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THE MESSAGE

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FLASH FICTION
Sunday Photo Prompt 04/02/2019

The challenge is to write a story using 200 words or less based, on the photo prompt.

Photo Credit Subramanya Bhat

THE MESSAGE

by John Yeo

  I took my usual seat on the bus and folded the seat in front of me back to allow me to stretch out my osteoarthritic-riddled legs in comfort.  It was then an interesting character arrived, in the shape of a lady in her mid-forties. This lady immediately pulled the seat in front of me back down, took a seat and leaned on the side of my seat. I was able to keep my legs stretched out as she adjusted her position around them. It was then I began to take some notice of her. She had long jet black hair that was obviously helped with black dye. Her nose was large, not unattractively large, set in a face with sharp brown eyes and little make-up applied. She was dramatically dressed, totally in black, except for her grey shoes. I noticed she had her fingernails painted a bright red, and she wore a thin gold bracelet. She wrote something on a piece of paper and promptly began to fold the paper into an origami shape. As she was leaving the bus she handed me the piece of paper and left. I opened the paper to reveal the scribbled words, DON’T STARE!

(200 WORDS)

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

This story was written for Sunday Photo Fiction hosted by Susan Spaulding.

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THE CURE (2)

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THIS IS A CONTINUATION BEYOND THE RESTRICTED 150 WORDS OF THE ORIGINAL PROMPT

Welcome to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word weekly writing prompt inspired by the photos found on Google Maps. The Baths, British Virgin Islands

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THE CURE

by John Yeo

  David White had been battling with a severe eczema skin condition for most of his life. Davids’ face had always been a swollen mass of skin that resembled the scales on the skin of a crocodile. Life had become so hard at school that his parents had withdrawn him and engaged a series of private tutors to complete his education. The family Doctors had given up trying to eradicate his condition as there is no known cure for atopic eczema.
David had tried everything, from expensive creams and lotions to exotic plant remedies and tablets. David began experimenting with alternate cures. This was when he came into contact with one
Doctor Arpachshad, a philosopher with a reputation for effecting miracle cures with some unfamiliar potions and remedies. Dr. Arpachshad was a tall well spoken American man who wore a monocle, and when he smiled he revealed a mouthful of gold teeth.
  One fateful day Dr. Arpachshad had excitedly called David to attend his clinic in Brighton.
   ‘I have good news, I have found a lotion that is guaranteed to clear up your condition. But it’s extremely expensive and involves a trip to the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. I have an extraordinary lotion that’s made out of the skin of a Lioness in heat, trapped and skinned on the night of a full moon. The lotion needs to be applied after a soak in the baths located on the British Virgin Islands.’
  David’s first reaction was one of delighted astonishment. ‘How much will it cost?’
  The velvety voiced Doctor smiled as he quickly replied, ‘Just £20,000 pounds. If you can raise the sum in cash, or almost double that if you pay by another method. Cash is required to pay the hunters in advance.’
  David was shocked and sadly replied, ‘That sort of money is out of the question. I will try to borrow it from my parents but I don’t hold out much hope.’
  Obviously, David was unable to raise this money but there is a strange twist to this tale. The family visited the baths on the British Virgin Islands and Davids eczema was miraculously totally cured.

(362 WORDS)

 

 

 

 

THE CURE

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The Baths, British Virgin Islands | © Boat Rentals Virgin Islands, Google Maps

Welcome to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word weekly writing prompt inspired by the photos found on Google Maps ~ The Baths, British Virgin Islands

THE CURE


by John Yeo

David was battling severe eczema. Davids’ face was a swollen mass of scaly skin. There’s no cure for atopic eczema.
David met Doctor Arpachshad, an American, with a dazzling smile and a reputation for effecting miracle cures.
One day Dr. Arpachshad excitedly called David.
‘Good news, I have a lotion guaranteed to clear up your condition. It’s made from the skin of a Lioness on heat, trapped and skinned on the night of a full moon. The lotion needs to be applied after a soak in the baths located on the British Virgin Islands.’
‘How much will it cost?’ asked David.
‘£20,000 pounds cash; double if you pay by another method.
David was unable to raise this money but there is a strange twist to this tale. The family visited the baths on the British Virgin Islands and Davids eczema was miraculously cured.

(149 WORDS)

FIDO

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FLASH FICTION
Sunday Photo Prompt 04/02/2019

The challenge is to write a story using 200 words or less based, on the photo prompt.

