Walking - by Marita Decosta

She was walking, how curious, not the fact that she was walking that's silly, but why would she suddenly realize she is taking a walk, and feel quite happy about it. Each step produced an interesting sound. Walking in bare feet made a certain sound, as did walking in high heels, boots, sneakers, and flip flops, but this sound was none of those She stopped walking, and pressed her sensory perception a bit beyond the audible. The first to respond was the skin on the tip of her nose, then her cheeks, both replied in perfect harmony, “it's cold”, yes she thought, the air, it's cold, but I feel warm, how odd. Time to up the ante and bring visual fully online, she knew her eyes were open but she wasn't really consciously observing at the moment, another mystery, why would she not?

A Winters Tale - Part 1 by Lillian Morpork

Abigail Thornbuckle stood watching the birds at the balcony feeders. There were Sparrows, Chickadees, a Purple Martin, a Tanager and even a pair of Cardinals. She loved watching them, though she was careful not to go close to the window.

In from the Cold - part 2 - by Sven Pertelson

Tom was frozen to the core by the time he had trudged back to his flat. He quickly hooked the video camera up to his laptop to download the footage and while it was working treated himself to a good hot shower. At least he had not drawn the night watch on this operation, no warm café for whoever had to spend the night watching the park.

"North Pole" An insider's perspective by Tami

Santa leaned back in his black reindeer leather lay-z-boy, put his winter-booted feet up on an old bourbon crate, and took a long swig of Budweiser. After swilling the warm, flat, beer around his mouth, he spewed it over the railing onto one of the elves working below, letting out a deep belly laugh as he gave the little twerp a beer shower. Sighing because his beer was now too warm to enjoy, he lit up a nice Cuban cigar and inhaled a lungful of the sweet, rum-dipped, tobacco smoke before flinging the half-full beer can at a passing elf. Ah well, it was almost noon and he hated drinking more than a couple of dozen beer before his lunch. It was time to switch to Jack and Eggnog. Feeling a rumbling in his stomach, he let out a long carbonated, beer smelling, belch and closed his eyes for a short nap under his sunlamp.

Drowning - Part 2 - Marita Decosta (from November)

He made it back into the drivers seat of the van, closer to the vents that were blasting on high with slowly warming air, grasping the steering wheel as hard as he could to try and still the shivering and shaking and attempt to return some more feeling and control back into his hands and arms.

Your Inspiration for November 2013

 

Waves of  Life by Elin Egoyan

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 4

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 4

"I guess it's a good thing I couldn't get the skin off," I said. "Now I just need to shape it a bit to make it look like it BELONGS in the painting. And then find a way to seal the skin itself. It wouldn't do to have it fall apart before the auction." I smiled. This was exciting... Overnight Boa had turned a tragic incident into a money making venture. I hoped... fingers crossed.

Staring at the sea - part 2 - Sven Pertelson

Rob had regretted his joy at being alone on his boat only a week later. He had made good time through the Red Sea and had only made one stop at Port Sudan. The advice he got there was that staying close the the Somalian shore was the best way to avoid the local pirates. The tended to be looking for larger ships on the major deep water shipping lanes. It was pure economics, larger ships were owned by larger companies and these had more money for ransom.

Waves of Life – part 3 – Lillian Morpork

Waves of Life – part 3 – Lillian Morpork

The story so far:.
A young woman is with an archaeology team on a strange planet. They are there with government permission, but some of the natives object to aliens digging up their past. Some of the most aggressive sneak into the dig and capture her while she sleeps. She wakes in a boat floating down a river. Someone had stowed a lot of supplies in the boat, so after she wakes, and realises she is heading for a tall cataract, she manages to steer the boat to shore. She retrieves the supplies and send the boat off to crash over the falls. By the time she had made her was up from the river bank, it is late, so she sets up camp and settles for the night. She is wakened by the sound of yipping and howling and something circling the tent. When she peeks out, she sees natives dancing around. One sees her and forces her to come out of the tent.

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 3

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 3

The drive home was a blur... I had even forgotten to clean up my paints in my office. And the back seat was empty of the artwork that usually occupied it. I never even noticed. My dinner that night was quick and sparse. I skipped washing the dishes and went right to bed.

Waves of Life - part 2 - by Lillian Morpork

The story thus far:

The narrator was with an archeology group that ran into trouble with a group of natives who resented strangers digging into their past. Two of them were extremely aggressive, and one night when she was sleeping, they gave her a drug and placed her in a boat and sent her off down the river. One friend managed to place survival gear in the boat while the natives were carrying her to where it was hidden.

On regaining consciousness, she realised where she was and what had happened. She found the supplies, packed a backpack and attached all that she could to the belt of the backpack. She then used the rudder to steer the boat to shore, removed all that she could, and sent the boat down river where it would go over a high cataract.

The story continues:

I turned and surveyed what seemed to be an impenetrable wall of growth. Bushes, shrubs and small trees lined the top of the bank, and every one seemed to have thorns, claw-like growths, saw tooth edged leaves and twigs. With my hair down, I would soon be caught irrevocably, held fast until I died and my body became food for the growth.

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 2

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 2

I stood up from my painting... Put my brushes in their cleaning solution... then followed the boy to the back room of the Reptile cages. As he opened the door I could see the problem right away. All I could say was... "Good heavens boy... WHAT have you done?"

Out of a Dream – part 1 - by Lillian Morpork

Slowly I became aware; aware of a rising, falling, swaying sensation that made me dizzy, and slightly nauseous. I realised that my eyes were closed, and after a moment’s struggle, was able to open them. But I had to close them immediately; the light was so blindingly bright it sent stabs of pain into my head. I waited as I gradually grew more aware.

Staring at the sea - part 1 - by Sven Pertelson

Rob stared out to sea. The pieces of wood floating in on the tide might be some of the wreckage of his boat. If it stopped raining he would go down the beach and see if he could drag some in and pull them above the high tide mark. They might come in useful, if only as fuel. For now he would stay as dry as he could in the makeshift shelter of leaves and branches he had made for himself after being washed ashore after the storm. How long ago was that? Two or three days?

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 1

"Gods Little Creatures" by Llola Lane PART 1

Working at the local zoo is no picnic it is hard work. I am there early in the morning and stay til late at night. Being the reptile curator keeps me busy. The only relaxation I get is on my lunch hour, when I can work on my painting. Painting helps me to relax and the cares of the day seem to fade away. Everyone knows I paint and they usually leave me alone for an hour or so. I've made myself a nice little corner in my office to work. I am careful to clean up my paints when I am finished, so the animals are not smelling them all day. Then I take my artwork home each night to dry. The paint I use dry’s pretty fast.