Our Little Lockets (Tales from the SSC&B)

At Full Moon, the Moon’s face is fully lit up—give or take a tiny bit.
©Steffen Thorsen/timeanddate.com

‘Do we remember what we did… that beautiful day, and night, when we saw the Harvest Moon,’ said the Raconteuse, – while Mimi said, ‘of course, it was us and Jenne,’ as she clapped her hands, – then the Bartender said, ‘later we came home where we found our silver boxes and our little lockets.’

Mimi held up her locket, while the Bartender held out her hand, ’I made it into a ring, nice, isn’t it?’, as the Raconteuse gently opened the small box; but then the Bartender froze for a moment, as Ms Storme lunged at the box, ‘give me a look, won’t you?’

‘Wait, just a moment,’ said the Raconteuse, ‘there’s no locket, but here’s a letter from Jenne – she says she’s gone to pastures new, also Mr C. E. Ayr, and the two of them do the Unicorn Challenge, jolly good,’ – ‘I would agree,’ said the tall, thin man, who winked.

He continued to pose a question, while the Gatekeeper looked on, and Hūnga barked; ‘my idea is that Ms Storme should take over the reins, what do you think?’

Everyone seemed to be happy with that, so that was that; Ms Storme and the tall, thin man suddenly needed to be elsewhere; while the Gatekeeper and Hūnga, will be elsewhere too, and later they will look up, since there’ll be a tiny nick over the moon.

‘And as for me,’ said the Raconteuse, ‘I’m going to dip into this book, in fact, it was partly written by me.’

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge: POSE, FROZE, CLAP

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptDIP

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So very happy to be included in this wonderful poetry anthology.
🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

Devised by Colleen M. Chesebro and Robbie Cheadle
Amazon.com LINK
Amazon.UK.com LINK

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The Silver Locket
authored by Chris Hall
writing as Holly Atkins

Order on Amazon: paperback and ebook

A Silver Box (Tales from the SSC&B)

‘Are you going to open that?’ said Tom – as the red-headed writer, aka the Raconteuse, nodded her head; she was about to gently rip the parcel but then she heard the wonderful car, as the three of them turned to look at the street.

‘Looks like she’s back,’ grinned Mimi, ‘we can always adapt, but it is so much better when our Bartender is here,’ as they watched the beautiful car glide around the corner, ‘and look who also is there – it’s the Gatekeeper and lovely Hūnga.’

The tall, thin man and Ms Storme appeared from the Manager’s office, both of them looking rather smug, but Tom muttered to himself – she’s hardly an angel, but he said, ‘how nice to see you, my dear,’ as he smiled radiantly, using his best actor voice.

But now there was much merriment since Hūnga bustled in, closely followed by the Bartender and the Gatekeeper, while Mimi said, ‘it’s certainly busy now… drinks everyone?’

A little later, the Raconteuse began to open her parcel, ‘okay, I’m doing it,’ – while everyone crowded around, even Hūnga… ‘so, it’s a box, small oblong and clearly silver,’ she looked up, ‘ah, I know this… and you?’ staring at Mimi and the Bartender.

‘Do we still have those?’ – ‘well, mine is on my dressing table,’ said Mimi, – ‘mine is in my bathroom,’ said the Bartender, – ‘and mine, my original one, is still here in my big bag, so the fourth one has been given back… mm.

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Thursday’s Three Things Challenge: ACTOR, ANGEL, ADAPT

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptEVEN

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Speeding Along (Tales from the SSC&B)

Thanos Pal on Unsplash

The red-headed writer, aka the Raconteuse, was been on that long, long, wonderful train, but now she was keen to arrive back to New York; she’d been listening to the two guys talking about the executor of the will and how much money they might inherent; she was still grinning as she left the train, it seemed that their late uncle had a lovely long life.

She’d been mulling in her head as she’d begun to execute a plan and a plot, as she was sitting in a taxi as it made its way to downtown New York; she’d tipped the cab and then walked across and along to the small alley.

