Category: writing

“Mama, lookit the birdy!” Melia whisper-yelled, pointing to the array of toys on the counter of Loren’s stall. In the week since they’d last come to the central market, Melia had talked almost non-stop about the toys Loren made from goldenglow wood.

Continue reading “A Rare Bird”

Mo squirmed in the cramped lecture hall seat. Who would’ve thought that a subject as interesting and exciting as taking care of exotic familiars could be made soooo boring?! The field trips to the barn and the pastures where the gryphons and pegasi lived were fun. It was the endless lectures on the specific amount of each ingredient in the food that was becoming boring. She shook her head and forced herself to pay attention to the lecture.

Continue reading “Care and Feeding”

Serena watched Melia toddle around the main room of the house. Well, living quarters… whatever. Serena didn’t think the cookie-cutter. attached nature of the housing unit really qualified as a “house.” The company had given all its archaeological contractors housing in the newer section of the city while they excavated the ruins that had been discovered about five kilometers north. Serena would have preferred to live in the old town section, where the native Talus architecture soared, swirled, dipped, and curved in almost impossible shapes giving the buildings a fairy-tale appearance. But free housing was free housing and at least they had enough down time so they could take Melia and explore the area.

Continue reading “Toy Tester”

Tessa stared around at, well, everything, in the sitting room. Surprisingly, her Uncle Paul, her father’s estranged brother had agreed to see her and that meant Tessa was now over one hundred miles from home, perched on the edge of an uncomfortable chair in a sitting room filled with a myriad of instruments, books, parchments, and… was that an umbrella balanced on its tip on a globe? She shook her head and continued to survey the room. A glimmer of metallic rainbow colors from the corner opposite the umbrella and away from the window, had her out of her seat and across the room before she even realized she was moving.

Continue reading “Repairing Family”

Mari stared at the map. To get to the ocean they knew was to the east, they’d have to go through what satellite imagery was suggesting was a barren wasteland with no plant or animal life, no water, and no natural shelter.

Continue reading “Prompt: Adventure Awaits!”

I stared at the schedule for the week’s shows. We all worked in all areas of the show, but the cleanup was always on a first-come-first-served basis. If you got to the roster last, you got the crap job… literally. Trust me. When elephants fly, you don’t want to be on cleanup.

Continue reading “There Are Some Jobs…”

I peered through the door, then pulled back to stare around the tree. Yep, the scenery was different around and behind the tree than it was through the tree. There were several puzzling things about this. First, the basic question – why was there a door in the tree to begin with? Secondly – where would I be if I stepped through that door? The view through the door was very attractive. Green, lush, and filled with sunlight. Extremely inviting indeed. I didn’t remember ever running across this patch of woods before and I’d been roaming this neighborhood for a couple months now.

Continue reading “Through the Tree”

“Apologize to the judge, or else!” a woman’s voice yelled, echoing off the linoleum floors and metal lockers lining the hallway.

“Or what? He’s gonna put me in jail? You’re gonna ground me?” a locker slammed shut, and the snarky tone came rolling back as somebody ran up the stairs to the second- floor classrooms.

Continue reading “MOTE Prompt: Kids”

Looming silently over the landscape for thousands of years, the standing stones had puzzled scholars and archaeologists, both amateur and professional, for as long as anyone in Plainstone could remember. It was clear the town had been named for the stones, but how they got there, who put them there, and what they meant was a puzzle. The circle stood about five miles outside of town and was a popular spot among local teenagers to get away from their parents. As was common among teenagers, it never occurred to them that their parents had done the same thing.

Continue reading “MOTE Prompt: Rings of Stone”

Jason pulled the collar of his jacket up and hunched his shoulders in a vain attempt to keep his ears warm. He should have brought a hat, but if he ran home to get it now, he’d miss his train and be late for work. The day was grey and cloudy, but he didn’t remember the weather report saying anything about it being this cold. He glanced around at the crowd streaming down the sidewalk. Nobody else seemed bothered by the wind and the cold. Jason shook his head. He thought he was pretty well acclimated but maybe not.

Continue reading “MOTE Prompt: Tea and a Proposal”