Wordzlle 101

OK – so following on from finishing Maggie’s story I’ve had a few weeks away from Raven’s ever intriguing competiton, but I’m back this week to pay respects to one of the regular participators – the much missed Dr John/Fandango (without whose presence Wordzzles will never be the same)

The reason I took a few weeks away was because there were other, factual things, that I wanted to talk about and hadn’t had time to do: so in the spirit of this the first of my Wordzzles this week is based on something that actually happened to me

As usual the rules are that Raven, or a willing volunteer, submit a total of fifteen words which can be used to create a mini, main or mega story (or all three if the mood takes you)

My “main” this week marks the start of what may or may not (probably not, knowing my attention span) become a semi-regular series of thoughts about things that have happened to me (the title of which will say it all)

Words this week were: 10-word challenge are: smoothness, crafty, purchase, brief, chirping, forever, shift, moonrise, lampshade, stereotypeFor the mini: remembrance, Dr. John, Agent 012, dragons, Fortress

The Main (smoothness, crafty, purchase, brief, chirping, forever, shift, moonrise, lampshade, stereotype)

The Various Women In My Life Vol 1: RW

She was attractive in a quiet way. Not in an “in your face” unobtainable way, but someone whom you felt that you just might stand a chance was.

Of course, being me I had as much chance of catching her as I had of catching moonlight. I was seventeen and my knowledge of women extended little further than my mother. Not, I have to admit, that I was that bothered. I’d only just recovered from an infatuation with a girl so far out of my league that I’d’ve had to shift universes just to stand a lampshade’s chance of shielding the sun. But there we were, on the same photography course together and, well…

It wasn’t even as if I was that attracted to her, but there was something about the smell of her hair when you stood behind her in a pitch-black darkroom that made me want to reach out and do the sort of things that I had only heard about on late night TV. She was something of a stereotype 17 year old girl – the kind of girl who always had to go to the toilet with another woman so that she could gossip about whichever waste of oxygen of a man she was infatuated with at the time, each brief liaison teaching her few life lessons. She was so naïve that when she was trying to keep her phone number from her latest infatuation she made the mistake of telling it to another lad on the course – who went around all day singing her number until everyone knew it (I still know it now and will probably remember it forever)

But the reason I remember her is purely for the night in the chip shop (and for Americans – think French Fries)

In addition to the training course in the daytime we had found ourselves on the same evening course (purely by accident). It was dark, but we decided to go out into the street and take some night shots of the traffic. She decided that she was hungry and suggested that we buy some chips.

Just a few yards down the road was the chip shop and we entered, opening the door with easy smoothness. The man behind the counter asked us what we wanted, shooting me a crafty look as we selected our purchase.

I felt an unexplainable moment of pride. This man thought that she was my girlfriend. No one had ever thought I was capable of getting a woman as attractive as this, not even me. In that moment the birds were chirping in my head, I felt tall and strong: capable of anything despite my usual shyness.

Thursday night, on my way home from the train, I went into that chip shop again. The chips were just as good as I remembered.

The Mini: (remembrance, Dr. John, Agent 012, dragons, Fortress)

NB: in one of his responses to Maggie’s story Dr John/AKA Fandango commented that he thought the Dragons had once met her – although that lady was not Maggie: this is her story. In memory of Dr John.

Elsie Thomas And The Dragon

Once upon a long ago
In the land of Hernextdoor
There lived amongst the dragons
A lady who declared war

She didn’t have a fortress
It was just a little shack
And it took half a morning to clean
Cos she had trouble with her back

And though she complained about the council
They’d never cleared her street
When Agent 012 came to ask for help
She knew she must compete

He said he’d had some trouble
With the dragons on the hill
A row had recently broken out
Through the boys looking for a thrill

The dragons had remembrance
For the things that had been said
So they burned down the local cinema
And burned every book they’d read

The council tried to kick them out
But the dragons would not yield
So they sent for Elsie Thomas
And she set off across the field

Her sleeves got swiftly rolled up tight
Her coat was buttoned up
She wouldn’t take no nonsense
And told them to shut up

But she never tried to fight them
She invited them to tea
And they talked about it openly
Till both sides felt quite free

To call a truce and come to peace
That would last for many years
Long after Elsie Thomas
Had sorted out their fears

So when you have a dragon round
Don’t wish that they were gone
Just welcome them like long lost friends
And think of Dr. John