Liz Young's Blog

 

TIME TRAVEL

Dave and Roscoe were the acknowledged computer whiz-kids oftheir college, so when they announced they’d built a time machine, everyone wasagog to try it.

Benny drew the first ticket. ‘Take me back to the fifties, whenbooze was cheap, and I’ll bring back a bucket-load.’

Laughing, Dave turned the dial, and they all waited. Andwaited. And waited.

Two days later Benny returned, unmistakably drunk, his armsfull of bottles.

‘Guess you had a good time?’ Roscoe said.

‘I’m not going there again,’ Benny said. ‘They only haveblack and white television – and only two channels!’

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I've been AWOL from Friday Fictioneers for far too long. Life has thrown various obstacles in my path, but here I am now, hoping this select group hasn't forgotten me completely!

Thanks are due to Ted Strutz for the image and to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for running FF.

KENYA

They flew to Kenya

those boys just out of school

sent to ‘resolve’ the MauMau situation -

their legacy was sights and deeds

rarely spoken of

but never forgotten.

National Service taught discipline

people say -

it may be so

                                             but they were forever scarred.

 

 

 

WOKE

Punch and Ihave been performing on Swanage beach for a century. I don’t look old enough? Sokind. It’s amazing what a touch of lipstick can do – and years of coveringbruises with greasepaint!

What was Isaying? You’ll have to forgive me – memory’s not what it was. Oh yes – the WokeBrigade. They’ve decided we’re too violent. Can you believe it? Compared withthe way those kids’ parents behave, a few head-bashes are mild.

Here we are,two pensioners without an income, and they’ve stopped our winter fuel allowance.They want rid of us.

That’s the wayto do it!

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It is a month since I joined in Rochelle's Friday Fictioneers' party. I have had major surgery on a badly broken ankle, and my mind hasn't been in the right state for writing. But Sandra Crook's photo of  Swanage Beach - I could hardly resist, could I? I spent a summer there 50 years ago, and have fond memories of my children digging on that very beach. There were even donkey rides in those days - something else that has gone, I suspect, with an increasingly obese population becoming too much for the poor beasts to carry.

This was us back in 1973!

 

BUNKER

We won ourplaces in the nuclear bunker in a lottery. Five thousand people who’d boughtthe right to live and, eventually, re-populate the world.

After tenyears I was too busy raising our kids to worry about the anarchy – no-one hadthought to stock birth control pills.

The buildingcontractors hadn’t followed the specifications either, and things were alwaysbreaking down.

Ted and Iwere, naturally, the maintenance team, so we were first to spot fungus growingthrough the skylight.

“Get the kids,”Ted said, “I’ll grab some guns.”

If outside wasbreaking in, we wanted a head start.

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It's a whole month since I last wrote any flash fiction - life has been busy with family visits, a damaged ankle, and working on my next novel. I've kept my short fiction and poetry going with frequent posts on Twitter - @young_liz if you'd like to follow me.

Meanwhile, thanks to Lisa Fox for the photo prompt and to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for encouraging us to join her select group Friday Fictioneers. 

Next month I've been invited to join a small group of local poets to read our work at an Arts Festival, so my next job is to decide which poems to choose from my recently published book: Footprints, which you can find on Amazon along with my other books. Be aware that I'm not the only Liz Young out there!

  FIRE!

Yesterday, with my back door open, I smelled smoke. From my garden I saw smoke coming from my neighbour's upstairs window. Banged on the door, no answer, so I called 999.

The firefighters arrived just in time to save his dog.

It reminded me of ten years ago, when my daughter's apartment burned due to a candle and a wafting curtain. A whole month it took us to erase the stink.

A salutory lesson never to leave a naked flame burning, and keep your insurance up to date!

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And my poor neighbour! His windows are no longer blackened - the glass has all been replaced by boards, and he can't even clean up until the insurance assessors have been. His dog survived by a whisker - scorched but alive.

 

SPADE

I left her taking her muddy trainersoff while I put the allotment tools in the car, dropping my guard for oneminute, but it was enough.

