11 January 2013

Published January 9, 2013 by rochellewisoff

WELCOME TO FRIDAY FICTIONEERS WHERE EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

 

We are a growing community of blogging writers who come together each week from all parts of the globe to share individual flash fictions from a single photo prompt. The prompt goes up early Wednesday morning  CST to give each writer time to compose a story by Friday. Some use the photo as a mere inspiration while others use it as an illustration. Use your imagination and think outside the box.

WARNING! This is an addiction for which there is no 12 step recovery program.

THE CHALLENGE:

Write a one hundred word story that has a beginning, middle and end. (No one will be ostracized for going over or under the word count.)

THE KEY:

Make every word count.

THE RULES:

      • Copy your URL to the Linkz collection. You’ll find the tab following the photo prompt. It’s the little white box to the left with the blue froggy guy. Click on it and follow directions. This is the best way to get the most reads and comments.
      • MAKE SURE YOUR LINK  IS SPECIFIC TO YOUR FLASH FICTION. 

If your link is to an advertisement or any type of platform, be it religious or political, it will be deleted.

Should you find that you’ve made an error you can delete by clicking the little red ‘x’ that should appear under your icon. Then re-enter your URL. (If there’s no red x email me at Runtshell@aol.com. I can delete the wrong link for you).

If your blog requires multiple steps for visitors to leave comments, see if you can simplify it.  Please, for the sake or our writerly nerves, disable CAPTCHA –that wavy line of unreadable letters and numbers. This mainly applies to Blogspot.  It’s frustrating to have to leave a DNA sample, your blood type and your shoe size  just to make a comment. (So I exaggerate. But hopefully you get the picture).

  • Make note in your blog if you’d prefer not to have constructive criticism.

EXERCISE DISCRETION AT ALL TIMES WHEN COMMENTING ON A STORY! BE RESPECTFUL. THIS IS NOT  THE TIME OR PLACE PLACE TO PROMOTE POLITICAL OR RELIGIOUS VIEWS.  IF YOU HAVE SEVERE OR HOSTILE DIFFERENCES OF OPINION WITH ANOTHER PERSON PLEASE TAKE IT TO EMAIL OR ANOTHER METHOD OF PRIVATE MESSAGING.

Thanks to Roger Cohen for the photo and a bit of education. 😉

Copyright-Roger Cohen

Copyright-Roger Cohen




get the InLinkz code

ANDANTE

Genre: Historical Fiction

“These are days when many are discouraged. In the 93 years of my life, depressions have come and gone. Prosperity has always returned and will again.”– John D. Rockefeller 

October 29, 1929 was known as Black Tuesday. It was the day the stock market crashed and ushered in the 10 years known as the Great Depression.  

Click here for the music that served as inspiration for this story. 

On Black Tuesday Pop lost his Wall Street job.

Destitute, he sold everything except Mom’s prized vase and his bass violin.

One afternoon, drawn by phonograph music, I wandered into his room.  Hunched over, he held a gun to his temple.

“No Pop!” I knocked it from his grasp.

It discharged. The bullet ricocheted off the wall, just missed my forehead and shattered Mom’s vase.

 “My God!” He crushed me against his chest.

…………..

           From 1931 to 1962 Pop toured the Borscht Belt with a swing band. His zest for life was contagious.

Incidentally, Mom never mentioned her vase.

To read about the Borscht Belt click here.

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.

.

.Black Tuesday

103 comments on “11 January 2013

  • Love your story. I am always intrigued by that era.
    Questions about the prompt: You say thanks to Roger Cohen for the photo and bit of education.1. Is that education private, did I miss it, can you share it?
    2. Those are violins, right, not cello’s?
    3.What are the things that look like clothes pins on the strings? (Don’t laugh at my ignorance! Oh well go ahead) 😉

    Like

  • Hi Rochelle,
    You list the genre as historical fiction, but this is so real it seems like personal experience. I think the use of first person made it more authentic. I like the historical connection and including the musical bonus. It’s like finding a prize in a box of Crackerjacks! Ron

    Like

    • Dear Ron,
      Thank you. While first person isn’t always my first choice this story needed it. As for the music, the Koussevitzy piece and the picture are what changed my historical direction. On the photo is the musicians autograph with the date, 22 October 1929, one week before Black Tuesday. It always amazes me where the “muses” take me. Glad you liked it,
      shalom,
      Rochelle

      Like

    • Dear Tom,
      Fascinating era for me too. No doubt you’ve heard of the Borscht Belt ;). I cut my baby teeth on some those entertainers’ shticks…Milton Berle, Jerry Lewis, and one who will always be my favorite, Danny Kaye to name-drop a few.

      Like

  • Sorry – only time to ‘like’ before, now can comment! I really liked the way it was put into 2 ‘parts’ – that ‘epilogue’ feel came in nicely…believe it or not I ‘studied’ the ‘trajectory’ of the bullet! (with a pencil when sitting here!) That was my only worry…but you’ll have to excuse those kind of tendencies in me as a reader! Thanks for the story!

