Wally and Mike were off to visit an illegal rave-up. Free music with all their online friends in the local park.
‘Wally, look at all the people here! Hey! Carol and Gloria. How are you both.’
Gloria pushed her long blonde hair out of her eyes and smiled. ’We’re good aren’t we Carol.’
‘Yes!’ giggled Carol, ‘We sneaked out and got here as soon as we heard about the rave.’
Mike interjected with, ‘ My Dad was a bit funny because of this virus thing that’s going around, but everyone says it’s only a scare and not worth worrying about.’
‘Yes!,’ said Wally, ‘We can enjoy ourselves and hope for the best.’
The four friends had a wonderful time dancing the night away. It
It wasn’t until later that they realised that the whole thing had been televised and their parents were sure to see it on the news.
All hell broke loose when they got home. Wally said to his Dad
‘It should be alright as we are too young to catch it.’
I hope so for your sake! You’re grounded anyway.’ Shouted his Dad
It wasn’t until his Grandad was in hospital they both realised how stupidly shallow those hopes had been.
‘What’s Walancha?’ Asked the English student. ‘What do you mean by what’s Walancha?’ ‘ Well, this prompt setter M, has given a cue for a prompt including the word Walancha. ‘The Window to Walancha.’ Mr Sampson wiped his forehead, actually his whole head was a shiny dome, since his wife had shaved all his hair off during a dream. ‘Walancha,’ he mused, you say there’s a window involved?’ I can’t say I’ve come across this word. It sounds just like a place I once knew in the Himalayas. Tibetan monks used a high resolution mirror to reflect the sun into the eyes of their initiates. Thus inducing a state of mind known as Walancha.’ ‘Oh!’ Exclaimed the student ‘Walancha is an altered state of consciousness that can only be reached by getting dazzled.’ ‘Exactly!’ Sampson replied.
The professor was a well known entomologist he had lectured all over the world in most of the prestigious universities. In the jungles of Borneo, he met a local guide called Mojo and together they trekked through some impenetrable jungle searching for a new legendary example of insect life. A life of an unknown species.
‘Listen Mojo, we’re looking for a golden mosquito, that is a pure yellow golden colour But we have to be wary we don’t get bitten as Madness will surely follow.’
Later Mojo raced back from the densest part of the jungle with a dead insect clinging to his bare arm
‘Yai! Yai! I am now the one God and hate everybody, Mosquitoes will rule the world one day. Let’s all die together!’
The Professor was bemused as he pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his knapsack, secured Mojo and carefully removed the dead yellow insect.
Here is my entry for today 22nd June2020Image courtesy of pixabay.com
SPOTTY SPINACH
Chef was inspecting the delivery of fresh vegetables to the kitchen at the rear doors
Jim Green was a smallholder who provided as much locally grown vegetables to the businesses and shops in the area as he could harvest.
‘Morning Jim! What have you brought for us today? I hope you remembered everything on my order.’
‘Yes Sir’ Jim replied. ‘I’ve got everything you ordered, luscious Lettuce, healthy Kale and some beautiful Cabbages. Oh! not forgetting the special Spinach you requested me to grow specially for your breakfast customers.’
‘Excellent Jim, let me just have a quick look. The Lettuces look wonderful, crisp and green, and the Kale look beautiful. Just a moment though the Spinach is full of spots.’
‘That’s because they’re special Sir, the spots give it a delicious flavour.’
Write a piece describing the devastating effect of the Coronavirus Covid19 on a single family.
DEVASTATION
by John Yeo
Jose was a successful hotelier, his wife Maria was his backbone and his inspiration. They had built up La Casa del Puenta. The hotel was excellent and attracted many tourists from around the world. They had a reputation of being the first hotel in Spain to have been awarded a certificate of excellence by Jules Fargo, a well known travel experience organisation that could make or break the future of a hotel.
It was during the high season that the rumours of something nasty began swirling around the media waves. It was Maria who became worried first, her sister had suddenly become seriously ill and was in a large hospital in the city.
‘Jose,’ she said, out of the blue one day, ‘I have to take the day off tomorrow to go and visit Consuella in hospital.’
