The Ragtag Daily Prompt this morning is APPARENT. Well, I’m feeling like doing something light today, and since I missed yesterday’s prompt, GAME, I’ll cover them both in this fictitious bit from a sports reporter.
TURFFORD FLUBS TODAY’S GAME
Attempting to distance himself from the blame for his lame game today, gofer Reuben Turfford suggests that his contact lenses were sabotaged by an opponent.
Turfford explained that several golfers were together at a party the night before and during the evening his eyes became sore, so he removed his contacts and set them on the table. He then headed for the gents’ room. “I’m certain that while I was out of the room, one of my opponents tampered with my lenses, warped them somehow,” he claims. “I was still rather bleary-eyed this morning and didn’t notice the difference in my lenses until I tried to hit the ball in today’s tournament. Otherwise I certainly would have won.”
When asked to comment on this issue, his closest opponent Mike Strikem denied the accusation. “Yes, we were all together last night,” he verifies, “But no one touched his contacts. I’m guessing it was his overindulgence at the party that caused his poor game today. At times it was quite apparent that Reuben’s judgement was bleary, not his eyesight.”
Since Turfford wisely tossed his warped lenses right after the game, this explanation remains unverified.
It’s time for another terse tale for the Six-Sentence Stories. This writing prompt is given by GirlieOnTheEdge. CLICK HEREif you’d like to see the prompt rules and add your story to the mix.
So here’s my micro-fiction tale, which sort of leaves you hanging — but you can use your imagination to fill in the rest. 🙂
OFF BOARD ADVENTURE
“Snow board, skateboard, surfboard, water skis, motocross, I’ve done it all – and want to do it all again, just as soon as I’m back on my feet.”
“Well, I’m not as adventurous as you, pal; I prefer to keep my feet – or at least my wheels – on the ground.”
“But life’s an adventure, meant to be lived to the full, right? So I asked myself, why not give hang-gliding a try?”
“For me the biggest risk is never knowing for sure where you might land, what with unpredictable wind currents and all,” Jim said, regarding his long-time friend sympathetically, “and I wouldn’t want to land where you did.”
“Your attention please: visiting hours are now over,” the loudspeaker crackled, ending their conversation.
I could write about all the neurons misfiring in my brain these days, but instead I’ll respond with this newly minted limerick:
The players grouped round in a huddle but soon found themselves in a muddle. Some shouted “Defensive!” and others “Offensive!” But the babble just served to befuddle.
Prompt for Week #50 (Aug 8, 2020 – Aug 14, 2020): Gratitude
First off, I’m grateful that my internet issues this morning were indeed just a blip and are now resolved. 🙂 And now for my mini-tale response:
“Grateful? Sure I am. But still…”
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This was inspired by a wise friend who told me years ago that when you’re making an apology or discussing something, as soon as you say the word “But,” you’re going in the opposite direction.
Just think how many long-winded arguments start out with…
“I do agree with you, but…”
The daily word prompt over at Jibber Jabber with Sue is BEGIN
I sat down awhile ago to begin, a short story, thinking I’d like to do one of these three-short-paragraph ones, and I was going to pick a quote as my inspiration. But my plans went awry and I ended up with a long, maybe soppy, tale.
Here’s the quote I chose:
“What is defeat? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better.” — Wendell Philips
And here’s the tale I wrote to illustrate it:
THE LOSER WINS
rubberduck1951 from Pixabay
“Hey, girl. Why are you looking so sad? Lost your best friend.”
Finch looked up at the teen leaning on the door frame. One of the Senior boys. She swiped at a tear. “What do you care,” she grumbled.
“No, really, you look shattered. What’s bothering you.”
She glared at him, but could see he honestly wanted to know, so she spilled her sad story. “We played baseball at recess. I hate baseball! I’m not good at it and the others all know it, so when it came time to pick teams, I was picked last. In fact, I wasn’t really picked; I just ended up on Jenia’s team because I was the only one left. She rolled her eyes like ‘Do I have to.’ Then she says, ‘Okay, come on then,’ like I was such a zero. I was, like, totally humiliated.”