She screamed as he bundled her into hisvan. By the time I’d got my car started they’d vanished. But she’d told meabout the hut on the moor – and what he’d done there.

I sped through back roads, hid my car,and when he reached into the van to drag her out I hit him with the spade. Hard.

The hut’s just a heap of charred embers now. So is he.

I bought a new spade.

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Any mother would do the same, wouldn't she? Thanks to Ronda del Boccio for this week's image. To read other interpretations of the prompt, follow the frog link from  https://rochellewisoff.com/

While I have your attention, please take a look at my latest publication - a 'slim volume of verse', as we poets say! In other words, a small book of poems, selected from a lot more written over a loooong lifetime.

FOOTPRINTS: Amazon.co.uk: Young, Liz: 9798328843089: Books

 

LIBRARY

I wish I was better at marketing

my books, 'cos they’re really quite good,

but I plucked up the courage to ask

at the library in my neighbourhood –

I donated a copy of two of my best,

which are now on display on a shelf –

‘New books by A Local Author’ –

I’m inordinately proud of myself!

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Six years ago I was brave enough to take a stall at an Authors' Fair, which entailed lots of preparation and minimal sales - not an experience I have repeated!

Dale's image of a roadside library reminded me of Covid lockdown, when I put a box of books in the village bus shelter and an invitation on Facebook for people to help themselves. Any one who was afraid of contamination could stay clear. Others donated too and itt grew exponentally - in fact it became a chore to keep tidy - but for that year (when was it? - I forget) a lot of people were grateful for their reading matter. 

Must dash - it's my granddaughter's school sports day and I have to go and cheer.

 

TRAINING

They trained the orcas intensively in theirsecret location, then sent them off with attached cameras to spy on the enemyfleet.

 

The gamble paid off – every whale returnedto their beloved trainer Edwin. The management took the cameras to berecharged, but Edwin overheard them talking over late-night drinks. ‘Kamikaze whales’they dubbed them, laughing.

 

Edwin amended the training sessions and surreptitiouslyreplaced the glue with his own concoction. Next time the orcas left, theyscraped their backs under the jetty before departing.

 

Two days later the scientists stood on thejetty and pressed the control button.

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Perhaps it's the lighting, but they look like orcas peering over a jetty to me! Thanks to Lisa Fox for the image, which also reminds me of warm evenings in Tenerife. To read what other writers 'saw' in her image, go to https://rochellewisoff.com/  and follow the Frog trail.

 

ICE

‘Let’s go camping,’ he said.

‘In winter?’

‘Warm sleeping bags, a fire underthe stars, it’ll be romantic.’

It was easier to agree – he alwaysgot his own way eventually.

.... 

I woke to the sound of a growl andshook him awake. ‘Bears!’

He peered through the flap. ‘Can’tsee anything.’

‘There it is again – I’m scared.’

He went out, determined to provethis mere female wrong, and slipped on the ice.

As the huge mouth closed around hisbody I ran for the car.

 ....

True as I’m stood here.

'In a jail cell?'

Unfortunately the cops don’tbelieve me.

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Thanks as ever to Rochelle for running Friday Fictioneers, and to Roger Bultot for the photographic prompt. I've revived an old story for this week as I missed last week's FF, but I'm busy compiling a poetry book and subbing a novel, and my brain can't cope with too much at once these days!

 

TERRANIUM

They sat together in silence,

reading by lantern light,

oblivious to cicadas

and traffic noise alike,

as if they were enclosed

by a terranium of peace,

until her phone buzzed –

their hour was over.

 

She stood up,

closing her book.

‘Same time tomorrow?’

He nodded, smiling.

‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

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A cheeky one this time, combining three different prompts - this photo taken by Dale Rogerson (thanks, Dale) and twoTwitter prompts by @FromOneLine and @vss365. I hope you like the combination!

To read other interpretations on Friday Fictioneers, go to https://rochellewisoff.com/ and follow the Frog.

I've been sidetracked these past few weeks by other writing, of flash fiction and poetry - more about that when I'm ready to let it go public.