Category Archives: Friday Fictioneers

May 29, 2014 · 10:17 AM

Food and lodgings included (Friday Fictioneers)

Image by Jennifer Pendergast at http://elmowrites.wordpress.com/

Image by Jennifer Pendergast at http://elmowrites.wordpress.com/

FOR RENT: Spacious room with a view. Enquire within.

Mr Bottomsworth fell in love from the moment he saw the arched entranceway. Inside was perfect for tea parties and his cousins lived just down the hall.

And what a great landlord! Thoughtful enough to leave him some supper the very night he moved in. A big chunk of cheese right by his door.

He tucked his tail into his best dinner suit, smoothed down his whiskers and slipped out through the hole.

That first bite was magnificent.

Thwap!

Oh.

FOR RENT: Spacious room with a view. Enquire within.

************

To read more from Jessie Ansons, follow her on Twitter:

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/30-may-2014

55 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , , , , ,

May 21, 2014 · 7:35 PM

Not another soul (Friday Fictioneers)

Image

Image by Erin Leary at http://erinlearywrites.com

With each step closer to the river she peeled a layer of clothing from her body and dropped it to the ground. Her hunched shoulders relaxed; the tightness around her mouth released.

There was not another soul to be seen. Her naked legs stepped into the water. She scraped her fingers lightly across the surface and the gentle current wrapped around her middle.

She took in the deepest of breaths then let her body sink, leaving just her head above water.

It was so peaceful she could hear the swarm of flies already beginning to gather around his dead body.

***********

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/23-may-2014/

60 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , , , ,

May 18, 2014 · 7:50 PM

Not our first kid (Friday Fictioneers)

image

I’m in the backseat. And the car is surrounded by goats.

‘Mavis. Susie. Clementine.’ He acknowledges each of them as they pass.

‘Darl, look! It’s Josie. She’s just about to pop like you.’

I groan as another contraction reaches its peak.

He furrows his brow and mutters, ‘She seems to be handling it better though.’

‘Just. Get. Us. Moving! For God’s sake.’

‘Oh look, Darl! Josie’s coming to say hello.

The goat sticks her head through the open back window and bleats a loud ‘baaaaa’ right into my face.

I really shouldn’t have married a goat farmer.

****************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/05/14/16-may-2014/

26 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , , ,

May 7, 2014 · 7:54 PM

Them’s the brakes (Friday Fictioneers)

Image

Image by B. W. Beacham at http://salmonfishingqueen.wordpress.com/

‘It’s terminal,’ said the doctor, ‘there’s nothing I can do.’

Stuck in the mud, waves lapping at her wheels, she thought about her colourful life. Since her first day as a shopping trolley she loved her job. She got to meet the most interesting people: from young singles to elderly couples who had been together for years.

But the mums with babies were her favourite. The babies always drooled all over her but she gladly put up with that for the chance to hear their babbles and look into their sweet, innocent eyes.

She, herself, never had children.

************

To read more from Jessie Ansons, follow her on Twitter:

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/9-may-2014/

29 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , ,

April 30, 2014 · 9:59 PM

Wax on. Wax off. (Friday Fictioneers)

image

She let it burn. And it melted. And spilled over onto the floor.

‘Shit, Janet! Look what you did.’

I crouched down to catch the dripping wax. While my fingers burned, she rolled her eyes.

‘Lighten up.’

And that was all she said.

It wasn’t the first time she’d said that. But it would be the last.

The wax would dry hard into the rug. The cabinet would be marked forever. The scar across my knuckles: visible until the day I died.

Before she left, she pouted her lips and blew out the candle, leaving me alone in the dark.

************

To read more from Jessie Ansons, follow her on Twitter @jessieansons

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see:

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/2-may-2014/

36 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , ,

April 23, 2014 · 8:41 PM

The passionfruit brulee (Friday Fictioneers)

Image by Björn Rudberg at http://brudberg.wordpress.com

Image by Björn Rudberg at http://brudberg.wordpress.com

The blind date is going well until the passionfruit brulee arrives.

Inspired by the dessert and committed to getting deeper than small talk, I foolishly ask, ‘What’s your passion?’

‘What do you mean… passion?’

