FAMILY VISIT

A Prompt Response for Flasher Friday

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Gypsy tent

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FAMILY VISIT

By John Yeo

 

 It was cloudy and windy as the day dawned over Westchester Towers high school. 400 students, children of wealthy, landowners, industrialists, and commoners alike were in various stages of greeting a brand new day.

The manicured school lawn this morning was blighted by the sight of a large camping tent that had appeared from nowhere overnight.

This caused a ripple of concern among the staff and a delegation was soon formed and sent to investigate.

 The Headmaster, flanked by his deputy and the PE teacher together with the school janitor approached the tent.

“Headmaster, shouldn’t we call the police?” asked Tim Sampson, his deputy.

“Not yet, we don’t want to alarm the students, and we could be accused of wasting police time if there is a reasonable explanation.” replied the headmaster.

Then with a well-rehearsed, well-honed air of authority, he puffed out his chest and called out.

 “Hello, whoever is in there, come out at once!”

There was a silent pause before a strangely familiar voice shouted back,

“Keep away! There is danger here.”

The Headmaster, said “It’s Tom Newton the Science teacher. Whatever does he mean? Stand back, I think he’s gone crazy.”

 At that moment, James Jones and his best school pal, Fauntleroy Smythe were sitting on a small stone bridge, tossing stones and twigs into a fast-flowing brook. They had a good view of the mysterious tent and the events that followed.

 “Gypsies have moved in, if you ask me, they are everywhere these days. My Dad said they are a pain and should be forced to settle down and pay taxes like everyone else.” Said Fauntleroy.

 James smiled and nodded at this remark.  “Yes, they’re everywhere!  My Great-grandad was a Romany, a traveller who settled down and made a fortune as a scrap metal dealer.”

 “Oh! Sorry James, I never knew that; good for him.”

James just grinned and said, “It’s OK Fauntleroy!”

Then he pushed him off the bridge into the stream and watched as a shocked, muddy, sorry-looking individual clambered out of the water and staggered off towards the mysterious tent.

Ignoring the shouts of keep away; from the assembled delegation, Fauntleroy entered.

 Suddenly there was a loud bang followed by a terrifying scream. The Science teacher, staggered out carrying the student,

 “Call an ambulance!”  ordered the headmaster. “ What’s going on Newton?”

“Well Headmaster, I noticed some suspicious looking characters building this tent on the lawn last night. “I approached them, but I was overpowered and held prisoner.

“What was that loud bang?” asked the headmaster, “How did this lad get hurt?”

“I’m not sure Headmaster, I think a car backfired on the road beyond those trees as they fled, this lad screamed and fainted with shock.”

Then with a siren screeching, an ambulance arrived. Two paramedics confirmed that Fauntleroy had fainted with shock and would be fine with some rest.

 Meanwhile, James was in conversation with his Great Uncle Louis, who had arrived to visit him, bringing news of the family.

 

(497 WORDS)

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

This is my response to a prompt from Our Write Side to their Friday Flasher prompt. A short story in no more than 500 Words using four elements

  • Place: inside a camping tent
  • Character: a high school teacher
  • Object: an ambulance
  • Weather: windy
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PRACTICING SPACECRAFT

WHISTLE CODE

A prompt response for ~Inspiration Monday: Whistle Code

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WHISTLE CODE

by  John Yeo

     Pinto was a farmer, he grew fruit and vegetables in a fertile valley on the island of Vesta. Hidden among a group of larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, not many visitors arrived to break the monotony of the hard, day-to-day fight for survival. Steep rocky mountains engulfed the island, sheltering fertile valleys, where a hardy people who had lived and survived on the rocky, isolated, island, for centuries, scraped a living by exporting their produce to the mainland.

    Communication between neighbouring valleys was almost impossible before the dawn of the electronic age; to drive on the steep, rough and ready roads, from one valley to another could take a whole day.

     A whistling language developed over the years, from one valley to another, sharp, long and short, drawn-out whistles, would warn the people of danger or impending changes in the erratic winter weather conditions.

     The council of the island decreed that all the island’s children must be taught to communicate by whistling to keep this valuable ancient form of communication going.

    Pinto’s eldest son Paulo, resented this but reluctantly did as he was told and absorbed the skills.

     Mr. Zen, the whistling schoolteacher would drum the calls of alarm into the children….

   “Two long whistles and one short for an urgent request for help. One continuous long drawn out whistle for a helicopter rescue. Three short sharp whistles for a threatening stranger.”