“Hey, that’s tough. Some people don’t do tact. They care zip about anyone else’s feelings.”
“That’s her. Miss Always-the-Leader. Then when we played, I was so nervous I couldn’t hit anything, and the others on the team grumbled straight time about me being so slow. The teacher told them to ‘be nice,’ but they just did it when she wasn’t looking. I don’t ever wanna go back to school again.”
“I know where you’re coming from. I got the same thing when I was a twig.”
“You! But you’re a natural at baseball. I’ve seen you play and you make great hits and catches.”
“Now, yeah, but I remember singing the same song as you. Back when I was in grade school, I was the last one picked. Couldn’t run, couldn’t hit. But I really wanted to play so I joined a team playing sandlot baseball. It was misery. I was slow; I fumbled; if I hit the ball it was luck.”
Finch stared at him. “I don’t believe it. What happened!”
“I was ready to quit after the second game, but one of the dads, Bill, was acting as umpire, and he saw I was in the dumps. So after the game he came over and gave me a hug. Then he rattled off this bit of wisdom. I’ve typed it up and pasted it on my wall.”
‘What is defeat? Nothing but education, nothing but the first step to something better’.
“I got a life-lesson that day, thanks to Bill, who cared enough to help me out. He told me I wasn’t going to just drop into a game and be a star. He said, ‘If you wanna get good at baseball – or anything else in life – you gotta work at it.’ He got me and a couple of other boys to meet him a couple evenings a week at the ball park and we’d practice. He brought his young boys and met us there for a few weeks, explained the game, the moves, and worked with us. After that we went back on the team and all three of us are good players now.”
“Wow! You were lucky. Not all dads are like that.”
“I didn’t have a dad – and I needed one badly. I think he caught that. Same with the others. He did what he could to set us, and his own boys, on a better path.” He fell silent and his smile told Finch he was remembering those good times.
“And maybe you got an education today, if you take it that way.”
“Huh! So what have I learned? I’m a loser? Nobody wants me on their team?”
“You found out you can’t just jump in and be awesome. You can’t be a fast runner if you don’t regularly run. You can’t be a great hitter if you don’t regularly work at it. Have you got a friend or kid brother or sister that’ll play ball with you sometimes so you can get some practice pitching and hitting?”
“Maybe…”
“And take up running. Work at it when you have some free time and you’ll get faster. I promise you. What that dad told me back then has held true for everything I’ve tried so far. Playing ball. Good grades. Making friends. Staying out of trouble. Life isn’t going to hand it to you; you gotta work for it.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
“So don’t let today get you down. Call it an education. Do something with what you’ve learned.” He reached down to give her a hand up.
A fresh wave of courage washed over Finch. She was ready to begin again. She reached up and took his hand. “I’ll try.” She let him pull her to her feet. “Thanks a lot…for what you said…and for caring.”
“Sure. See you around.” With a quick wave he headed off.
If Finch hadn’t seen him on the senior boys’ team, she could almost have believed he was an angel.
Good morning everyone! The sun is shining bright, the temp was -20 C first thing this morning and it did indeed feel cold! However, it’s expected to rise to -6 C by this afternoon, which means spring-like snow-melting in the sunshine. 🙂
Not a word I’m very acquainted with, though I have heard of freestyle skating. According to Merriam Webster, FREESTYLE is used in connection with some sports competition where more than usual liberty of movement is allowed at such events.
When I Google “freestyle verse” I see that this indicates some types of music (rap?) and I wonder if “freestyle verse” isn’t also used to describe the flowing, un-rhymed type of poetry so common now?
Oxford English Dictionary claims it can be used as a verb, too, meaning: To dance, perform, or compete in an improvised or unrestricted fashion.
My Word of the day, which I’ve just posted over at Word Buds, is VICARIOUS. I can say that I derive a vicarious thrill out of watching young and energetic sorts participating in active sports, but I am happy to cheer from the sidelines. Today I shall expend my energy sitting at the sewing machine, piecing together a blanket top. I’ll see how fast and how well I can do it — with no freestyle inserting of odd patches here and there. 🙂
Christine's Collection 