Odds and Ends

Mat, cat, rat, brat, all the words rhymed. She knew they did and she answered “yes.” Dog, cat, house, these did not rhyme. She knew they did not yet she still answered “yes.” Why did she not get yes and no? She was able to tell them what she wanted but she couldn't answer this format. She wanted to express herself correctly. Her desire to prove she knew the task at hand. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The word is  Desire  the limit for August is 100 words. This post comes in at 72. 

The sky was dark making it feel like night in the house. She watched the rain streaming down the windows. The thunder made the house shake. Trembling she watched the flashes. Closer and closer with each flash, she got more scared. Suddenly all was silent, the room brightened. Looking through the window she was the double rainbow. She knew that somewhere, though she could not see it there was sunshine. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The word is  sunshine  the limit was 100 words this post is 70 words.

Boom, boom, boom…..ba boom, ba boom……rat-a-tat-tat. The rhythm played over and over in his head. He couldn’t get it to leave him. It was as if he would spend his life trying to find the rift to go with the beat. Unable to find the rift he tapped out the rhythm again. Boom, boom, boom…….ba boom, ba boom……rat-a-tat-tat. Maybe he’d let the rift go and just do a bongo solo. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The word is  drum  the limit for August is 100 words. This post comes in at 70 words, click on the link (drum) to find the instructions.

Creeping down the hallway, light shining in from the windows she had never been more terrified. The days were running together. Her medication was making her mind foggy so she could not remember the way out. Freedom, she wanted freedom. Where was the door? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The word is  door  the limit was 100 words, this post come in at 44. Click on the link to go to the directions. 

The slamming would not stop, every few minutes they would slam something down on the floor. Did they not know they were on the second floor? Boom! Bang! Slam! It was more than they could take. Running up the stairs they kicked in the door. There was no one in sight, they stood in stunned silence. Then they felt it, the shaking. The building collapsed, debris blocking out the light. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The word is  light  the word limit was 100 words this post is 70 words. Click on the word light to go to the original light posting for the instructions. 

“Buzz, try again” The refrain was getting old; he was getting ready to smash the computer screen. The test was harder than he imagined. He had been doing this job for well over three decades, now his abilities and knowledge were being tested. If he didn’t know what he was doing by now he never would. Tests had never been his strong point, that’s why he took this job in the first place. He learned on his feet. The days at the job were numbered, so much for only needing attention to detail. The results would not be in until morning, he decided to dust some bones one last time.  His understanding was obvious in his work; the test would not reveal it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The word is  understanding  the limit for July was 150 words, this post is only 123 words.

Nothing, her mind was blank. The screen started to blur, and she was sure that she was finished. Her reputation ruined. There was no way that she could finish before deadline. Her editor would stroke out at the mess she had made. What was that sound? It wasn’t the usual noises of children, checking the clock she realized it was far too early for them to be coming home. Listening closer she realized these were screams. Horrified, tortured screams; should she call the police? They’d want to know what she was up to, they always did. The screams, they were coming from the television producer’s apartment. He must have a dozen manuscripts in there. What if one of them held a clue to her problem? The idea began to form slowly, the execution must be perfect. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OK my book is coming along, nice. I would have been a bit irritated when I found that I lost the page that only had to be copied and pasted into it because it was written to be an "excerpt" of something else within the book. That's fine I can rewrite it from memory, it shouldn't take long at all. It's the only part that I had a clear vision of what it lead to from the start because it's been in my head for years. I have a funny way of remembering things and this chapter in the book could do without this text I suppose but I actually want it in there, with my luck it on the computer that tore up. I still have to see about fixing it for the kid to play games on and to get my video off of. I have a video of my child reading, or rather showing off her memorization skills since she isn't looking at the book. It is one the computer that tore up, and the therapist can not find the original. That or she hasn't had time to look through her stuff. Well, sinc...

She sat her head in her hands, eyes closed. The pounding in her head would not stop. It was like a wrecking ball knocking into that last stubborn wall of a demolition project. The room spun when she attempted to stand. Shaking legs took her from the desk to the couch. Lying down to ease the dizziness she pulled a cushion over her face. The sounds bombarded her. It would not stop. She was on sensory overload. Too many sounds, too many flashing lights; she had to make it stop. One hand on the cushion she rolled over to reach into the cabinet. The bottle was cool to the touch. The sweet nectar calling her name, she poured a glass and opened the small pill bottle. That’s how they found her. Two empty bottles, contents spilled over the carpet. Her pulse was weak, her only vice her undoing.  __________________________________________________________________________ July's word limit was 150, this post comes in at 148. The word is  vice  instructions ar...

We might be. The tour of the school before the open house is today. This afternoon actually. We'll be having our regular ABA session (8a.m.), hoping for a cancellation to get into speech early. If not we'll have the afternoon spot followed immediately by the tour of the school. It'll be interesting to see how the kid reacts to the new environment. This is why we're taking her before the open house to make sure that she's going to adjust. Adjustments and changes to her routine are not something that she takes lightly. The rest of this week, I'm writing on my own articles as I take much needed time off from deadlines. I'll also be playing around with fiction, short, flash fiction. I'm writing a book which is coming along rather nicely. I'm rather glad it's almost time for the colder weather since my fan is making a nice rickety noise right about now. I can't figure out why but I'm pretty sure it's on it's last legs. Well, it...

Bare floors and empty cabinets taunted her. Dizzy from absolutely nothing he could figure out he assured her it would all be taken care of. The idea of a home was nice, but she felt as if he had no idea how to achieve it. The constant ringing in his ears did not stop. He only realized what it was when he heard her answer. A single word, “No,” is all he heard before she slammed the receiver down. “Who was it?” “Nothing.  Just a wrong number.” He did not believe her. He could only hope it hadn’t been his call. He gave into the dizziness and fell, sprawled on the bare floor. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------July's limit was 150 words, this post comes in at 113 words. The word is  call  and instructions are at the bottom of the linked post. 

Keys dangled balanced on her fingers in hopes she could keep them there. The bags were heavy but she managed to get them to the counter top. She was impressed that she did not drop any of them as she pulled out the contents to examine. The dinner theme was pot luck and she hoped everyone remembered their part. It had come together nicely, now she wanted to end it perfectly. Oh dear, the knocking at the door came sooner than she thought. Nowhere near ready she did the only thing that she could. Throwing down the apron, she smiled throwing open the door. “Welcome, make yourself at home.” Unsuspecting of anything they filed in and filled the chairs. This was definitely going to be a night she would not forget, but everyone else would. The company she kept would drastically improve after tonight, no more empty days to fill.  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July's limit was 150, this p...

Today means 19 days of summer vacation left for the kid. I'm not ready for it to end, none of it went the way I had planned it but somehow it worked out. We didn't get a vacation, unless you count the fact that we didn't have Occupational Therapy over the summer because we needed a break. We knew that we'd be getting a new ABA therapist, we just weren't sure when. I didn't want to risk learning two new therapists at once. I did not want to do too much therapy this summer that was forced. Instead we worked on taking turns, reading directions and auditory processing. She has done some writing, tracing actually and writing on her chalkboard. Now we are getting into a new routine on Tuesday mornings that involves getting up early, getting dressed, making sure the car is ready to go and making an 8a.m. therapy appointment. We would also be checking each week until school starts to find out if there has been a speech cancellation within an hour of our ABA appointmen...