Friday Fictioneers is hosted by the wonderful Rochelle, the undisputed master of what I call Sound Bite Fiction.
She sets the weekly challenge, and the standard.
Today’s wintry photo is by the lovely Lady R herself.
I look at it, look through my open windows at the sunshine and the blue Mediterranean sky, and decide to create something spiritually uplifting.
The idea, as always, is to write a story of around 100 words based on the picture, below.
© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Click here to hear me read this 1-minute story:
Divorce
I hate Horace, her horse.
He cost me a fortune to buy, and exorbitant amounts to maintain.
I still love her, but she wants a divorce.
I am working on the corral as she dismounts.
Labouring work, she mocks, that’s your level, isn’t it?
Please, I say, can’t we try to work things out?
You couldn’t work out your age with a calculator, she scoffs.
I worked all my life, I shout, I paid for all this!
Sign the papers, hero, she sneers.
I raise my hand, still holding the hammer, bring it crashing down.
Horace drops like a stone.
Sound Bite Fiction 
Great tale, well told but the poor horse. Another piece of collateral damage I feel
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Now that’s extracting his pound of horse flesh. But I think he got the wrong nag.
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When you claim to write something uplifting, my alarm bells ring. I was not disappointed. The poor horse. From the type of his revenge on an innocent animal I’m inclined to side with the lady, nasty as she is. Sorry… 🙂
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Eeeekkk … por Horace. I guess someone had to pay. He was a better choice than her.
No sense in ruining his life for her. BUT … sad that Horace is gone. 😫
Isadora 😎
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Loved that powerful ending. Poor Horace, didn’t know he would die over such an event, an event which could have been coincidence or perhaps more. It’s something I doubt you’d ever really know but always wonder. Divine intervention? A curse? Hugs CE. Enjoy your Friday.
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Hmmm. Well written but I’m not happy about Horace.
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I have some bad news, Paul.
Horace does not give two flying toots about you.
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Ouch!
Wasn’t that a little too harsh?
The poor horse was an innocent by-stander.
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You’d prefer that the lady had got brained?
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Hey, leave Horace out of it!
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Did you not see the smug look on his face?
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I guess THAT’LL teach her, huh? I’m with Russell on the line “work out your age with a calculator.” I guess what struck me about the story was how vividly I could see the settings and the scenario. Super!
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Thanks, Kent, it is most rewarding when a reader gets the full picture from a 100-word story.
And glad the detail worked too.
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It most certainly did. Bravissimo!
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It’s always the hardest on the kids. I missed the uplifting part.
Tracey
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Hmm, maybe I skipped that bit
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Poor Horace being caught in the middle of those two! Perhaps he was only concussed and recovered sufficiently to kick seven bells of hell out of the pair of them!
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That was actually not my intention, but I am always delighted when a talented reader appends her own denouement to my tale!
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They seem a right pair, I expect that she took the hammer of him and hit him right back
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Now, now, Michael, you know what an escalation of violence can lead to
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He should have hit her on the head!
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Dear Mermaid, you are surely not suggesting that I resort to physical violence against a lady.
For you:
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That one deserved it! 😉
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I love the line, “work out your age with a calculator.” That must have been the happy part as I felt my soar during that stanza. Is this Maxwell’s Silver Hammer we’re talking about.
This woman sound must be related to Henry’s mother in my story. Thanks for helping to eliminate that nag.
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That nag!
That was funny for you, Russell!
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Oh, ouch! That was a good one! 🙂
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Oops, sorry, mind your head, dear lady
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Almost expected that she would wake up with Horace’s head next to her… but I guess he got his point through. Blunt and “cheerful” 🙂
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And less messy than a shotgun, which I believe is your weapon of choice!
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Apart from hating the death of an innocent animal, I think she got what she deserved.
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Psst…
No Horaces were hurt in the writing of this story.
Honest, Liz
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Oh no, poor Horace, it’s always the kids and the pets that suffer most in a divorce – hopefully not as badly as Horace… Excellent.
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Thanks, Iain
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Consider me spiritually uplifted. And a tiny bit nauseous too… 😦
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Laughing. Nice one, Sandra
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She doesn’t know how lucky she is.
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Doesn’t she read my blog?
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Wow! That last line made me snicker! Luckily I had just finished my last sip of coffee.
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You ladies are kinda weird today.
Well, most days, I guess…
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I was thinking “most days” myself as I read your reply. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you.
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Brilliant. Totally unexpected ending. Love it.
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Brilliant. Totally unexpected comment. Love it.
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I will try to vary my comments
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Gosh no, Al, don’t ever change
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I hope he has a deep freeze! Fresh horsemeat is pretty good, I hear. I thought of you a few days ago while watching Mrs. Brown. The breathtaking vistas of the highlands made me wistful, and Billy Connolly has much the same flair as you do. Scotland forever!
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I hear she has a lovely daughter…
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The ultimate revenge!
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Kinda appropriate
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I know I should feel horror at poor Horace’s brutal demise but I can’t help applauding the narrator
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You have quite a sick mind, Siobhan, I do admire that in a lady
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Dear C.E.
I certainly feel uplifted now. Thank you. Your reading brings the story to life…or Horace’s death, as it were. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Then my day is filled with joy, m’lady!
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Utterly and appallingly believable. Well done!
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Laughing, thank you.
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