An Ancient Prayer

Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash

Prompts = Prehistoric, Bird, Brain (Provided by Aleesha, at https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess)

My people say that after a great flood, in a time prehistoric and lost in time, we came to this land, our new home. My father and his father tell of the days when our ancestors gazed on the open air temple and knew this to be land where gods had dwelled; who else could have made stones stand as these do?

We conduct our rites there, hoping the gods smile on us. Today we sacrifice a rabbit; the brain to be left out for a bird to come and feed, before taking our prayer of rain to the gods.

Links to other sites where I publish:

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And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Don't Dis The Assassin

Photo by Alperen Yazgı on Unsplash

Prompts = Officiate, Event, Confusion

During senior year winter break of college, my bestie hosted and officiated (technically, she was the “Dungeon Master”) an intense two-week Dungeons And Dragons game. It was an event to remember.

I played an assassin. On the last day, we divided the spoils. However, I wasn’t given a fair share; my then boyfriend’s Paladin announcing my methods weren’t acceptable to “people of conscience”. (Assassin! Hello! I assassinate people!).

But no hard feelings; my character bought rounds of drinks and toasted to success. And poisoned them all. In the chaos and confusion that ensued, she stole all the best bits.

Links to other sites where I publish:

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Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

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And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Too Tired To Care

Photo by Federico Vitale on Unsplash

Prompts = Cube, Delirium, Bass

Am I heading to work or coming home? Can’t tell. It’s always dark, both ways. Always tired: short nights and long days under a dim low-hanging sky in front of a flat unblinking taskmaster in my cube. Tasteless food and restless sleep. Punch drunk. Delirium.

Through heavy lids I see myself reflected in the bus window. Wretched. I look old. I sound ancient: a pleasant bass turned wheezy, phlegmy. I don’t smoke. Can’t afford it.

I remember now: heading home. I think I did something at the office today. Unmemorable. Or was that yesterday? Or tomorrow?

Almost my stop.

Links to other sites where I publish:

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Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

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Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

The Shed Of Groceries

Photo by REX WAY on Unsplash

Prompts = Vault, Groceries, Revere

Chad is on a mission. According to his GoFundMe campaign, he recognizes the importance of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, but wonders what will happen after those seeds are planted and their yields harvested. What will be made from those plants?

Enter Chad’s Shed of Groceries, the repository of canned and jarred food products we enjoy, across brands we revere. His idea is to provide examples of what we did with the food grown from the seeds in the Vault, in case that knowledge is ever lost.

However, frozen foods and bakery items are not being considered at this time.

Links to other sites where I publish:

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Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

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Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Veterinarian, On Call + 2 Untitled Pieces (Throwback Thursday)

Photo by Ademir Alves on Unsplash

Story 1 — Veterinarian, On Call

‘Watch your step, doctor. We don’t want to have a slip, especially at the top of a long flight of stairs.’

‘What is that smell?’

‘Remains of meals. Dormouse and other such rodents. In a few more steps we’ll start to step on small bones.’

‘And why can’t I take off the blindfold? Now that we’re inside the cavern…’

‘And have you pay attention to our route? No. Besides, the dragon insisted. Likes her privacy, see?’

‘And yet you found her?’

‘I did. Like a moth to torchlight. And she needs you, a vet, to help with laying her eggs.’

---

Story 2 (Untitled) 

https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com/2018/11/dormouse-torchlight-slip_17.html

The tales of Prince Charming’s exploits are legion. The tales of his brother are less well known.

Prince Moribund approached the ruin on his mangy nag. The weary sun was just setting, highlighting the flicker of torchlight from the highest chamber of the surviving tower. The Prince peered into what had been the moat, now only a muddy ditch home to scavenging dormice. Gingerly he made his way across the rotting drawbridge, trying not to slip into the fetid muck beneath. Reaching the other side safely, Moribund slumped tiredly into a prone lump and began to snore.

---

Story 3 (Untitled)

https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com/2018/11/dormouse-torchlight-slip.html

Emperor Caracalla’s feast was ready. His mother, Julia, had asked that he and his co-Emperor brother Geta resolve their feud for the good of the Empire. This feast, thought Caracalla, will do just that. An orgy of food, entertainment, and exotic delights, decadent even by Roman standards, were to be enjoyed this night. Even the torchlight danced with greens and purples, not just the usual reds, oranges, and yellows. All was ready. Caracalla was full of joy and heartiness, even embracing his brother. Yet never letting slip that Geta’s favoured dessert, dormouse in honey and sesame seeds, was poisoned.

Links to other sites where I publish:

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Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

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Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Rare Earth Element Product Substitutes

Photo by Daniel Korpai on Unsplash

Prompts = Jump, Natural, Phone

I’m concerned about the rate at which increasingly depleted rare earth elements are extracted from the ground and put into electronic devices such as phones and TVs.