Without hesitation, Jose said. ‘Of course darling, I will manage. You have built up some wonderfully adaptable staff to cover for you.’
‘Thanks Jose, I will give her your love and take a few things to ease her stay while she’s in hospital. I don’t know quite what’s wrong with her exactly but I’m sure she will get over it.’
Little did either of them realise what life-changing events were about to happen that would have untold repercussions on their comfortable everyday life.
Later that day the news broke of the serious infectious disease that was sweeping through Spain. The news bulletins on the media were frantically warning people not to travel. To stay put, and keep themselves isolated from everyone else. The hotel emptied over the course of that single day, as guests checked out. The hotel reception desk telephones were constantly busy with people ringing to cancel their bookings.
Some members of the hotel staff immediately packed up and left, to be with their homes and families, contrary to the official advice. Suddenly everyone who Jose and Maria came into contact with was wearing a medical mask. Maria had instantly dropped her plan to visit her sister in the city, as the significance of what was happening became clearer.
The food deliveries suddenly dried up except for a few local farmers who dropped off their produce directly to the hotel.
Information began to become clear, the country was in the grip of a worldwide pandemic. A deadly disease was sweeping the world and had reached Spain. The advice was to stay put and not go outside.
Over the next few days the hotel became like a large hollow shell, the swimming pools were deserted with the bars and the restaurant permanently empty. None of the loyal hotel staff remained as they had slowly fled home to their families, contrary to the government advice. Jose and Maria kept to their suite. The freezers in the kitchens were full of frozen food, and the wine cellar was reasonably stocked. However they had to spend a long time just destroying the fresh food and filling the bins.
Horror-stricken, they had kept up with the news of the deadly outbreak and as the body counts grew on a daily basis they became increasingly frightened.
One positive thing that was happening was the continued visits of Farmer Lorenzo, bringing fresh milk, eggs and bread and most importantly local news.
Apparently many local people were sick and there was much sadness and the streets were deserted wherever you went.
Lorenzo said, ‘I dare not walk on the streets of town as some young men are breaking into local shops to steal food.’
Maria replied, ‘Oh no! Where are the police?’
‘The police are forced to keep the peace, but there is a lot of sympathy for the hungry people. Food stocks are running short, due to stockpiling by the wealthy.’ replied Lorenzo.
Two weeks later when Lorenzo arrived with his fresh produce he found the hotel deserted. The local postman shouted from his van parked across the road. They are both in the general hospital, seriously ill with this evil virus. Lorenzo couldn’t control the tears that formed in his dark brown eyes.
Today What Pegman Saw travels to Oman. As always, feel free to stroll around until you feel inspired to write up to 150 words.
When you’re finished, post a link to your story on the InLinkz page to share with the other contributors. Remember that reading and commenting on the other stories is a big part of the fun!
Do your best, and enjoy yourself!
SLAVER
by John Yeo
Rasheed woke, aware of a blue sky through the leaves of some tall Palms. A crow in the branches above his head called loudly with a raucous grating cry. Almost as if this bird had been trained to keep a watch on him and warn his captors the moment he woke. Rasheed began to adjust to the mixed-up emotions and feelings of the crazy dream world he had emerged from. His body was stiff and aching from inactivity, he’d been tied up for a long time. Sand was blowing, fiercely shaken by the slightest gust in his ears, eyes and hair, he was intensely thirsty.
‘Welcome slave, I’m Captain Malik, you will get to know me better when we board my dhow for our long voyage from Oman to China. Omar and Faisal will look after your needs from now.’
They stepped forward, roughly pulling Rashid to his feet.
Dhows are as much a part of the country as Frankincense or the sand on its beaches and these ships were instrumental in establishing Oman’s maritime dominance in the ancient world.
This extends back centuries to when Omani sailors established major sea routes to cities of the ancient world with the earliest recording of an Omani dhow reaching China for trade in the 8th century.
