence. Before long I was calm and natural (I hope!) and actually enjoyed the experience.
― Leo Tolstoy. “Spring is the time of plans and projects.”
I love this quote and enjoy having a bit of a spring clean. In fact, I read somewhere that spring cleaning is actually good for your mental health and it releases endorphins. My WOTY this year was plan and it’s fully something I want to embrace, this prompt felt like a good opportunity to review these plans.
So my plans were:
Plans
Status
Food plans
Mostly on track (I have been following a monthly plan)
Exercise plan
Some variations but still an increase, so I don’t want to beat myself up about it too much.
Budget plan
Mostly on track, with everything going up in value we probably need to readjust a little.
Blog Post Plan
Mostly on track with the introduction of Tile Tales on Monday, followed by Book Reviews on Tuesday, WQW participation and #Writephoto Thursdays.
Research for the new novel
Time limitations have caused some issues with this but it’s still in the pipeline.
My Goodreads book reviews
Mostly on track.
More Writing (ideally finish first draft of one novel and start first draft of the second).
Time limitations have caused some issues with this but I hope to be back on track asap.
I also planned to revive my travel ambitions this year (if time and covid allowed), and luckily that has proven to be the case (although I am sticking with the UK for the moment). We took a brilliant trip to London earlier in March. I was hoping to visit the tower but we decided with our little guy it would be too much so we’ve saved that for another time.
We have a wonderful trip to Skye booked for later in the year. Two very different holidays.
I haven’t totally achieved all my targets but I think I have made good progress and I’m happy with that.
Have you set yourself any plans for this year? If so, I’d love to hear them.
After a good dinner, one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations. – Oscar Wilde
In my family, my gran is the best cook. I am… well…in my mind, adequate. I quite like to cook but I don’t follow recipes to the letter, and I will swap out objects for what I have available, sometimes that works very effectively other times, it can be a bit of a disaster. My husband is the opposite, he stubbornly follows recipes to the letter. Normally I am juggling, cooking, cleaning, shopping, work, childcare, etc, so I am happy to make do with what is at hand.
How had she got here? Her mother always told her she had the worst taste in men. So she had decided to try something new, so here she was.
She sat across the table listening. Listening… Listening…
Don’t glance at the clock, don’t glance at the clock.
3 Minutes left. Dammit, you glanced at the clock. 3 more minutes being harangued by this guy.
She nodded politely. Took another sip. Another guy with no interesting properties she could quantify.
Why was she doing this to herself?
Blimey, they loved the sound of their voice, didn’t they?
Buzzzzz
Thank god.
She glanced at the next guy approaching.
“Hi there.”
“Hi”
“Do you want to tell me a bit about yourself?”
“Well, I am Jack,” taps his name badge. “Which is the perfect name as people would refer to me as a jack of all trades.”
Nervous chuckle.
“Oh, that’s interesting, in what way?”
“I’m currently looking into creating a new app that will help low-cost families, it searches the supermarkets’ deals for that week and creates the lowest cost menu for them.”
“Wow, that doesn’t really sound jack of all trades.”
“Well, I’m also gathering together a team of savvy elders who are putting together old-style hints and tips to help the next generation.”
“Wow. That’s impressive, makes my life seem pretty boring. All I do is go to work and come home.”
“Oh, I never asked, what do you do?”
“Oh, I am just a software engineer.”
“Really, you might be just the person I am looking for actually. I do have some software algorithms I’m struggling to figure out.”
“Erm..” she paused.
“You would be helping people and… well, it would be a good way to get to know each other.”
Buzzzzz
Oh no.
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
He smiled and ticked his sheet as she ticked hers.
Maybe she’d finally figured out what she wanted her taste in men to be… and maybe her mother would give her some peace at last.
Intelligence is really a kind of taste: taste in ideas
New2Writing 