She was ready to greet all the Proprietors, as she walked down three steps to the door; she opened the SSC&B, hearing the tinkling bell; Mimi and Tom appeared through the double doors and both of them smiled although their hands were full.

‘There’s only us here at the moment,’ said Mimi, ‘the Bartender has gone on leave with her fancy car, and the Gatekeeper with his gorgeous dog have also gone somewhere; but the tall, thin man is around somewhere – and that new woman, Ms Storme, well, she’s a dark one.’

‘Look, on the table next to the bar,’ said Tom, pointing, ‘this is for you: it’s a small parcel, it arrived yesterday.’

The Raconteuse dumped her big bag, and then stared at it, and stared again; she looked to Tom and Mimi, ‘hmm, that doesn’t look good.’

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Thursday’s Three Things Challenge: EXECUTOR, EXECUTE, READY

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptPARCEL

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The Museum (Tales from the SSC&B)

The red-headed writer, aka the Raconteuse, had a spring in her step as she walked from the hotel to the museum that morning, she was delighted to find that helpful man from the train yesterday, now known as Joey, and he was working in a museum in Rocky Mount – how splendid!

Joey looked up from the counter, ‘excellent,’ he said, with his strong accent, ‘there’s a good place just here, I have already made a ticket on the stand, “Time Travelled Tomahawk”, that’s right, isn’t it?’ – ‘of course,’ said the red-headed woman as she took it out from her big bag, ‘shall I attest it’s real?’ – soon everything was in order, as they looked at it together.

She wandered around looking at exhibits but she was suddenly drawn to a particular item – a small jade camel in a glass box; she stared at it as she looked at every angle and then she turned to see Joey.

He had been standing in the shadows but then he walked next to her: ‘I found that… that jade camel, I was able to get it into the museum, and that way I got a job here, but otherwise I’d never have been there.’

‘Oh gosh, look at the time, I need to go, or I will miss my train, and I really need to get to New York by tomorrow.’

‘Well, nice to see you,’ said Joey, ‘might you come again, maybe on a plane or do you not like the altitude?’

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Thursday’s Three Things Challenge: ATTEST, ALTITUDE, ANGLE

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptSHADOW

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The Jade Camel – microfiction series

it seems that this might be back again… or not

Another Train Journey (Tales from the SSC&B)

The red-headed writer, aka the Raconteuse, was back on the long train where there were many benefits – gorgeous scenery, comfortable seats and tables, the dining car and the sleeper car; lovely coffee and a bagel (although not as nice as one of Tom’s), but there was a rather attractive man who was sitting opposite by the aisle, time to use her artful wiles.

She turned to face him: ‘do you know where this place is,’ as she smiled, ‘you see there’s an interesting museum in Rocky Mount, and of course, that’s where we will leave the train, and I’m pretty sure that I can place this in there, as she took this out from her big bag.

The man almost dropped his coffee, ‘what in the world is it?’ – he stared at it, and then to her, as she grinned.

‘It’s a tomahawk and it’s very, very old,’ as she moved to sit next to him, ‘we mustn’t be careless with this thing – you see it isn’t just a tomahawk, it’s a time travelled tomahawk, it’s handy, very handy, don’t you think? – and it actually belongs to Jenne, but it has been hanging around for years, and I’m sure it would be better in a museum.

By the way, are you from Miami originally? – you don’t sound like that… in fact, I could place that accent anywhere – you are from Liverpool, aren’t you!

She got up, beaming happily, ‘you will help me to carry all my things later, won’t you?’

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Thursday’s Three Things Challenge: ARTFUL, CARELESS, CARRY

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptBENEFIT

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Hi Gargoyles!

[Source: Courvoisier]

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Thursday’s Three Things Challenge: CONCISE, PRECISE, PRECIOUS

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptBOND

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Slowly down

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.

Another Chateau?

The red-head woman looked through her many postcards which she had bought from the Frida Kahlo museum last week; it had been that the Old Vampire had given her a wedge of cash so that she could use it for whatever she wanted.

