27 October2023

Published October 25, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

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Good news! I finished the recent round of edits for my upcoming novel, LAST DANCE WITH ANNIE. Not so good news. I really couldn’t come up with anything new this week. So, as not to leave a blank spot on my blog, I repeated a story from 2017. Thank you for your understanding. 😉 BTWm this week marks my eleventh year as FFFacillitator. 😀

Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

DREAM A LITTLE DREAM OF ME

“No, Poppa, don’t fence me-e-e-e i-i-in,” sang Ellen Cohen, her pudgy hands on her swaying hips.

Bess marveled at her seven-year-old daughter who looked at home under the bright lights. “Imagine, Phillip, our little girl at the Hippodrome.”

“Kate Smith couldn’t sing it better.” He grinned. “Today Baltimore, tomorrow Hollywood.”

After the show, anger drilled Bess when a stranger pinched Ellen’s cheek and said, “What a voice. Too bad she’s,” the woman lowered her voice, “on the zoftig side.”

The future Cass Elliot stuck out her tongue. “Someday I’m going to be the most famous fat girl in the world.”

*****************

Ellen Naomi Cohen aka Cass Elliott
September 19, 1941-July 29, 1974

20 October 2023

Published October 18, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: Realistic Fiction
Word Count: 100

HATIKVAH

Hoping for safety in the bomb shelter, Adeena closed her eyes and prayed while missiles exploded overhead.

Stories of butchery filled the airwaves. Whole families had been murdered in their homes.

Adeena’s thoughts turned to her Savta who had come to this land as a young woman after surviving Ravensbrück and Bergen Belson. She and Saba had risen above the horror and made a life for themselves and their children on a Kibbutz.

Murmuring the words of the Kaddish, Adeena’s heart ached for her grandmother, slaughtered only yesterday while cradling her newborn great-grandchild.

“Never again,” Adeena whispered, “is happening now.”

Hatikvah means “The Hope” and is the title of Israel’s national anthem.

13 October 2023

Published October 11, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: Non-Fiction
Word Count: 100

ON THE EDGE

She stands on the edge of the pool, her head filled with the events of the weekend. Terrorism. Rage. How long can her world exist?

Securing her goggles, she calculates the distance. Twenty-five yards each way. Fifty yards is one lap. Thirty-six laps equal one mile.

Earlier this morning she messaged her cousin who has been in and out of bomb shelters, sleeping in her street clothes.

Reports of atrocities bombard the internet and fill the swimmer’s head. Life goes on as planned on this side of the planet.

She dives in, and for a while, she’s immersed in peace.

6 October 2023

Published October 4, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz (MIA but still snapping photos. ❤ You are missed, Ted!

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Dear Friday Fictioneers,
Lately some weird things seem to be going on with Word Press. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been receiving “anonymous” comments that I’m pretty sure are from other Friday Fictioneers. In fact, my own husband’s comments show up as anonymous. So, when you leave a comment you might leave your name. 😉 And a few other comments consistently go to my spam or trash folder. Chances are if you leave a comment that disappears, that’s where it went. Very frustrating.
Shalom,
Rochelle

On that note, here’s my story. If it looks familiar, it’s a rerun from six years ago. 😉
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Word Count: 100

THE MANLY ART OF GIVING

The bars clanked behind me. My pulse thudded in my ears.

My first interviewee, a hulk you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley, put me at ease.

“It gives ya peace of mind.” DeShawn looped pink yarn around his sausage-sized fingers. “This gonna be a blanket for my niece.”

Several tough-looking inmates showed off scarves and hats they’d made for inner city kids for Christmas.

“It don’t change what we done, but I hope it makes up for some of the hurt we caused.” DeShawn’s ebony eyes gleamed. “Every strong man should have a pair of knittin’ needles.”

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29 September 2023

Published September 27, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Jennifer Pendergast

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Genre: Fiction
Word Count: 100

SCHOOL DAYS

Alice chewed her pencil until it looked like it had been attacked by woodpeckers. She groaned. “I detest homework. Why do I have to do it.”

“To learn,” said Jacob. “To develop your brain.”

“My brain’s already worn out from school.” She jutted out her lower lip. “Whose bright idea was this anyway. Homework. Blecch.”

“You could blame the German philosopher, Johann Gottleib Fichte. Or more recently, American politician Horace Mann. After a visit to Prussia, so impressed with their educational system, he brought homework to America.”

“Whoa. How’d you learn all that?”

“Easy.” Jacob shrugged. “I did my homework.”

