WEP Please Read the Letter

 It’s time for the Write, Edit, Publish June challenge. I must thank Denise Covey for starting this bloghop, and to all the ladies shown below. It’s a great way to exercise your creative skills. For those who don’t know, flash fiction is 1,000 words or less. This month’s challenge is based on the song, “Please, Read the Letter. Below is a link to the song on YouTube.com

 

Tag line: Creating A Better Life.

Please Read the Letter

My phone started to play the Darth Vader tune. I’d assigned that ringtone to only one person. Frank. He must have found my letter. I left it on his pillow.

As I descended the hills the sun was low in the smog-filled California sky. It figured. Late as it was, Frank spent a couple hours with his drinking buddies after work. Darth Vader started announcing himself again and was interrupted by the voice of GPS telling me my turn was coming up. I was glad. I’d been driving for the last five hours, frequently stopping because I had to pee, a lot, as a seven-month-long pregnant woman.

My job had let me go. Figures. Frank didn’t pay the electric bill. Figures. Who would hire a pregnant woman? No one. Figures. My walls came crashing down. Clearly, there was nothing left for me with Frank.

My friend Heidi had offered to take me in, and I jumped at the chance. A new life in sunny California, smog and all. Arizona was in the rear view mirror along with Frank and our shared memories.

Darth Vader was calling again. I could almost hear Frank say, “Baby, baby, please pick up.” But, nope! This baby would never pick up for you again. My parrot, Jolly, agreed when he said, “Stop calling!”

First on the to-do list tomorrow. Get a new phone number. Then I’ll call mom and let her know. She lives in Minnesota and won’t approve of me leaving Frank, so I won’t tell her immediately. She never wrote down his number, thank God.

Heidi and I went way back to High School. We roomed together at University. She finished. I married Frank. God, I was stupid. But we talked, and I had a plan. I was going to finish and get my degree. She was going to help me. There was no better friend than Heidi. I loved her. She never played the ‘I told you so’ card.

GPS let me know I’d be there soon. Heidi lived in the hills above Los Angeles. She’d inherited the house after her parents died from COVID early on. I’d spent many long nights on the phone with her while she cried. Nothing like a pandemic to make it impossible to really be there for those you love. But now, it was over, and I’d see a lot of Heidi.

I turned into her driveway, stopped the car, and stretched. Darth Vader was irritating me to no end, so I turned off my phone and got out of the vehicle. And there was Heidi, her short-cropped curls bouncing as she ran to me. We hugged and laughed, and she rubbed my belly. Then she took my two suitcases, and I grabbed Jolly’s cage.  

Can I just say, I’m gonna love my new life!

 Word count: 473

 I’ve noticed that my stories have gotten shorter. This is either due to the fact that I’m a better writer, or that I’ve gotten lazy. Let know what you think. Nancy

 Are you writing to Kindle Vella? I am, here’s my link to Nilmalith’s Journey. The first three episodes are free and at an end is a thumbs up symbol. Help me get higher on the scale so more readers can find me, by reading and hitting the thumbs up. If you can write a review, that helps too. Also, if you enjoy my story and head over every week, Amazon gives you the option to have a 'fave.' When enough people choose my story as a 'fave,' I earn a crown and my story becomes a featured story so more readers find it. I really appreciate your help. Thanks. Nancy

I know Kindle Vella is currently only offered in America. It's a success, so let Amazon know you want to write to it too.

To read go to:  https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0B2QBYRYN

                                        

 

Kindle Vella is a success. If you don’t have it yet, let Amazon know you want it.

 Any critique is fine. 

To read what others have written for this month’s challenge, go here.

 

 

A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall WEP Bloghop

 WEP challenge for April, 2022 inspired by Bob Dylan’s, A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall. Write, Edit, Publish is a bloghop started by Denise Covey. The ladies, Denise, Nila, Laura, Jemi, Renee and Olga serve as moderators. If you’d like to participate, we welcome you. To visit the blogs of others who also wrote stories, poems or posted pictures or did something else to highlight the prompt, go here. 

 

Tag: Life and love overcome.

