26 November 2021

Published November 24, 2021 by rochellewisoff

The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

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Genre: Realistic Faction
Word Count: 100

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ONE SEASON FOLLOWING ANOTHER

Rochelle gazed at the pile of wedding gifts needing to be put away. Among them were three percolators. Neither she nor Jan even drank coffee.

Six months ago, she’d flashed her engagement ring at the senior prom.

With mounting dread, she surveyed the cramped, third floor walk-up apartment with red and black kitchen cabinets. What did she know about marriage?

***

Rochelle downed her second cup of black coffee. “My mother gave us six months at the most.”

Jan poured his third. “What did we know about marriage?”

She kissed his cheek. “Guess we managed to learn something in fifty years.”

Weekend Writing Prompt – Call

Published February 21, 2021 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in Sammi’s Comment Section.

ISN’T IT IRONIC?

What were we laughing about with my in-laws’ when “they” came? My infant son’s antics perhaps?

Two faceless Air Force uniforms. “We’re sorry…”

A light snuffed out too soon.

One call turned the world upside down.

Would we ever laugh again?

I know it’s a sad one, but I have to go where the muse sends me. My husband’s brother, Jerry, died in a car accident when he was in the Air Force, stationed in Turkey in 1974. He was one of the funniest, sharpest people I have ever known. If this sounds familiar, I wrote about him for another weekend word prompt in 2019. Click here to read that one.

Weekend Writing Prompt – Fabric

Published April 26, 2020 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in Sammi’s Comment Section.

When I figure out how to keep the machine threaded I’ll finish hemming my jeans.

NEEDLES AND THUMBS

I referred to it as home wreckanomics with good reason. I hated cleaning and I was a disaster in the kitchen. At twelve, I’d already set my sights on, one day, becoming a professional artist. I’d never be Suzie Homemaker.

I only took the class because seventh graders were offered two of three “electives”—music, homemaking for girls and shop for boys. No art class until eighth grade. Boo. Hiss.

I still have nightmares of trying to make baked Alaska for a class presentation. What? You don’t dump sugar into the egg whites all at once?

Then came sewing. We were to make simple shifts. I chose a white cotton duck fabric with a red, white and blue nautical theme. I actually wore it once or twice before it mysteriously disappeared.

The author. The artist. The dress.

WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT – LONGEVITY

Published November 23, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in Sammi’s Comment Section.

Although it doesn’t always, my title does factor into my word count this week.

My little attendants have grandchildren of their own.

Happy Anniversary to Jan Fields, my first husband for 48 years as of November 28!

LONGEVITY

“He’s too wild. She’s only 18 and he’s 25. I give it six months.” My mother told her friends. To me she repeated, “If things don’t work out you still have a bed here.”

The day I announced my first pregnancy her invitations changed to, “You made your bed, now you can lie in it.”

48 years, three sons and two granddaughters later, I still wake up in my bed next to my wild man.

Jan.

11 October 2019

Published October 9, 2019 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Ted Strutz

Frog Delightfully rendered by Keith Hillman.

CLICK THE FROG AND HOP ALONG

Genre: Non-Fiction

Word Count: 100

OF BLESSED MEMORY

זיכרונו לברכה

“I wish I’d known you better, Grandpa.”

My grandfather smiles at me from a black and white photo.

The few memories I have are shadowy and vague. The words ‘austere’ and ‘distant’ best describe him. My mother’s father—an enigma.

I regret never asking him about his life as a Jewish boy in Czarist Russia.

“Why did you flee to America?”

“Oy, don’t ask. You should never know such tzuris,” might he have answered? What horrors lurked behind those faded eyes?

I smile back at his monochrome image. “I hope you’re proud of my writing, Grandpa. You are my inspiration.”

Sam was a tailor.

My mother and grandpa with cousin George Weinberg

Original Artwork © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Grandpa Sam at Passover

Sam Weiner with twins Norman and Evalyne, my mom

16 August 2019

Published August 14, 2019 by rochellewisoff

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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.

PHOTO PROMPT © Jan Wayne Fields

Click on the Frog!

Genre: Hysterical Friction

Word Count: 100

ALL THE AMENITIES

May 1984. We couldn’t wait to take advantage of our newly-purchased lot in a nearby recreational development. So we packed our children-plus-one and everything we needed for a successful camping trip.

Sometime in the night the soothing buzz of locusts gave way to thunder and driving rain that demolished our tents.

Thanks to the help of a sympathetic grounds attendant, our excursion ended in a half-finished bathroom with three bedraggled boys and one engorged mother whose inconsolable baby chose the worst time to wean himself.

Shivering, I muttered to my grumpy husband. “Someday we’ll look back at this and laugh.”

WEEKEND WRITING PROMPT – SONG

Published August 10, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in Sammi’s comment section.

Word Prompt

Song

Challenge

LOOK AT ME

I was sixteen and he was twenty-two—the older man. He didn’t kiss like any of the, albeit few, boys I’d gone out with. His mellow voice took me captive on our first date.

He held doors for me and always walked on the outside of the sidewalk. I felt protected and cherished.

Zepi’s Pizza, our favorite haunt, provided a three-piece band and a small dance floor. When my guy held me and sang “Misty” in my ear, I was as helpless as a kitten up a tree.

“Misty” became our song and, after 50 years, I still feel protected and cherished.

*September 26 marks the 50th anniversary of our first date.

Senior Prom the night he proposed.

This was sung at our wedding.

Weekend Writing Prompt – ENTHRAL

Published July 6, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in Sammi’s comment section.

Word Prompt

Enthral

Challenge

Nothing could enthral this young girl like four lads from Liverpool. When they shook those mop tops I nearly swooned. No one could rock a guitar rift like George, the quiet one. Paul’s twinkling brown eyes, John’s brooding countenance, and Ringo’s childlike grin captivated me. Youth flown, I still thrill to “yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Weekend Writing Prompt – Idyll

Published June 8, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise.

Thank you for the challenge, Sammi.

Remember Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver? I dreamed I would one day marry the perfect man. We’d live in a charming house with a flower garden and a white picket fence. Our children would be well-behaved and talented.

Nearly fifty years and three sons later, I reflect. Did I marry Ward Cleaver? Nope. Nor did he marry June. Real life turned out to be a messy proposition. There were good times and not-so-good times. One idyll after another teetered and fell.

than

Weekend Writing Prompt -IMPRESS

Published April 21, 2019 by rochellewisoff

A word prompt to get your creativity flowing this weekend. How you use the prompt is up to you. Write a piece of flash fiction, a poem, a chapter for your novel…anything you like. Or take the challenge below – there are no prizes – it’s not a competition but rather a fun writing exercise. If you want to share what you come up with, please leave a link to it in the comments.

Thanks to Sammi for the challenge.

A few of my high school class mates and I friended each other on Facebook. One day someone suggested we all meet at a local café for lunch. I hedged. Why would they invite me? We never hung in the same social circles. With great apprehension, I went.

The visit wasn’t what I expected. As teenagers we all worried about what everyone else thought of us. Today we’re simply women of a certain age with more in common than not—adult children, grandchildren and imminent retirement.

We’ve left high school and its emotional baggage four decades behind us. Who do we need to impress?