‘Look at that wonderful cake,’ she said. ‘Nice,’ he said. ‘Right in the middle of that excellent cake shop.’ ‘I realise that.’ ‘It’s gorgeous… three layers, lovely, and it looks rather retro.’ ‘It’s big.’ ‘It’s just that… well, I was thinking, you know…’ as her voice trailed off. He said nothing.
‘Are we moving to the next shop?’ he asked. ‘Oh no, not quite yet,’ as she lingered. ‘We could have an anniversary treat… it’s just a little bit early.’
‘Yep, that’s what we should do.’ She opened the cake shop door. He followed her. ‘It’s flower power, isn’t it.’
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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers Genre: Hysterical Non-Fiction Word Count: 100
‘It’s stopping, look, that train,’ grinned Scatty, ‘we should get on it, shouldn’t we,’ as they looked to each other, ‘see, those gendarmes are past the last shed now, let’s go, and why not, there are no problems are there?’
Both Mr Cushing and The Old One looked rather apprehensive: ‘it’s my limousine,’ said Mr Cushing, ‘I’m not leaving the old girl by that farm,’ – ‘no siree,’ said The Old One, ‘I always ride shotgun with you now, so we will have to chance it then,’ – and a moment later, they both shot off.
‘Train time,’ smiled Joan, ‘how handy there was a tiny station just here,’ – ‘more than handy,’ said Francis, ‘I am kind of thinking this could be a ghost train,’ but he muttered very quietly and no-one else heard what he said.
However, everything seemed normal as all four of them got into that busy train.
The train was moving quickly now as the red-headed woman walked through the carriages, she brushed a wisp of hair away from her face, as she glanced at a rather pretty baby who was sitting by her dad playing pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake; and in the next but last carriage, this was what she was after: ‘ooh, at last, a brew… hot coffee!’
Meanwhile, the two gargoyles had been checking out those diamonds, since of course they had got them; they had been using their smartphones since they had an inkling about something clever Reena had said quite recently: ‘ah, there it is…’
It said, ‘take what you need.’ It was stuck on a telegraph pole by the pavement. She stopped and looked. Interesting, she thought. But she moved on, although she continued that thought.
She mused as she walked along that road. What were the seven words again? She could remember them, and all were good, she felt.
She pondered as the rain started again. Well, it was the UK after all. Then the next telegraph pole appeared, which also had the same words. However, this one had been disfigured.
So ‘love’ and ‘money’ had disappeared, as did ‘passion’ and ‘happiness’ – very sad that. Then ‘luck’ had become ‘uck’ – very unpleasant. But, at least it hadn’t been replaced with ‘fuck’ (gosh, naughty).
Right in the middle, the word, ‘courage’ had lost part of it. Now it’s called ‘rage’… another gosh for that. All that was left was ‘hope’ and that seemed appropriate.
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Image credit:Maximus Mazar@Unsplash
This image shows a paper poster on a pole, saying – “Take what you need” Underneath are tabs marked- Love, Hope, Passion, Courage, Happiness, Luck, Money!
She is a comely gal, mindful though, but then she’ll munch and crunch happily. Goodness gracious!
She’s persistent, for sure, proudly too. She’ll be on the prowl, then strike quickly. Goodness gracious!
She’ll see a visitor, and she’ll wink. There’s an opportunity, but no. Goodness gracious!
She’ll sulk for a couple of hours, but then she’ll open her pretty mouth. Goodness gracious!
She will try her luck again, grinning. You see, she is a Venus fly-trap. Goodness gracious!
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For Colleen Chesebro‘s #TankaTuesday #48 – 20 January 2026 where this week’s host Melissa Lemay’s invitation is to follow poet Marianne Moore’s syllabic pattern in one of her poems. I chose the pattern of 9-syllable lines and a 4-syllable refrain.
‘I want to go on the dodgems. The bright purple one looks best.’ She grins, looking to her older brother. ‘Pretty please?’ As she jumps up and down, then waves her little hands.
‘You’ve got the money, haven’t you. And I’m sure we’ve enough.’ She wheedles her older brother. And it always works.
‘Look, it’s stopping.’ She grabs his hand and almost drags him over to the pretty bright purple bumper car.
She jumps in. She’s always the driver, even though she can only just reach that pedal. Then he pays that tall guy, and they are off. Broom, broom!
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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers Genre: Memoir Word Count: 100
All six of them, Francis, Joan, Scatty, the red-headed woman, The Old One and Mr Cushing, burst out from the far end of the shed; all of them glanced back at Inspector Clouseau who was still tied up and tightly, before they all turned forward to this important mission.
‘Come on,’ said Joan, ‘we can walk and talk, and maybe we should walk rather quickly,’ – ‘also,’ said Scatty, ‘we should forget all about that pretty kettle of fish,’ – ‘absolutely,’ muttered the red-headed woman, ‘it’s not relevant anyway,’ – while Mr Cushing nodded his head feeling vindicated.
‘Are we all feeling better now?’ asked The Old One, – ‘I believe so,’ grinned Mr Cushing, ‘are we united… we are, aren’t we,’ – ‘we’re a unit, yes, that’s right,’ beamed Francis, ‘we’re great again.’
‘But where are the two gargoyles,’ asked the red-headed woman, ‘are they missing… it seems unlikely though?’ as she looked around everyone.
‘Well, they are hardly upstarts, are they,’ said Joan, ‘those two gargoyles are very old indeed,’ – ‘yes, very true,’ grinned Scatty, ‘we are all ancient,’ – ‘oh, but not her, the red-headed woman,’ said The Old One, as he smiled back to her, ‘she’s in her prime, isn’t she,’ – as the red-headed woman, blushed a bit.
But now they all started to run, since it was clear that the gendarmes had arrived; then they heard a train very close to them, and as they looked up, they could see the two gargoyles sitting on the top of that train.
We met in the desert that time, just me and him, he walked, but I rode a camel.
We started our journeys, him from the west, me from the east.
We’d left at dawn, just as the sun peeped up, as we plodded across the dunes.
We arrived as the blistering sun beat down. We did our trading, and then we left.
Was there a moral? No need for that… Just good business.
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Image credit: Pedro Kümmel@Unsplash
This image shows desert dunes with footprints left by humans and animals in the sand. The photographer explains; Under the warm sun, the dunes carry gentle scars of passage, lines and footprints that vanish as quietly as they appear!
It had been quiet as usual, apart from those times when the services were on. I had a part-time job in the cathedral. I did various tasks, from the top of the gantry to do the stained-glass windows, to the lowest part in the crypt where I moved odd objects, but very gently.
I had been in the crypt, but for some reason I headed up. There was a strange noise, and it was getting louder. And then the whole ceiling disappeared into the sky, as the crypt ripped out.
I stared, and stared. It was a spacecraft. How extraordinary!
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Thanks to Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers Genre: Sorta Fiction Word Count: 100
dead metaphors, like those dead poets who witter on: loyal treachery and melancholy merriment want some affordable caviar?
such a nonsense poem pretty dreadful I would say so anything else? tortuous spontaneity that’s a nice one, isn’t it.
those dead poets are buried in Poets’ Corner shall we have a look?
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For Colleen Chesebro’s TankaTuesday #47 – 13 January 2026 where this week’s host Robbie Cheadle’s invitation is to ‘choose an oxymoron and write a syllabic poem to demonstrate its meaning.’