A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall

Rain and hail pelted Annie’s car as she sat in the parking lot staring at the prison. He is in there. The stuff of nightmares seared her mind, replaying that fatal night’s terror. 

Her faith had prevented her from aborting the child. His child! Despite the ugly truth, she loved her blue eyed baby boy. No longer a baby, but always a baby to her. Naming him had been so hard. Even after his birth, she’d struggled. Alone in the hospital, holding her precious bundle conceived in violence. Still, that night had motivated her to become a lawyer. As such she helped other women in the same situation. Though most of her clients had been raped by their boyfriends, not a serial rapist who turned murderer only one victim away from her ordeal.

He won’t face death, but he should. Why should he continue to be allowed to breathe, when he’d raped twenty-two women and the last ten he’d murdered? Would his son become a monster like him? Her Jessie, named for a favorite uncle. No, Jessie would be a good man, she made sure of that. She’d given him a dog and a cat, along with unconditional love. He was kind, thoughtful and passed every subject in school with high scores, usually above 90 points.

Jessie didn’t know the truth about his father and if she could help it, he never would. She put her Dylan CD in the cars player and turned the volume up. She wanted to drown out the sound of hard rain, the windshield wipers and her thoughts. Annie had always appreciated Bob Dylan’s poetic music and this song, A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, was especially appropriate.

If she were a monster, she’d enter the prison with a loaded gun, shoot anyone who stood in her way and go to his cell, were she’d pup bullets into his face. But she wasn’t a monster. She was woman, survivor, mother, friend, confident and professional trial attorney. The men she tried were scum. Her Jessie was brilliant, and compassionate. He would bring joy to many. Out of fear and sorrow I birthed joy!

Annie put the car in gear, backed up and then pulled out of the parking lot headed home. Once there, she’d hug the gift that was Jessie.

 

Word Count: 388

 As I listened to A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, I adapted a few of the lyrics to write this story. A story of violence and hope. If you enjoyed my story or not, please leave a comment. Any type of comment is fine. I'm a big girl. 

 

Head over to my website to sign up for my newsletter and receive a free short story: Loren’s Choice. Thanks, Nancy

Loren’s parents want her to choose from the young men in her village and marry. But, that’s not what Loren wants. While at the village well, a stranger arrives. Tall and handsome, he intrigues her. When the emperor’s soldiers are spotted. The threat is upon them, Loren could become a blood sacrifice. Before she can run, the stranger grabs her and gallops for the covering of the forest. What will happen next? 

Website link: https://authornrwilliams.com/

All You Need is Love WEP

 Write, Edit, Publish February 2022. WEP was founded by Denise Covey and brings together many writer’s, poets, artists, and regular folks to participate in a bloghop every few months. In addition to Denise, WEP has a few helpers: Renee, Nilla, Laura, Jemi, and Olga. Thank you, ladies. To read what others have posted go here.

 This is the year of music, and to start things off on the musical notes our song is written and sung by The Beatles, ‘All You Need is Love!’ To listen to the song, go here.

I once heard Paul McCartney answer a questions posed to him about the Beatles promoting love and anti-war messages. He said, “…It could have been the other way.” That made me think of original rap music that used a lot of hate speech and I was thankful to have spent my teen years listening to, and singing songs about love.

In more news, I’m adding a new genre to my writing life, Sweet Romance, so my story below is both sweet and romantic. I hope you enjoy. N. R. Williams (Nancy).

 

 

Tag: When love comes around again.

 

Love, love, love!

 

Lucy slipped the Beatles CD into the player and began to dance while she dusted to ‘All You Need is Love.’ Her parents were huge Beatles fans, and she grew up singing and dancing to their music. Now older and retired, she found this a great way to keep in shape.

Thanks to her late husband, Bruce, her three-bedroom ranch was paid for. . And so was her Tesla, parked in the garage. Luv, her daughter by her first husband, an abusive jerk, had finished university debt-free, thanks to Bruce. And he adopted her, dotting on her. Now she was a Science teacher and married, living only a few blocks away.

The CD changed songs, and she slipped into the guest bathroom to wipe it down. Her cell chirped. Removing the phone from her pocket, she answered.

