ironwoodwind

A Little Trim

100 words for Friday Fictioneers, a tiny band of writers on the winding road of life whose journey each week sometimes includes writing a short story based on a photo prompt (shown below courtesy of Bjorn Rudberg). The head of the road crew is Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.

(Copyright Bjorn Rudberg.)

The woman who cuts my hair smells of lavender and sometimes the sea if she has gone swimming in the morning. Barefoot, in jeans, her fuchsia silk blouse unbuttoned just so, she leans close as she works and tells me how the water felt on her skin or of the color of the dawn.

I sit still and erect, every sense on edge until she finishes. She never asks if I am satisfied.

I pay, then press my tip into her warm hands.

“Come again.” She smiles.

The men in her waiting room frown at me as I leave.

Tags: Another, Story, True

Comments 23 Comments
Categories Abandon, Adrenaline Rush, Angels, Girl's got skills, Life's ephemeral nature, Love, more love, seize the day, the moment., The sea, Time, Writing

A Young Author’s Letter, or Positive Input for the Flight Crew

31 Jul

100 words for Friday Fictioneers, a hangar full of writers, each with a wrench in one hand and instructions from their muse in the other. The maintenance crew chief for the gang is Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, whose photograph also serves as the inspiration for the stories. You will find them lined up and ready for takeoff here.

Yes, this is a true story. Would I lie? (My thanks to Nicola, wherever she’s writing now.)

(Copyright Rochelle Wisoff-Fields)

“May I borrow a piece of paper and a pen?” asks the little girl seated next to me.

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Nicola, sir.”

I dig into my briefcase.

“What are you going to do with them?”

“Write a letter to the captain.”

“She writes every chance she gets,” explains her mother from the aisle seat. “Says she wants to be a novelist when she grows up.”

Much later, courtesy of the internet and a pilot with a sense of humor who followed instructions, I got to read the letter.

Nicola nailed it.

Tags: Flight, True story, X does mark the spot

Comments 69 Comments
Categories Girl's got skills, seize the day, the moment., Time, Writing

God of All Things

23 Jul

100 words for Friday Fictioneers a group of writers from around the world who meet at a virtual restaurant every week and choose one story from column A and two from column B. The head cook and bottle washer is Rochelle Wisoff-Fields and the stories are inspired by the photo prompt below from Marie Gail Stratford.

My story is a requiem for two goats, dear friends of a dear friend, mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs on a recent moonlit night. The link to the picture is obscure, but has its roots in the Japanese superstition about not placing chopsticks upright in a bowl of rice.

No luck today in my search.

In a shaded grove of tangled bamboo, iridescent Tui’s fill the air with mournful song. A shaft of sunlight bathes a low mound.

Khalil Gibran said, “Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation”.

I don’t blame the dogs. They are man’s best friend in daytime, but at night and in a pack they answer only to the moon.

I do blame the owners and pray we never meet.

In fresh turned earth I stand two lighted joss sticks, one for Brad, now at peace, and one for Calvin, still missing.

Tags: love, Mourning, Tears

Comments 43 Comments
Categories A waste, Abuse, Angels, Depression, doesn't make it right., domestic violence, Grief, Life's ephemeral nature, Loneliness, Love, more love, Reincarnation, Time, War, Writing

Joint Venture

16 Jul

100 words for Friday Fictioneers, an organization of writers (Est. by Madison Woods in 2011) whose current CEO is Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The mission statement of FF members is to write a flash fiction piece based on the photo prompt below, to be audited by their associates.

“Physical inventory?” I texted.

“Yes.” my partner replied.

I thought about the changes I’d demanded. He preferred vertical analysis of inflation rate and dividends in arrears with the ultimate goal of immediate liquidation. I wanted a horizontal analysis with emphasis on non-routine transactions, double entry bookkeeping and asset manipulation and had had enough of staring at last year’s invoices because he liked a specific installment method. The intent was a friendly merger, not a split offering.

At the storeroom door I query him.

“Couch?”

“Installed.”

“Ram?”

“Pawn shop.”

“Then let’s get to work.”

Tags: Endowment Expenditure, Funny Business, The Daily Grind

Comments 43 Comments
Categories Love, more love, Organization, seize the day, Space, the moment., wild abandon, Writing

Vampires From the Sky!

10 Jul

Not really.

(I kept it short because stories with this subject matter tend to bite. Thanks to Kelly Sands for the other-worldly picture.)

Tags: Couldn't, Resist, Sorry

Comments 36 Comments
Categories Imaginary friends, Just because you believe it, Really? I don't think so.

Kansas City Wide Open 2014

24 Jun

The 2014 Kansas City Wide Open Disc Golf Championships are over. Paul McBeth took Open Pro at Swope Gold Course and way at the other end of the card, over at Blue Valley Park, I took Pro Senior Grandmasters. The courses were tough and long with big elevation changes. It was hot as Missouri in Summer, but our card had really wonderful players all three days. The first two days Mike Maness and I played with the Pro Women Masters and on the final day we played with two Open Pro women.

Top left, Senior Grandmaster Mike Maness (2nd place) and Pro Master Tavish Carduff (2nd place)

Bottom row from left Pro Masters Women winner Peg Berry, Sheila Kirkham (third place), and Douglas MacIlroy (the trophy is ceramic, very heavy and shaped like a disc. Cool.)

One tournament down and one to go. Next weekend I will bang my head on two courses for two days in Jefferson City, Missouri, at the Mid-America Open and see what happens.

Now it’s off to find the Disc Golf World store in downtown K.C. and see what swag I can find to jam into the plane for the flight back to Hawaii when all this fun is over.

Aloha,

Doug

Tags: 2014 Kansas City Wide Open, Disc Golf, fun

Comments 7 Comments
Categories Adrenaline Rush, Guy's got skills, Life's ephemeral nature, Love, My Son, seize the day, wild abandon

Going Disc Golfing

18 Jun

There’s only one thing I love more than writing and that’s Disc Golfing. I try not to go on about it lest the very mention of the sport turn into something like this….

…but I’m off to the mainland tomorrow to compete in the (Halt and the Lame Division) 32nd annual Kansas City Wide Open Disc Golf Championship. The following weekend I’ll travel east to Jefferson City, MO. to play in the 30th annual Mid-America Open (Same division). In my brain the two weekends will look and feel sort of like this (a shot which resulted in a birdie)…

…but that’s another story…

…and I just wanted to let my regular readers (to whom I am quietly grateful and deeply indebted in ways they may never know) where I’ve disappeared to for the next two weeks. I’ll be back with some swag and two trophies (That’s the spirit, laddie!) and some blah, blah, blah-bitty-blah, disc golf stories to share.

Aloha,

Doug

Tags: Church of the Disc, Disc Golf World, Frisbeetarian, Yee Ha!

Comments 11 Comments
Categories Abandon, Adrenaline Rush, Angels, Guy's got skills, Life's ephemeral nature, My Son, seize the day, the moment., Time, wild abandon, Writing

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