The rescued quarter pig

This piece was written for the weekly Six Sentence challenge, with the prompt word of 'quarter'. Every evening I'd see my neighbours out walking their dogs and I decided I should get one as well, so one Saturday I went for a country drive to see if there were any signs out advertising new litters. …

Christmas presence

This piece was re-worked from an earlier version for the Six Sentence challenge, with the prompt word 'presence'. Who knows how long this will last but whatever each generation brings, there will be totems of the past fixed firmly insistent in each of our minds, totems with faces carved in the hard woods that only …

The Powerful Jab

This piece was written for the Six Sentence challenge, with the prompt word of 'powerful'. Morgan’s sententious diatribe, elucidating to the assembled dinner party his unsolicited views on a divisive issue, had lasted through the better part of two bottles of wine, the latter of which was the bottle that Morgan had brought to the …

The J curves

This piece was written for the weekly Six Sentence Challenge with the prompt word of 'rivalry'. All of her sons (Jebediah, Jared, Jehosophat, James, Japheth and Jonah) stood at the open grave of Judith Johannson (nee Jericho), where she would finally rest adjacent to her late husband, Joshua. The rivalry between the sons was legendary …

A little perspective always helps

This piece was written for the Six Sentence story challenge, with the prompt word of 'improvise'. Relativity July 1953 Woodcut 28.2x29.4cm ‘Mr. Moneybags, sorry to call you but I’m having difficulty giving instructions to the crew working on your new home, including the carpenters working on the stairs, especially when the architect’s drawings you sent …

Let the pawnishment fit the crime

This piece was written for the Six Sentence challenge, with 'pawn' as the prompt word. Bill droned on with a seemingly interminable tale about his grandfather’s prowess at chess and I had reached the point where my eyes had taken on the appearance of glazed doughnuts, so I interrupted with ‘So he was a pawn …

More bubbly?

This piece was written for the weekly Six Sentence challenge with the prompt word of 'effervescence'. After Arabella had finished lamenting the loss of her latest boyfriend, Babs breathlessly unloaded that the trouble with Arabella was that she was insufficiently bubbly, too po-faced, not enough fizz, and that guys don’t want to know about what …

Walking again

This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge with the prompt word of 'walk'. Two little girls lay in Iron Lung Machines while being treated for Polio. Their family looks in from the window outside. Photo courtesy Getty Images It was the 1950’s and a three-year-old boy called out in the night for a …

It’s a little hot in here

This amusement was written for D'Verse's prompt to write 144 words of prose that must include this line from Shel Silverstein's poem, Invitation. 'If you're a dreamer, come in.' If you are a dreamer, come in to Beelzebub’s Emporium of Chance here at the Hades Hotel in downtown Inferno. Every day’s your lucky day when …

Heroine chic

This piece was written for the Carrot Ranch's weekly 99-word flash fiction challenge, with the prompt of 'rethink the hero'. A ballsy Amazon, with a prodigious cleavage and legs that go all the way up to her backside, storms into a cave and kicks the crap out of The Devil Personified and, supposedly, women everywhere …