“Hi, Melinda.”

“Hay, girl, are you ready?” Melinda asked.

“As ready as I can be.”

“I can’t wait.” Melinda referred to their planned trip to Scotland. She was a big ‘Outlander’ fan, and Lucy liked the show enough to follow Melinda’s long discourse about each character.

*

A month later, she found herself standing in line with Melinda. Luv had dropped them off.

The trip was long and uneventful. Jet lag was a problem the first three days. Then, from the time they woke to the time they went to bed, they toured the ‘Outlander’ sites. But, Lucy had to admit, she was having fun. When their week in Scotland was over, they hired a man to drive them to Liverpool, and Lucy had a list of sights made famous by the Beatles.

Their last week was to be spent in London. They sat together in the hotel’s upscale dining room, looking at the menu with all the delicious offerings. Melinda quickly ordered, but Lucy stared at the menu as if her brain had shut off.

“May I join you?” A man with an impeccable British accent said.

“Of course, I’m Melinda, and this is Lucy.”

Lucy looked up then as he sat and saw a handsome older man with gray hair and a prominent nose that wasn’t too big.

“My name is Henry Spencer.” His smile dazzled, and Lucy could see Melinda blush.

“Nice to meet you,” she said.

“Are you having trouble deciding what to order?” he asked.

“Yeah, so many choices,” Lucy said.

“May I recommend the Beef Wellington?”

When the waiter came, he ordered champagne. “To celebrate our meeting,” he said.

They enjoyed their meal and ordered dessert too, though Lucy only took one bite.

On their second bottle of champagne, he asked. “Where in the Colonies are you from?”

“Denver, Colorado,” Melinda blurted out.

“Ah Denver, I’ve always wanted to visit.” He smiled at Lucy with a massive dose of charm, reminding her of Mr. Abuse, her second husband who’d charmed her initially. But, once the punches started, she left.

“A man like you must be married,” Lucy said, and Melinda jabbed her with her fist under the table.

“Oh I was,” he said. “But my wife passed on three years ago, and my sons are married with their own busy lives.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Lucy said.

“Lucy’s a widow too,” Melinda burst out. Then, it was her turn to jab Melinda.

“My condolences,” Henry said.

She nodded. “Spencer was Princess Diana’s maiden name wasn’t it? Are you related?”

“Yes, it was, and no, there are quite a few Spencer’s.”

Melinda giggled like a schoolgirl, and Lucy looked at her like, what is wrong with you?

“May I offer you my services to tour London? I have the entire week off.”

Lucy would’ve declined, but Melinda beat her to it with an excited yes.

*

The week passed much too quickly. Finally, Henry gave them a ride to the airport.

“I should have asked sooner,” Lucy said. “What do you do for a living?”

“I’m in the import, export business.”

“How interesting,” Melinda said.

Black market, Lucy thought. But the truth was, she believed him a pretty nice man.

*

Once back home, Lucy slept for a week, off and on. Her internal clock was seriously messed up.

Luv came over with her husband, Rob, for dinner two Sunday’s later. He was a firefighter, and Lucy liked him a lot. They were all about to sit down when the doorbell rang.

Lucy went to the door and opened it to find Henry Spencer standing there.

“I thought I’d take the plunge and come for a visit,” he said.

Lucy remained, her mouth open, and then said, “Come in. We were just about to have dinner.”

“Oh, I shouldn’t trouble you.”

“No trouble at all.” When they reached the kitchen table, Lucy introduced everyone, and Luv pulled another plate, quickly making a place for him.

“My mom makes the best spaghetti,” Luv said.

“I love spaghetti,” Henry said.

Lucy served him everyone a salad, and everyone helped themselves to the main dish.

At the end of dinner, while Luv and Rob did dishes, Henry leaned toward Lucy and said. “I’m hoping you’ll give me a tour of your beautiful city.”

Lucy smiled. “I’ll do better than that, I’ll take you to my favorite mountain town.”

 

Word count: 871

Cover Reveal! I'm so excited to announce my 3rd in series book, The Emperor of the Moon and Stars. Available everywhere, April 1, 2022. I will have a pre-order available soon.

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