Passion.

The man in the corner, eyes closed, strums his guitar. The chef in the kitchen licks the spoon before adding one more pinch of salt. The woman outside swears into her phone. The taxi driver blasts his horn in frustration.

My date shrugs and says, ‘I kinda like cake.’

Cake.

I let out a long sigh.

‘Waiter! Can I have this brulee to go?’

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see: 

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/04/23/25-april-2014/

************

Like to read something longer from Jessie Ansons? Check out her recent blog post entitled Back to the daily commute.

54 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , ,

April 16, 2014 · 8:14 PM

Little Rabbit’s home (Friday Fictioneers)

Image by Douglas M. MacIlroy at http://ironwoodwind.wordpress.com/

Image by Douglas M. MacIlroy at http://ironwoodwind.wordpress.com/

Big Ted has a temporary house made of cushions from the lounge. His car is parked out front. He uses a tea-towell for a bed, and a tissue box for a chair. Jemima lives in the fully-furnished doll’s house. It is spacious with two storeys and a pool.

Little Rabbit is on the carpet between the houses. He doesn’t really have a home anymore and he doesn’t want to choose. It was easier when Jemima and Big Ted lived together.

Under the tiny cotton nose on Little Rabbit’s face, someone with a permanent marker has drawn a big black frown.

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see: 

http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/04/16/18-april-2014

************

Like to find out more about Jessie Ansons? Check out her recently updated ‘Achievements’ page here.

39 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

April 9, 2014 · 8:09 PM

La Siesta (Friday Fictioneers)

Image by DLovering at http://40again.com/

Image by DLovering at http://40again.com/

During siesta the city sleeps. The streets are silent; not a soul to be seen.

During siesta a young girl cries in a phone booth. A toddler plays with his trucks. An old woman watches Days of our Lives. Two lovers make love.

During siesta a doctor treats his patients. A mother sips her coffee. A girl braids her sister’s hair. A man changes a light globe. A woman vacuums the rug. A baby cries for a feed. An old man dies.

During siesta the streets are silent.

And the city is very much alive.

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see: http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/11-april-2014

************

Like to find out more about Jessie Ansons? Check out her recently updated ‘Achievements’ page here.

57 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , , ,

April 2, 2014 · 6:57 PM

The darkness above the lights (Friday Fictioneers)

Image by Ken Bonham at http://wmqcolby.wordpress.com/

Image by Ken Bonham at http://wmqcolby.wordpress.com/

Hidden in the darkness above the lights and perched on a dusty beam he watches her perform. She throws her body across the wooden floor: the passion, the pain, the sorrow of lost love.
Next to him sits a little grey mouse.
They wait for the audience to leave.
Then, the mouse scurries along the beam and hops to the floor, hoping to find something to eat.
He swings down too, hoping to catch her before she leaves. Hoping to tell her how he feels.
Hoping to find dropped food.
Hoping to find lost love.
But they find neither.

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochelle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see: http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/28-march-2014/

************

Want to read more from Jessie Ansons? Check my post on our recent trip to Singapore called Is travelling with a baby difficult? Not necessarily… 

64 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , , ,

March 25, 2014 · 9:34 PM

Starting the climb (Friday Fictioneers)

Image by John Nixon at http://www.thesupercargo.com/

Image by John Nixon at http://www.thesupercargo.com/

‘Hurry, scurry!’ she says impatiently.

Her toes grip either side of the trunk and she pulls up onto the next branch.

She’ll say that to me one hundred and fifty-three times. As we ride our bikes along the pier in the rain, as I clamber through her window on a warm Tuesday night, as I leaf through the menu at La Petite Castille, as I muddle my words down on one shaky knee, as I work out the meaning of two lines versus one.

‘Hurry, scurry!’

But for now, she simply wants me to climb the tree.

************

Friday Fictioneers is a challenge set by Rochout elle Fields where writers around the world create 100 word stories inspired by the one image. For more information see: http://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/28-march-2014/

************

Want to read more from Jessie Ansons? Check my post on the search for the perfect Una-don called It’s a moray: My love for Japanese eel.

58 Comments

Filed under Friday Fictioneers

Tagged as , , , , ,