I’d like to propose more natural solutions to this problem.

When it comes to communications, nothing beats trained birds with scrawled messages tied to a leg. Those faithful winged messengers can get your message to a loved one quickly!

For entertainment, may I suggest the endless fascination of watching fish swim in an aquarium, schooling first this way, then that.

Let’s walk into the future with a technological jump back to the past.

Links to other sites where I publish:

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Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Destination Unknown

Photo by Yuri G. on Unsplash

Prompts = Impromptu, Tourist, Racket

Dear Diary,

I don’t keep a diary, no offence. But how else can I relate what’s happening?

I’m in a private jet with a personal assistant serving expensive whisky. She won’t tell me where we’re headed.

It all started yesterday when I played tennis with someone I don’t know. As I got my racket, he said that if I won, I’d be whisked off, made an impromptu world tourist.

I won.

People and cameras swept in, hustled me into a limo, which took me to be groomed and clothed, and then to the airport.

Am I an unwitting drug mule?

Links to other sites where I publish:

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Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

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Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Thinking About "Obscenity"

Photo by Max van den Oetelaar on Unsplash

Prompts = Facilitate, Literature, Underage

Heard of Lady Chatterley’s Lover? It’s infamous for being obscene, even banned in the UK for 38 years. Why?

Literature has always been littered with adult topics. For example, Tinkerbell in Peter Pan is first met coming back from an orgy (before being sanitized by Disney)!

And it’s not like kids stood outside of booksellers, trying to find someone who’d “facilitate procurement” for the underaged (like my neighbour’s grandma when she bought him the newest Grand Theft Auto).

I think it’s because Lady Chatterley ended up pregnant by the gamekeeper; the social classes mixed inappropriately, and that was deemed obscene.

Links to other sites where I publish:

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Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

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Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Group Therapy

Photo by Derek Story on Unsplash

Prompts = Start, Unencumbered, Check

‘Who’d like to start us off? Greg?’

‘Oh great. I get to kick things off. Sure. Yeah. Why not?’

‘Ok. We can have someone else go first.’

‘No. You picked me, Mr. Group Therapy Counsellor, so now you have to deal with the repercussions.’

‘Greg, please calm down. Breathe. We’re all here for you.’

‘You aren’t here for me, Sir Humourless. You’re here to put neat little check marks next to names of poor encumbered souls who have participated. And we’re here to become unencumbered shadows of our former selves.’

‘Greg, did you accidentally drink the caffeinated coffee?’

‘Accidentally? No.’

Links to other sites where I publish:

Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/one_hundred_words_by_parz

Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Kid Poetry

Photo by Everyday basics on Unsplash

Prompts = Pin, Twin, Grin

I was cleaning out my parent’s attic and found an old audio cassette. I’d write and recite poetry when I was a kid and they taped this one. My little brother helped:

‘Once upon a morning dreary, Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum’s…’

‘Twin’

‘Strolling along a path found a Cheshire…’

‘Grin’

‘Said the brother to the…’

‘Cat’

‘Wither was the insane…’

‘Hatter’

‘Not “hatter”! Just “hat”! We practiced! You promised!’

‘It’s stupid.’

‘Just do it right.’

‘Fine. “Hat”’

‘Thank you. For I carry with me his requested hat…’

‘Pin. But that’s stupid too; top hats don’t need pins.’

‘Fine. The end.’

Links to other sites where I publish:

Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/one_hundred_words_by_parz

Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712

Toe Wars

Photo by Gabby Orcutt on Unsplash

Prompts = Skip, Tonight, Sceptical (Prompts and Title provided by Aleesha: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess and https://www.instagram.com/the_many_faces_of_art)

‘You ok, Nicole?’

‘Stubbed my toe. It hurts.’

‘No doubt. Hey, do you know why toes knock into things?’

‘Don’t be silly, Grandpa. They just do.’

‘You’re six years old and therefore know everything. But I happen to know about toes.’

‘Grandpa!’

‘Of course, knowing everything, you’re sceptical. How could one toe think poorly of another? How can they fight amongst themselves?’

‘Really?’

‘Really. But if, instead of walking, you skip all the time, the toes can’t ram into things.’

‘Thanks Grandpa!’

Minutes later, ‘Dad, why is Nicole skipping everywhere?’

‘Ask her at bedtime tonight. I have to go. Goodnight!’

Links to other sites where I publish:

Instagram = https://www.instagram.com/one_hundred_words_by_parz

Facebook = https://www.facebook.com/Parzival-Sattva-427507144484255

Blogger = https://onehundredwordsbyparz.blogspot.com

Medium = https://medium.com/100-word-or-less-stories

YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/user/parzivalsattva

And a link to where my Lovely Lady Love (who also operates the camera) posts her art: https://www.youtube.com/user/recyclinggoddess

Join in on the fun of making a story from the same prompts I do! https://www.facebook.com/groups/565109053911712