22 September 2023

Published September 20, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

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Once more my Google journey took to a story I didn’t expect. 😀 I started off with Jewish Austrian immigrant, Leo Hirschfeld the candy maker who named his invention after his daughter Clara “Tootsie” Hirschfeld. There were too many conflicting facts and not enough to write a satisfying story. Happily, the muse took me in a different direction.

Genre: Historical Fiction
Word Count: 100

FROZEN CHOSIN

“Tell me the Tootsie Roll in Korea story,” I begged Grandpa as he tucked me in.

With a faraway look in his faded blue eyes, he grinned. “It was 1950. Us Marines was freezing our butts off and losing the battle. We radioed the Air Force for 60mm mortar ammo, codenamed ‘Tootsie Roll.’”

“They sent you real Tootsie Rolls, right, Grandpa?”

“Kept us from starving.” He unwrapped a Tootsie Roll and squished it between his fingers. ‘Warmed, “Tootsie Roll putty’ plugged the holes in our fuel lines long enough for a hundred-and-twenty-thousand of us to make it to safety. Oorah!”

*

15 September 2023

Published September 13, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

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This weekend is Rosh HaShanah, the beginning of the Jewish New Year. So it seemed the time to remember.

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Word Count: 100

SURVIVAL

Risa kissed her slice of bread before slathering it with butter and taking a bite. She ate slowly, savoring every morsel.

Ten-year-old Aaron’s gaze held her, his brown eyes wide. “Bubbe, why do you kiss your bread like you would kiss a holy book if you had dropped it?”

“Bread is holy and precious. In the camp, a slice of bread could buy a bag of gold. A slice of bread stood between life and death.”

Aaron kissed his toast. “Blessed are You, Adonai our God Who brings forth bread from the earth and saved my dear grandma with it.”

*******

Remembering Food in the Concentration Camps: Interviews with Holocaust Survivors

8 September 2023

Published September 6, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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This week has been a busy one which didn’t leave much headspace for writing even one hundred words. So I’m sharing a pared down excert from my WIP “LAST DANCE WITH ANNIE”. I’m in the midst of what we’re hoping is the final round of line edits. My use of the prompt is quite loose. 😉

Genre: Realistic Fiction
Word Count: 100

LOVE AND WAR

Tony studied his friend CPO Marco Sanchez. Marco’s golden-haired fiancée sent him a ‘Dear John’ letter while he dodged VC sniper fire in Vietnam as a medical corpsman. When he came back to the states in 1970, he met and married Carla who succumbed to cancer ten years later, leaving Marco to raise three sons.

“How do you do it?”

“Sense of humor.” Marco shrugged. “Carlita always told me if we divorced, she’d make sure I got custody. Said she’d hire ‘lack-of-character’ witnesses. Prove she was an unfit mother. Guess she got the last laugh.” He grinned. “Lunch at Ruby’s?”

1 September 2023

Published August 30, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: Partly Fiction
Word Count: 100

In 1953 Gasoline (Petrol to our folks in the UK) was 20 cents a gallon. You could mail a letter for 3 cents and go to the movies for 70 cents. And the list goes on. A few influential people were born that year, including Tony Blair, John Malkovich, Mary Steenburgen and Yours Truly. 😉 September 4 is the actual day which I do share with Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. of Welcome Back Kotter fame.

AGING IS ANOTHER WORD FOR LIVING

“Seventy,” I say, trying to wrap my head around it. “Seventy? Really?”

“Careful,” says Dale with a twinkle in her eye. “A lady never tells her age.”

“Why?”

“Dunno. It’s just a saying, like ‘lightning never strikes twice.’”

I once wrote a flash about swimmer Maurine Kornfeld or “Mighty Mo” who’s still breaking records at one-hundred-and-one.

Last week my ninety-year-old friend Ernie shared his lap lane with me.

“Big plans for your day?” asks Dale.

“Yep. I’m going to start my day by swimming my usual two miles while I ponder what I want to be when I grow up.

*Three years ago I wrote about Mighty Mo. CLICK here to read about this amazing lady.

18 August 2023

Published August 16, 2023 by rochellewisoff

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Genre: True Confession
Word Count: 100

SQUARE EYES

Binge watching has become one of my guiltiest pleasures. I confess, I’m a streaming junkie. Through the magic of Netflix and other platforms I’ve been around the world without leaving my room.

My favorites are films from Israel, South Korea, and Japan.

I have become adept at reading subtitles for I eschew dubbing, preferring the actual voices and intonations. Not to mention I’ve picked up a few words here and there.

Chalk it up as a learning experience.

You may ask. What else have I learned?

Across the globe, in our hearts, we are more alike than we are different.