    Like

  • I’m so glad she stopped him and he found a new lease of life. A lovely story, and it made me go google chasing for the ‘Borscht Belt’ – now I know what the resort was in Dirty Dancing!

    Like

  • a great way to learn about historical events like the Great Depression. what a time…so many people with so many stories of tragedy and despair. your story at least left us on a high note. thanks!

    Like

    • My uncle owned a small employment agency in Monticello, NY. He got my brother a job in one of the Borscht Belt hotels in the mid 60’s.
      I grew up on those entertainers…Sid Caesar, Jerry Lewis, Burns and Allen, etc etc.
      A great legacy.
      Thanks for the kudos, Rich.

      Like

  • Dear Rochelle,

    A vase is just a thing. A father is everything.

    Your story was lovely and heartfelt and powerful. You packed a lifetime into those hundred words and avoided the pitfalls of the prompt with ease.

    Aloha,

    Doug

    Liked by 1 person

  • I loved the last line too. Your historical pieces are always so educational. Thanks for the link to music – quite haunting in light of your story.

    Like

  • Since I’m so late to the party, all the kudos have been given. It is, as I would expect, a touching, realistic, personal story, a story that not only makes us feel but leads us to learn. Bravo.

    janet
    P.S. Kudos to Mom, too, for never mentioning the vase!

    Like

  • You definitely captured one of those turning-point moments! Better he should have sold the gun…

    I feel like a broken record (at least that’s an image that fits the period of your story!) – but Rochelle, this is every bit as well written as usual 🙂 In other words, it’s very good !

    Like

  • Vivid and real, and you have told it well. Sad times back then, and hope they are not repeated again in our time, but who knows what we have yet to experience. I am taking a break from FF for a while to work on other writing projects and posts. Doesn’t seem there is enough time to do all, and am also healing and recovering from my first cataract and lens implant surgery done on Tues. Have the second one scheduled for the 22nd. But, still hasn’t kept me off my computers and from writing. 🙂

    Like

      • Thanks. I expect it to. My new lens replacement in the left eye is doing very well and my eye sight perfect and when the right one is done, I may not need any more glasses for long distance or for driving, only reading glasses for short distance. Big improvement. Best of luck with the Friday Fictioneers and stories. I am going to focus on other writing projects for right now, new posts, and short stories (1500 word count) for submissions elsewhere.

        Like

  • Love the story Rochelle, and the lyrical style in which it’s told. First person worked very well here to make it a microcosm which reflects the much bigger story. Mine won’t go up till tomorrow as I already posted today.

    Like

  • Well done Rochelle. Some things are more important than a vase.

    It’s amazing what you learn when you start doing research for these pieces, or following the writer’s links. The Borsch Belt info was fascinating.

    Like

    • Thank you, Perry.
      I thought you might enjoy the Borscht Belt reference. Being half NY Jew (Dad was from Brooklyn) I like being in touch with my roots. It was a mixed marriage…my mom was from the Midwest. He was barely reform she was Orthodox…oy vey oy vey.
      Glad you liked my story.
      Shalom,
      Rochelle

      Like

  • I’m surprised by the number of people who did not know what instruments these were, or what the various parts were. Shame on the powers that be who have pushed the arts out of our schools! I played cello for years, and the bass players behind me were always friendly folks. Lots of great memories.

    Thanks for the photo prompt, and the great share of your story!

    Here’s mine…

    http://kbnelson.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/friday-flash-fiction-duelling-basses/

    Like

    • Hi Karen,
      Everything I know about music I’ve learned from friends, CD’s and Wikipedia. Roger had to inform me the picture was of double basses and not cellos. Going to read your story now.
      shalom,
      Rochelle

      Like

  • Moving and realistic, Rochelle. I love reading your stories and how often you educate us with history and links. You threw me a bit with the mention of a bass violin – I’d just put a note excusing my story from calling them double basses (I have them as cellos!) and I thought I was going to make a fool of myself! I don’t even know what a bass violin is!
    Don’t take that as a criticism; your choice of instrument, like everything about this piece, works perfectly for my reader’s ear.

    Like

    • Dear Linda,
      Great to have you back. I think about you when I hand out Friday Fictioneers cards with your lovely logo on it.
      My parents were adolescents during the Great Depression. I’ve always been fascinated by the time. And who knows I might expand the story one day.
      More “grist for the mill” a friend of mine would say. Thanks for dropping by and commenting.
      shalom,
      Rochelle

      Like

    • Actually Björn, they aren’t cellos. They’re double basses, also called bass violins by some and a host of other names. Just NOT cellos. But for our intents and purposes it doesn’t matter if you call them cellos, guitars, violins or anything at all. What matters is how the photo inspires you. 😉

      Like

  • This was like a scene from a film, it was so vivid. I loved it, evoked thoughts about a great, great grandparent who was of that era who ran away from his family life in England to go and be a musician in New York. Never seen or heard of again. We always wonder what happened to him, but now I think I’ll be doing some more research into the Borscht Belt.

    Like

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