Daily Flash Fiction August 22

The brown, crushed grass was a memory as I gazed through the oblong portal some four feet distant. The twin mountains of flesh between me and the window obstructed my view of the perfect expanse of sky. Slices of sand and city were briefly visible as the plane circled the airport. I couldn’t wait to land, I wanted to fit in as much of Hawaii as I possibly could before I to leave next week. Despite the interminable plane ride I had high hopes. The gargantuan couple beside me had been to Hawaii before, evidently it was an annual thing for them. The entire flight, not only was I crammed against the aisle armrest, I had to endure an argument that had clearly been going on for years. They had each uselessly tried to recruit me: thankfully I hadn’t been before so I couldn’t offer my opinion on which year had the sweetest pineapple: ’97 – his – or ’92 – hers. Despite my lack of knowledge, they continued to bombard me with facts, questions, and places, “I just had to see.” I did my best to tune out the voices, they didn’t seem to care much about my part of the conversation anyway. They were those overly friendly types, made “new” friends every trip they took. I’m a solo traveler and I like it that way, I listen to music, watch the bad movie, read, and sleep. But, apparently, not this year. Eventually they turned away from me and as their nasally voices had whined on I took one last longing look at the bright blue sky and a deep cleansing breath as I closed my eyes.

The Secret

It was a day that started much like any other day: woke up, laid in bed for awhile, Mum got me up. We had pancakes for breakfast, not sure why, but it doesn't matter, we had pancakes! Mum had some errands, I hate errand day! She drags me all over in a smelly, hot car.

We finally got home, hours later. Soon my friend would be coming over. Krystal and I had been friends practically our whole lives. But first, Mum made me help her in the kitchen. I mostly played with the cat, but it seemed to fool her, I got a big hug and thank you when she was done. Mums are so silly sometimes.

When Krystal finally got to our house we immediately ran out into the backyard giggling like crazy. I was so jealous, she had a new Dora the Explorer backpack. I wish my mum would get me one of those, they are so cool. We decided we needed to go on an adventure, we had the backpack after all. We bravely pushed into the hedge. We got a few scratches, but we didn’t care, we were adventurers. The hedge was dark and pokey inside, but we trekked on ducking under and around branches.

We could see light up ahead, finally, pushing out into the sunlight we stopped dead in our tracks.

“Ew, gross, gross, gross,” we squealed as we blindly pushed our way back into the hedge.

We looked at each other in horror, and maybe just a little awe. The big girl from next door was kissing a boy. So gross!

She turned to me and said very gravely, “don’t ever tell anyone about this.” I agreed with all of my four year old heart. “We could get in trouble.”

The Terror of Confinement

The massive beasts anxiously paws the ground beneath his powerful hooves. The unknown weight on his back shifts, lightens, and abruptly pounds down on his spine. The distant rustling swells to a roar, interspersed with high pitch sounds adding to his agitation. The rising wave of sound sparks his imagination and sets off panic.

The confinement is making him crazy, he can’t move enough to defend himself. Suddenly, the barrier beside him is gone. He’s free. Lowering his massive head he begins to dance and spin, bucking his hind legs high in the air. Finally, he is free to fight the predator. His deadly horns weaving side to side, seeking a target. But he is unable to reach the creature clinging to his back. Eyes darting from side to side he spies a solution. Moving ever closer to his goal he nervously eyes the whirling devils around him. They keep just out of reach, but they’re not his main concern right now anyway, it’s the one on his back to he needs to concentrate on. And he’s almost there, a little farther and he’ll be able to scrape it off.

Just when he’s almost there, exhausted sides heaving, the thing is gone. He is left feeling blissfully light and now he can turn his attention to the dancing devils. Lowering his horns to charge he spies an opening leading to a nice grassy field. He takes that instead, leaving his enemies in the dust.

After running for many minutes he feels safe to stop. As he munches the lush green grass his dread slowly fades.

Nothing Ever Happens in Blingston

It had started as a normal, boring day. Again. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and everyone greeting everyone else with a smile. Yup, just a nice, normal day in Blingston, population 1200 nice, normal people.

I was sick of this town! Nothing new ever happened, it didn’t have to be big, anything. Bill doesn’t say hi to Jim or he trips on the sidewalk. But, once again, Bill said hi to Jim and Jim said hi to Bill, so I trudged off to school. Down the block, around the corner, up the driveway, past the fountain, through the doors, and into my classroom: where, unsurprisingly, Ms. Blissy cheerfully greeted me.

“Good morning, Joey! How are we this morning?!”

Blech!

“Morning,” I mumbled. But she had already turned to greet the next “cheerful” child.

I dozed through my morning lessons, ignoring the drivel shooting from Ms. Blissy’s mouth. Most of it was annoyingly perky encouragement, not informative. I remember thinking to myself, if I stay in this town my brain will rot, slowly and surely, it will turn into goo: but, I guess I don’t really need it here anyway.

It wasn’t until after lunch that I felt a hint of something in the air, nothing obvious, just a slight charge in the atmosphere. Ms. Blissy had just started to talk, again, about how special everyone was. So I started day dreaming again. My wandering attention led me to the window. Just a glance. Then again.

In the fountain. A bear! A full grown brown bear! Just dancing and splashing through the falling water. I looked wildly around, no one seemed to notice. I put up my hand to tell Ms. Blissy, but she didn’t believe me, no one did.

After all, nothing new ever happens in Blingston.

Privacy

The need to hide away is strong in some people Some become cranky and try to keep others from getting close: protecting heart and mind. But, in protecting themselves they are denying themselves of life's riches. Love and friendship are what makes life worth living. Even with close relationships it is still possible to have privacy. For some it could be as simple as grabbing a notebook and jotting down a few thoughts. Some plug themselves into their music or computers: losing themselves in other worlds. Privacy is never far away, even in today's busy and over connected world we reside in today.