Photo Credit: C.E. Ayr 

FIDO

by John Yeo

  The ice had been slowly melting for years. Many corpses of extinct creatures had been discovered, all frozen solid in death over the centuries.

  Contrary to the hopes of some of the Scientific Community; none of these creatures so far had come back to life.
Professor Chan headed a team exploring these Arctic Ice-fields and Glaciers with Mary Lee, his clever assistant.
Then the egg was discovered. A huge egg, muddy brown in colour, absolutely new to Science.
When Mary and the team saw the egg appear as the ice slowly melted, they were quick to retrieve it and deposit it in their icehouse for protection.
After a few days, Mary noticed a slight trembling inside the egg.

      ‘Professor! It’s coming to life, it must be the change of temperature.’
The normally reserved Professor became excited.

    ‘This is sensational Mary! We must keep this quiet and allow Nature to take its course.’

  ‘Certainly Professor!’
 Although high-security measures were in place, news leaked out. When the egg finally cracked a large crowd had gathered.
A gasp of shock and horror rippled around when this fearsome brute appeared.
Laughter ensued when the monster rolled over, smiled and wagged his tail.

(200 WORDS)
© John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

This story was written for Sunday Photo Fiction hosted by Susan Spaulding.

ENSLAVEMENT BY ADDICTION

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I wrote this post for ‘The Quintet’ our church magazine in response to the theme of…SLAVERY.

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Image courtesy of pixabay.com

MODERN SLAVERY

by John Yeo

 The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about slavery, is the horror of the period between 1600 when legal mass slavery was reputed to have begun in the UK and 1863 when slavery was officially abolished in the USA.

Although slavery in one form or another actually began much earlier, in the form of war captives, and the domination of one tribe by another.

 However, slavery comes in many forms; human slavery is just the tip of a hidden iceberg. Almost every one of us is a slave to addiction in one form or another. Whether it be one of the obvious big four, Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco, or Gambling or another enslaving addiction such as the habitual rejection of food as in questionable diets and slimming fads that could lead to the horrors of Anorexia or Bulimia.

 A miser’s enslaving addiction is the storing up of wealth and hatred of expenditure.

Addiction can take many forms, in fact, people can become addicted slaves to almost anything, from eating too much ice cream to viewing obscenity.

By far the newest trap, with the potential to become the biggest modern path into enslavement comes in the form of Internet addiction. Particularly the new, so-called, Social Media, it starts as a wonderful way to keep in touch with friends but it can slowly and insidiously become a time-consuming, enslaving addiction. ‘Just one little look!’ becomes hours and hours of pointless time-wasting.

 The dangers of internet enslavement to the younger generation have been recognized and well-recorded. This has the potential of becoming the biggest threat to the unwary in recorded history. With the added side effects of leading the young astray along a maze of unforeseen addictive paths. Children, of all ages and many adults, are becoming bombarded with images and alluring, time-consuming pathways embedded in the World-Wide-Web.

This is not to downplay the obvious advantages of the web for education and instant communication.

One of the biggest challenges in the near future will certainly be a coming to terms with the effects of this widespread, self-inflicted, modern form of enslavement of the unwary; who become ensnared by this highly addictive web.

©️John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (2)

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THIS IS A CONTINUATION BEYOND THE RESTRICTED 150 WORDS OF THE ORIGINAL PROMPT

Welcome to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word weekly writing prompt inspired by the photos found on Google Maps. Yep, that’s really a picture of Manhattan. Inwood Park, at the very tip of the island, is one of the few places on the island that looks as it did three hundred years ago.

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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

by John Yeo

  Gerald stood at the top of the hill transfixed and just stood drinking in the absolute beauty that seemed to reach out and draw him on. Georgina breathlessly caught up, then gasped with surprised wonder.
  Suddenly there was a chuckle as a rough looking stranger emerged from the depths of a nearby copse. A middle-aged, rather overweight, bearded man stood before them, he had long greasy black hair, with grey streaks, held in position with a battered trilby hat. His bushy black eyebrows met in the middle, atop a large crooked nose. He suddenly opened his mouth to reveal a blackened set of uneven, crooked, gap-filled teeth.

   ‘I see both of you young people are overwhelmed with this place. I’m Captain Ted, a hungry man and I’ll thank you to turn out your pockets and give me everything you find in them. Oh! And I’ll take that smartphone you’re clutching young man.’

  Georgina loudly screamed! ‘Go away you horrible man, I’ll scream the place down and you will be locked up by the Police.’ Screaming loud enough to split her lungs apart.

