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.
This week’s wonderfully bizarre prompt photo is courtesy of Anshu Bhojnagarwala.
The idea, as always, is to write a story of around 100 words based on this picture, below.
© Anshu Bhojnagarwala
Click here to hear the writer read his words:
These Foolish Things
A tinkling piano in the next apartment…
I hear the tune sighing through a second floor window.
I love that song.
Especially when she plays it.
Sometimes she stops, asks me to play, and she dances.
That is always the prelude to a romantic interlude.
She says the song, and the dance, always have that effect on her.
She is an expert pianist with an unmistakeable style.
I wonder who she is teaching in this building.
She stops, someone else continues.
I look up, see her body sway past a window.
I know who lives there.
Portuguese Tony.
Sound Bite Fiction 
This is getting very complicated! Intrigued.
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That Tony is trouble!
Great story 🙂
-Rachel
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But not altogether in a bad way!
Thank you, Rachel.
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Oh, that Portuguese Tony had better be gone! Nicely told!
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Laughing. He brightens up the story!
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Beautiful set-up and execution in this little tale. Obviously, she’s a fun-loving lass.
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Thanks, Russell.
Maybe she’s from Oklahoma! and is just a gal who cain’t say no…
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Oh no. I was looking forward to a nice schmalzy ending. Poor fella.
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Schmaltzy? Me?
Laughing. Have you never been here before, Margaret?
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Ha. Silly me.
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I love that song. Makes me feel nostalgic for an era I didn’t even live through. So Portuguese Tony strikes again? He is a cad and a bounder. Where will his foul deeds take him? Can the man ever be stopped? I have a feeling we will learn more … Cracking story, C. Not so much for the lady of course
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It has an inherent appeal, doesn’t it, Lynn, although it is even before my time and I’m the oldest person in the Western world.
Tony is just being Tony, and the lady, caught up in the music, just momentarily forgot that she was a lady.
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A tush, C – you’re but a spring chick! And as for ladies forgetting they’re ladies, well I suppose they do that sometimes. Tony must have his charms. 🙂
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Oh, my. Just like a bad penny. 😊
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I love ‘Oh, my’!
Thank you.
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Portuguese Tony! Damn that feller! Where’s the horsewhip?
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Too good for that cad, sir, jolly old keelhaul’s the thing for Johnny Foreigner, don’t you know!
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You made me cackle with your last line, CE! Mind you, when it comes to romance with a neighbour, I would remind you of the conventional wisdom that you don’t deposit anything on your own doorstep…
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Sorry, Penny, you used two words I don’t understand, ‘conventional’ and ‘wisdom’.
But ‘cackle’ I can relate to!
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So that Tony has come back again to make lives miserable.
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He’s not an easy guy to get rid off, is he?
Great photo, Anshu, so many ideas from it!
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That scoundrel!
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Oh, strong words, Dawn!
And I thought I’d never get rid of her!
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You could send Portuguese Tony to sea on Black Beards ship, then he might find a new lady friend
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I think that ship has sailed, Mike!
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The “tune sighing” pretty much sums up this onlookers predicament.
Sigh. 😊
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What’s a guy to do, Andy, what’s a guy to do?
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Dear CE,
…Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant…Tony Portuguese is some stiff competition.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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But this time he has done These Foolish Things…
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😀
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Aah, the sour notes of betrayal…
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Fado, perhaps?
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Ha ha ha
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Will you keep looking or do something? Isn’t the same Tony you disliked so much? Or the guy who caught you with binocular in hand?
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He has been around a lot recently, hasn’t he?
Maybe it’s time to take action…
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Excellent story!
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Thank you!
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Portugese Tony is a real pain in the butt! But brilliantly told ;classic!!
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Thank you, sir, perhaps steps should be taken…
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Dang!
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Language, dear lady, language!
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Portuguese Tony sure have a way of always rub you the wrong way…
Is there no way to put a stop the rascal?
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You know me, Bjorn, peace-loving and non-violent.
And a fibber.
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That Tony gets around and no mistake 🙂
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He’s a bit of a lad, for sure!
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Est-ce qu’il sait qu’il est devenu un personnage apprécié dans tes histoires ?
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Non, il ne sait même pas son nom!
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Tu ne l’as jamais appelé Tony Casquette ?
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Oui, mais il oublie tout!
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Le retour de Tony Casquette ! 😂
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Et voilà!
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Maybe it’s just Portuguese Tony’s ghost, messing with your protagonist’s head?
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Doesn’t take much to mess with my head!
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How dare she – right on your doorstep like that!
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Well, not actually the doorstep, that would be tacky!
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That blasted Portugese Tony. I know a good hitman if you’re interested.
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Is his name Ayr?
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I wouldn’t dare say!
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Oh dear. That’s one of the drawbacks of canoodling with your neighbours. Nicely done.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Comment of the week, because I love the word ‘canoodling’, haven’t heard it in years!
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Portuguese Tony again? I thought we’d seen the last of him. And this lady appears to be willing to accept any partner, as long as it’s her song 🙂
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Keeps turning up like a bad centavo!
She is just a friendly lass, maybe?
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Maybe–or too soft-hearted to kick him to the curb 🙂
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The workings of a lady’s mind are way outwith my sphere of understanding, ma’am
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I thought you eliminated Portuguese Tony last week? Oh well, now you have a real reason to!
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That’s the problem with fiction, Trent, people don’t stay dead!
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Yeah, I know, and with Portuguese Tony it sounds like it could be a huge problem. That character is Trouble with a capital “T”. Someone you wish would stay dead….
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Jings, I’m the writer, he’s as dead as I want him to be!
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Portuguese Tony sure seems to have a personal vendetta against you!
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Nah, he’s like this with everyone!
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Portuguese Tony sure gets around!
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He’s a versatile dude!
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Portuguese Tony – just the name – sound so menacing I think I’d move on.
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Nah, he’s a sweetheart!
Sometimes too much so.
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This creates the lovely sense that the piano migrates around the apartment building.
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Waiting for a cartoon character to pass so it can fall out of the window…
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Nice – and loved the ending! 😉
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Thank you, Jennifer
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