The war was over, family life was in a turmoil. Betty was at her wits end. She was pregnant and in overcrowded lodgings with her two babies, Peter and Penny. The landlady, a widow with three daughters, was sharing her house with Betty. One day a man wearing a dark blue overcoat arrived and spent a long time with Betty in the parlour. Her children, both under five, were waiting with the landlady, playing games in the kitchen, oblivious of the life changing decisions being made by their Mum. Finally with tears filling her eyes Betty announced the heartbreaking decision she had arrived at. Her babies would have to go into a children’s home.
‘Tell the story of what you imagine your close friends would do if they won the lottery.’
DOUBLE WHAMMY
by John Yeo
Arthur and Angela lived their lives happily together, drifting into their later years with deep loving feelings for each other. They were close at the beginning of their relationship and they just continued to become closer and closer as the years went by. When they first met they were both players of the National Lottery and both had their own personal sets of numbers. They decided to continue playing with these numbers jointly and set up a standing order at the bank to defeat the problem of remembering to pick the weekly ticket up. Strangely enough they had both played their individual numbers for years, based on family birthdays and other memorable dates that had affected their lives before they met each other. They both played two lines, twice a week and it was just a case of marrying the entries together. Mystical, magical thinking on both sides, decided these numbers mustn’t change as they would never forgive themselves if one of the lines came up and they missed the jackpot. They certainly never considered stopping playing as they were aware that once they stopped they would never be able to win. As online players they were automatically informed by email if any of their numbers came up. One day they received an email that informed them there was news about their Lottery ticket. Excitedly they logged onto their online Lottery account to discover they had won a £25:00 prize and the money would be paid into their bank account. They had indeed won the lottery, not enough to radically change their lives. They now had to decide what to do with this unexpected windfall. Foreign holidays or new cars were certainly out of the question. They decided to blow the lot on a meal out together, even though the winnings would hardly pay for a posh restaurant meal, perhaps they could manage a Fish and Chip supper together at home. While they were happily discussing their options the front doorbell sounded and Angela opened the door to a man in a smart pin striped suit and a red, white and blue tie. ‘Good Morning, I’m Mr. White, I’m extremely pleased to inform you that you’ve won one million pounds first prize with your Premium Bond, number ******************. They were both stunned to hear the news that they’d finally come up with the top prize on an old bond that they had held for years. As Arthur and Angela were eating their Fish and Chip supper the following Saturday evening, they were busy dividing up the Premium Bond winnings between their family on paper. The next morning they received another email from the National Lottery, with news about another winning ticket??
Today What Pegman’s Saw. travels to Chechnya in the republic of Russia. As always, feel free to stroll around until you feel inspired to write up to 150 words. When you’re finished, post a link to your story on the InLinkz page to share with the other contributors. Remember that reading and commenting on the other stories is a big part of the fun!
Image from the net Al Jazeera
A HOSTAGE OF WAR
by John Yeo
Dawn broke over the war-torn streets of Grozny. Russian aircraft had devastated another area of the city overnight. Abdullah and Melissa were moving furtively on their way to feed the Russian hostage. They were both aware of the land mines that were still around. When they reached the dilapidated garages they were surprised to find Bashir, waiting at the entrance.
‘Food won’t be required, the hostage is dead.’
‘Dead! How come?’ asked Mellisa. ‘Did he try to escape?’
‘No!’ replied Bashir, ‘Selina killed him! Apparently her whole family were wiped out last night; she came straight here in a rage and killed him. It’s not a pretty sight, she went wild.’
‘ No!’ Screamed Melissa, ‘Where is she?’
‘She’s in a terrible state, hysterical, begging for forgiveness from God, she’s in shock!’ Bashir replied, tears drenching his eyes.
Abdullah put his arm around his friend, said. ‘We’ll take care of her.’
Grozny has only partly stabilized enough to be safe for travel. Take extreme caution when visiting war-torn areas as there are some unexploded land mines. Rebels often take tourists as hostages, so try to blend in with the population.
Travel Warning WARNING: The UK Foreign Office and other governments advise against all travel to Chechnya. There have been many incidents of foreign and Russian citizens going missing, or being killed or kidnapped. Government travel advisories United Kingdom (Information last updated Dec 2018)
THE WINDOW TO WALANCHA
DOUBLE WHAMMY 
johnandmargaret1607 