The stranger suddenly raised his gnarled walking stick in a threatening manner. ‘Stop that ruddy noise of I’ll break your curly head open.’
Startled, Georgina stopped screaming and stood with tears streaming down her face.
Gerald stepped forward and emptied his pockets and handed everything he had over to the stranger.

   ‘You coward!’ shouted Georgina sobbing loudly.

The stranger chuckled and held the club threateningly above her head.

  ‘That’s a good lad, now hand me that smartphone. I’ve always wanted one of those! Give it here! Quickly lad.’
As Gerald held out his smartphone to the stranger he demonstrably pressed a button twice and held the screen up towards the man.

  ‘You see these two nines on this screen!’ said Gerald.

 The man suspiciously nodded and gruffly said.
   ‘Just hand over the phone without any monkey-business or I’ll break her pretty little head open with my stick, then I’ll hurt you too.’

  Gerald took a deep breath and said, ‘Listen here you crook! If I press another nine on this smartphone, It will dial 999 and summon the Police. There will be a helicopter overhead instantly.’

     ‘Don’t lie to me you little monkey! How will they know where we are?’ said the stranger visibly unsure of this turn of events.

  ‘Why do you think they call them smartphones you ignoramus?’
Gerald then demonstrably pressed the nine button.
With a curse, the unkempt villain took to his heels and ran for his life.
Georgina looked at Gerald with new respect.

  ‘Sorry I called you a coward. How did you know he would believe your story?’

  Gerald laughed and said, ‘I guessed he hadn’t a clue about smartphones and I just took a chance.’

(463 WORDS)

© John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

 

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

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Welcome to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word weekly writing prompt inspired by the photos found on Google Maps. Yep, that’s really a picture of Manhattan.  Inwood Park, at the very tip of the island, is one of the few places on the island that looks as it did three hundred years ago.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

by John Yeo

Gerald stood at the top of the hill transfixed and just stood drinking in the absolute beauty that seemed to reach out and draw him on. Georgina breathlessly caught up, then gasped with surprised wonder.

Suddenly there was a chuckle as a rough looking stranger emerged from the depths of a nearby copse. A middle-aged, rather overweight, bearded man stood before them, he had long greasy black hair, with grey streaks, held in position with a battered trilby hat. His bushy black eyebrows met in the middle, atop a large crooked nose. He suddenly opened his mouth to reveal a blackened set of uneven, crooked, gap-filled teeth.

‘I see both of you young people are overwhelmed with this place. I’m Captain Ted, a hungry man and I’ll thank you to turn out your pockets and give me everything you find in them. Oh! And I’ll take that smartphone you’re clutching’

(150 WORDS)

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

SLAVES TO ADDICTION (The tunnel out of addiction)

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Photo Credit: Joy Pixley

SLAVES TO ADDICTION 
(The tunnel out of addiction)

By John Yeo

 The first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about slavery, is the horror of the period between 1600, when slavery was reputed to have begun in the UK and 1863 when slavery was officially abolished in the USA. Sadly this is just the tip of a hidden iceberg.    Almost every one of us is a slave to an addiction in one form or another. Whether it be one of the obvious big four, Alcohol, Drugs, Tobacco, or Gambling or another enslaving addiction such as food, or the habitual rejection of food as in Anorexia, diets and slimming fads. A misers addiction is the storing up of gold and a hatred of expenditure. Henry’s addiction was an unmentionable addiction, except of course to his therapist.
  Ruth was also attending the same clinic for her similarly addictive behaviour. Dr Wesley, was a practical man and he brought these two young people together. ‘Henry and Ruth, I’ve tried everything to effect a cure for your addiction, so far without success. However there is light at the end of the tunnel, I propose to allow a period for you to relate to each other and effect a joint cure.’

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(200 WORDS)

© John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

This story was written for Sunday Photo Fiction hosted by Susan Spaulding.

A PICTORIAL PRESENTATION

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Photo Credit: Susan Spaulding

A PICTORIAL PRESENTATION

by John Yeo

Expectations were high throughout the school. The esteemed artist was arriving at precisely 14.00 hours to judge the pupils work. A prize was on offer.

The headmistress. Miss Elaine Smithers, and Luigi Pescasso had both attended art college in London. Elaine had encouraged her brightest, creative pupils to do their best to produce some pictures along the same lines as the great Luigi.

