The red-headed woman had known the strange and wonderful breed of people who stayed around Montmartre for more than a year now, she had been reminiscing about all of them: the three vampires, the one shapeshifter and (of course) the two gargoyles.
She’d been to the small but beautiful cemetery known as the Large Quarries, where she’d drawn a rather nice picture using her new pastels and paper; she was about to finish since no-one was around today, but then she saw Scatty.
‘Gosh, that’s good,’ said Scatty, ‘you’ve drawn several plants around here – the one’s I have used…. hmm, delightful, and useful too – magical; but never mind about that, we should go to that old mansion, and let’s not delay – you do know that the Tour de France is about to start, don’t you?’
‘You remember what they said, the two gargoyles, while we all watched that gorgeous ballet a few days ago?’ – ‘I do remember what the two of them said, something about going to see the Tour de France, and riding on a big motorcycle, yes?’
‘Come on we’re here, and we can watch the TV,’ – the red-headed woman and Scatty sat down on a large couch, while Joan and Francis were already sitting here to watch the Tour.
‘Look over there,’ said Joan, ‘we can see those two on their big motorcycle, and there’s something going on… a couple of policemen (gendarmeries, in fact), oh gosh, it seems that both of them will be detained!’
The two boys were playing football in the park. It was Sunday afternoon, and very sunny. ‘This is fun, isn’t it? ‘Very much so,’ as he dived and stopped the ball. ‘Shall we ask some of the other boys here in this park?’ ‘Good idea, and I would like to be in goal.’ ‘Fine. You’re pretty good, aren’t you?’ ‘Aww, thanks,’ as he grinned.
A few minutes later, several boys appeared. ‘Now we have enough players to have a good game,’ as they decided who would do what.
It had been great at the start but then there was a problem, since the ball went too far and too high. It glided over to someone’s back garden.
They looked at each other. ‘What are we going to do now?’
Several of them peered over the high wall. ‘Hmm. Not easy, but doable, don’t you think?’ ‘Well, it is my ball. I shall try.’ ‘Both of us will do it.’ Then a couple of other boys helped them up.
Soon they were both sitting astride. ‘Okay, we can do this. Yes?’ ‘Of course we can.’
So they jumped down. Grabbed the ball, and hurled it back to the park. They could also get back themselves, since a handy shed was close enough to jump from that to the wall. They managed to get away with that before anyone saw it. It seemed that everyone else was watching the telly – either Wimbledon or Tour de France.
‘Shall we continue the game then?’
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Posted for The Unicorn Challenge, a magical challenge hosted by Jenne Gray and C E Ayr, where they provide a photo and we, in turn, provide up to 250 words.
The red-headed woman had been back to the hairdressers since she didn’t really like that colour – too blonde and not enough red, she’d been looking it the colour chart in the salon, and eventually she plumped for something called ‘cardinal’, a vivid and warm-shade with auburn undertones (just like a little bird).
‘A wise choice… and definitely for you,’ said the hairdresser, as she began to trim the hair; the red-haired woman smiled as she waited to drink her coffee, and as usual it would be tepid by then.
Several hours later, the red-headed woman joined the queue with Francis, Joan and Scatty, everyone was excited, and wearing very nice clothes, since it was the open night in the ‘Opera de Paris’ – fabulous place, expensive but worth it, as they began to walk up the stairs.
‘At least we have a box,’ grinned Joan, ‘much more classy, don’t we think,’ – ‘oh yes, definitely… should I order some champagne, the best of course,’ asked Francis, while he opened the door, and waved a hand, ‘we don’t want to be dry while we enjoy the beautiful ballet.’
Meanwhile, the two gargoyles had climbed up to the top – ‘best view from there,’ they muttered, then one of them dropped a programme down using a particularly good aim.
Scatty suddenly saw it and caught it: ‘what is this?’ – there was a note inside – it said: we are going to see the Tour de France, and we will jump on to ride a big motorcycle.
‘Those aren’t sheds, they’re garages, wouldn’t you say?’ ‘Well, I guess so… does it matter?’ ‘Probably not.’ The two boys grinned at each other, as they stopped on their mountain bikes.
‘Interesting place.’ ‘Certainly is… not been there before, have we?’ ‘Nope, never seen this.’ ‘I suppose it’s a bit further in the other direction than we usually go.’ ‘Still, let’s have a little poke around, since I’m sure no one will bother about us.’ The two boys got off their bikes and wheeled them. They looked around by the little line of garages.
‘Not many people here, are there?’ ‘Just a couple of builders…’ ‘You mean, roofers, I think?’ ‘Well, whatever… they are just up there.’ They craned their heads up.
‘Do you need any help?’ shouted one of the boys. But there was no response.
‘Oh well, we can see what they are doing, can’t we?’ ‘It looks like some of those roofs need new ones.’ ‘In fact, most of them have been done.’ ‘Well spotted,’ grinned both of them.
‘Maybe we can see if anyone else is around.’ ‘All look closed, and they must be dark inside, I suppose.’ ‘But there are quite a lot of nice cars on the other side. I wonder where they have gone?’ The two boys had a little look at some of the cars, but nothing obvious, apart from some books inside… the same books.
‘I know what’s going on – they are all twitchers!’ ‘What?’ ‘Birdwatchers – and look, they’re coming back.’
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Posted for The Unicorn Challenge, a magical challenge hosted by Jenne Gray and C E Ayr, where they provide a photo and we, in turn, provide up to 250 words.
in my fruit basket there’s plums, tangerines, avos it maybe winter but toms are still ripening and sitting in the sun room
What to eat for lunch? Maybe use the avocado – definitely ready. Opening it up… mmm, perfect. A little mayonnaise with some tuna, or even better, make some guacamole. So mash the avocado mixed with tomato, a tiny bit of chopped onion and a little chilli pepper. Now we could go really mad. Let’s pile everything in to some tacos, and hey presto… it must be Taco Tuesday – just like Tanka Tuesday (well, it’s only a couple of days late).
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Thanks to Colleen for the inspiration to write syllabic poetry. The challenge for this week is all about fruit!
The red-headed woman (although still rather blonde) waved back to the lovely two gargoyles, but it seemed that the two of them were about to leave; ‘hey,’ she said, ‘just a minute, tell me what you both have been doing for all those weeks?’
‘Sorry,’ they both stopped and grinned, ‘we had been rather busy,’ – ‘you see, we had been watching the tennis at Roland Garros in Paris,’ – ‘yes, that’s right, we had to pay with plastic at the start, but we were able to get into one of the commentary boxes, and after that it was free, no charge, gratis, for us,’ – ‘what do you think about that,’ as they smiled happily.
Just then, Scatty appeared wearing big rubber boots, also known as wellingtons, – rather fetching, thought all of them.
The two gargoyles then decided to leave for the moment; the red-headed woman was about to say something, but Scatty managed to speak first: ‘ah ha, I have a little magic to use later, but just now I’m removing some plants, you can watch if you want, but I’m happy to do that on my own – in fact, it’s probably better to be just me.’
‘It’s much more important that you enjoy yourself later,’ said Scatty, ‘since it is the summer solstice tonight, and we will be having a gorgeous party.’
‘You should wear something fresh and light… maybe a cotton dress, something long and flowy – it’s going to be fun, and you will definitely like some margaritas later!’
he’s an artist he strides across the fields he has his easel and all the other things he needs
he stops he looks around it’s the perfect place
he sets everything out and then he paints broad strokes colours vivid
is it a masterpiece?
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Image credit: Fuu J @Unsplash
This image shows a windmill standing in a field of tulips. In the background, you see there is a yellow fog and it seems like there is dust in the air.