‘If you have enough money you can go anywhere you want,’ said the Old Vampire, as he looked down from lounging on the very comfy chair on the exclusive plane – ‘good isn’t it, no need to have a passport either, which is just as well,’ as he winked.

Joan, Francis and Scatty came to join them as they had been chatting to the pilot in the cockpit – ‘not far now,’ said Francis, as he looked out of the plane as it started to descend, ‘back to France and civilization.’

They had expected to hear from the two gargoyles quite soon, but nothing, nothing at all; still the pilot had landed the plane in a very small airfield, and a luxury car had appeared, the red-head woman had wedged her big bag next to her as she looked out from the car, as it drove them to the great chateau.

‘Now this is luxury,’ said Joan, as they entered the reception, as a very tall man appeared: ‘I am Georges, and I will help you with any whim,’ as he bowed; – ‘how excellent,’ beamed Scatty, as they picked their rooms.

The red-head woman stepped out and sat on the wall; she looked up… a balloon? she thought.

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge: WALL, TALL, BALL

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptWEDGE

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Day of the Dead

previously

Ten minutes later Scatty had landed her broomstick on the edge of the quayside, right next to the rather classy boat, as the two of them stood up and looked at each other and grinned; a moment later, the old one, appeared from the boat and took off his cap, ‘ship-ahoy,’ he said, ‘I’m the Captain!’ – and of course, the red-head woman was beaming now.

Scatty and the red-head woman quickly got into the big boat as the other two – Joan and Francis – were ready to cast off.

‘So what are we doing..?’ – ‘well, we already know about pumpkins, ghouls, ghosts and whatnot, but we thought it would be really good to try the Day of the Dead?’ – ‘oh hold on, grab the phone.’

‘Sail past Cuba and continue to sail to Cancun, and beyond – that’s Mexico, by the way,’ said the two gargoyles who were explaining on their smartphone from Paris, as they were shouting, as usual – ‘you see we’re part of the travel agency on the website now, and it is going rather well – okay that should be fine, we will send all the details with the WhatsApp thing… off and out,’ as they giggled.

‘So it’s going to be great and no one would have any idea that most of us are vampires – such fun, don’t you think?’ as the old vampire began to dance.

Not far now – we’ll take the broomsticks and fly to Mexico City – oh, of course, you should visit Frida Kahlo’s museum… definitely!

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Thursday’s Three Things Challenge: GHOUL, GHOST, PUMPKIN

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptAGENCY

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What fun..? (Tales from the SSC&B)

Hemingway’s Royal typewriter in Key West, Florida

previously

The red-head woman (the fictional one) had pulled away from a spider web as she stood up inside the Hemingway House.

The Gatekeeper had been standing a little way away as he continued to smoke a rather nice Cuban cigar; he had been wondering whether he could get into deep water with this one as he hardly knew her – of course he knew the Raconteuse very well and they got on brilliantly, but that other one is very different, still why not – it could be fun.

The red-head woman had already opened the back door and leaned out to see him – ‘come on, let’s go up to the library’ – they looked inside, and there was Ernest Hemingway who was sitting at the typewriter, they looked at each other and back again; then the great man stood up and looked out, as he lit a cigarette and then walked straight through them –a ghost??

The Gatekeeper’s smartphone started ringing; it was the tall, thin man and he shouted at both of them: ‘get out quickly – it doesn’t matter why, just go’ – and then they heard several sirens coming closer as the house was lit up.

The two of them ran down and out, as the red-head woman said – ‘just go, I can deal with this’ – as the Gatekeeper decided to agree.

She began to shout: ‘I’m fine, just cross, actually livid… more than that I’m outraged – oh, doesn’t matter, look, Scatty‘s just appeared – I’ll hop behind her broomstick, and we will fly away (tallyho).

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Di of Pensitivity 101 – Wednesday’s Three Things Challenge: OUTRAGE, CROSS, LIVID

Denise Farley of GirlieOnTheEdge
Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word PromptWEB

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