Tommy Dawkins was favourite to win and his painting of a donkey took pride of place among the exhibits. Entitled, ‘The Ass,’ it was hung on the wall alongside, Mary Green’s, ‘Dog with a Bone,’ And Elaine William’s, ‘Girl leading a Pig’. There was an interesting painting of a headless horse, painted by Mary Tomkins. The classroom wall was covered with a variety of paintings The moment arrived and there was a hush as the great man walked along the line of pictures. He took a deep breath then said.

‘I find there are four paintings equally good and I award four first prizes. ‘The Girl leading a Pig to the Dog with a Bone, leads to the Backside of a Horse that finally ends up as an Ass.’ Well done you four talented young people.’

© John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

(199 WORDS)

This story was written for Sunday Photo Fiction hosted by Susan Spaulding.

IMAGINATION

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FLASH FICTION (WRITING PROMPT)

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IMAGINATION

by John Yeo 

It was just a year ago I first came into contact with Jessie, a forty-five years old divorcee. Jessie had long, blonde hair that obviously came with the aid of a bottle. She had a pair of sultry bright green eyes with long black eyelashes. A cute, full pair of kissable lips, rested under a tiny turned up nose. She wore a pair of designer glasses when she was shopping or at home, however she preferred to use contact lenses socially, in the interest of her vanity. All-in-all, she was the complete woman of my dreams.
My name is Norman Jones. I’m an eighteen years old student at the local Polytechnic College. At six feet two, I was tall for my age and a good all-round athlete. My grades in college had been excellent and it looked as if I was on my way to a glittering career in Science.
My best friend Matt, a fellow student, was lucky enough to live at home while I resided in student digs. Matt was a kind, cheerful sort of a bloke, who was a bit on the short side, at roughly 5 foot 5 inches tall, he was extremely sensitive about his height. He had a shock of red hair that prompted our cruel fellow students to call him Ginger. Matt hated this nickname for various reasons not the least being the extension to Ginger Beer.
Nevertheless there was nothing he wouldn’t do for his friends.
Then one fateful day I met Matt in town.
‘Hi Norm! How’s it going?’
‘Fine thanks Matt, I’m just off back to the digs to open a can of beans and feast on these takeaway chips.’ I replied.
‘No mate, really! Why don’t you come back to mine? My Mum won’t mind and you’ll get some decent grub.’
I was taken aback by this generous offer.
‘Thanks Matt! You sure your Mum won’t mind? It’ll certainly beat beans and cold chips.’
’Sure thing mate: Come along with me now.’
We made our way to the bus station and caught a bus to the city suburbs back to Matt’s place.
Little did I realise this was going to be a life changing experience for me. My life was about to take a totally unforeseen and unexpected turn. Nothing could have prepared me for my meeting with Matt’s Mum.
As we entered the house he called out, ‘Hi Mum!’
There was a muffled response from upstairs as we entered the house together.
Then I stopped and couldn’t help myself from staring, as a mature, glamorous blonde lady appeared from the hallway.
‘Mum,’ said Matt, ‘Meet Norman, my best friend from college. Is it OK if he stays and has some dinner with us?’
‘Of course he can darling, come inside and make yourself at home Norman. My, what a tall handsome lad you are!’
I blushed and stuttered, ‘Thththank yyyou’
Matt laughed as she said to me, ‘Don’t be shy, I’m only joking.’
Matt then said, ‘Take your shoes off Norm, as Mum’s just had a new carpet laid.’
I kicked off my trainers and followed Matt into the lounge where he picked up a remote and switched on the TV; flicking through the channels until he found a football match in full swing.
Matt’s Mum, bustled in smiling as she asked, ‘You two guys want a drink? Juice or a cold beer?’
I nodded and replied, ‘Thanks Mrs Peterson, I’ll have a beer.’
‘Please call me Jessie, Norman.’ My insides were churning up with some strange sensations as she sweetly said this. I had heard of the effect some women have on a man but this was puzzling to me.
‘Do you like your steak well done or rare?’
‘Well done please Jessie’ I replied. as I savoured the sound of her name.
‘OK!’ She said as she headed towards the kitchen.
I badly needed to use the toilet as I said to Matt. ‘Which ways your bathroom mate?’
‘Just through the kitchen.’ he replied.
I entered the kitchen and noticed Jessie preparing the meal. I suddenly felt strangely light headed.  In that moment, I felt my knees give way from under me and I just fell to the ground.

©️John Yeo~ All rights reserved.

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