  One memorable day, Paulo was working hard in the rock-strewn fields, when he vaguely heard an unusual whistle message from the neighbouring valley. It took a while for the realization that someone was in trouble to sink in, and he was quickly on the radio to the authorities who dispatched two helicopters immediately.

   “It looks like someone is lying prone at the bottom of that ravine there!”  shouted the pilot to the two paramedics. “The police helicopter is landing on a flat space a mile away, leaving that flat area clear for us!” The helicopter landed to find a young girl in a state of shock, frantically whistling the well-taught distress call.

    “Don’t move, just tell us what happened?” enquired one of the medics.

     “I came here with my boyfriend, but he tried to rape me: When I resisted he pushed me off the rock above and I landed here. My leg hurts, and I think I have twisted my neck.” the distraught young girl blurted out.

     “Lie still now, the police will catch up with him. I will have to take you to the hospital on the mainland, we will just lift you gently on to the stretcher and we will be off.”

   The police were informed of the situation by radio, and the other helicopter arrested a suspect, who was later charged with assault.

    Paulo was soon commended for his swift response to the distress whistle.

   He related the whole thing to Pinto, his Dad, and they both agreed that the whistle code was a very valuable language to pass on, and keep alive.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

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PATSY

A Prompt Response for Flasher Friday

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PATSY

By John Yeo

 

  It was winter, just after the blizzard in early January 1999, there was still a lot of snow around, the emergency services were busy, responding to rescue calls.

 Angelo Cini, a rough, tough gang boss, had been planning this latest bank robbery for months now until the snowstorm struck and held things up. The Midwestern bank on Main Street was located between a diner on one side and a dry cleaner on the other side.

 The gang had a series of meetings in the diner where Patsy, a very pretty waitress looked after them and became so friendly with the gang members that she was  accepted as part of the team.

Everyone had been well versed in their roles, Angelo, briefly went through the final details.

  “We take over the dry cleaner’s shop, hold the Manager and his family in the flat above, break through the dividing walls from the dry cleaner’s cellar into the bank vaults, where we blow the safe and leave with the cash. I have arranged for a couple of horse-drawn sleighs to be waiting outside. I think this will be the easiest form of travel at the moment. Any questions?”

  Billy interjected. “Just one Boss, where will we meet to divide the spoils?”

   “Ah yes!” Angelo replied: “The sleighs will head North where we have hired a remote cabin. I have included the address and details of how to get there in the envelopes in front of each of you. After the raid, we will separate and meet up there. OK!”

Billy nodded, then sat cleaning his fingernails with a small bent paperclip.  

 There was a general murmur of assent from everyone present and the meeting closed.

Later that night, the gang members imprisoned the dry cleaner and his family and the raid was underway.

   Billy switched off the hammer drill and took a breather from drilling. A short, well-built, man he turned to his partner in crime and said, “This is hard work, my blisters are forming blisters of their own.”

  Dan, 6 foot 2 inches tall, a ladies man with his long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail,  grinned at that remark. “ Hopefully, we’ll get through soon Bill, I can’t wait to get my hands on my share of the loot. I fancy Patsy the waitress in the diner, will come away with me after this job.”

 Dan took a  few hefty swings at the wall and they were through the dividing wall into the vaults, then Billy set explosive charges and the safe door was swinging open.

 There was a moment of exhilaration, as piles of cash were swiftly transferred to sacks and passed back into the dry cleaner.

 Suddenly as the sacks were loaded onto the sleighs, two police helicopters lit the whole scene up from above and mounted police moved in to arrest everyone in sight.

Detective Sergeant Patsy O’Rourke highly commended for her undercover work, went on to become one of the greatest detectives of all time.

(498 WORDS)

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

 

This is my response to a prompt from Our Write Side to their Friday Flasher prompt. A short story in no more than 500 Words using four elements

  • Place: a dry cleaner
  • Character: a diner waitress
  • Object: a small paperclip
  • Time/Date: winter, 1999


Follow this link To comment:  Join in and have fun

http://ourwriteside.com/friday-flasher-dry-cleaner/

Friday Flasher

SHOPPING MALL

A Prompt Response for Flasher Friday

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Image © Copyright John and Margaret

SHOPPING MALL

By John Yeo

    Saturday night, the stores in the mall put the shutters up for the night. The last shoppers made their way to the exits, joined by the last of the mall staff. The night security staff arrived and manned the CCTV cameras continuously filming the whole of the shopping area. Joe and Pete were night security men who did regular foot patrols outside the mall.

    The Saturday midnight patrol was always eventful, many a time they came across drunks arguing with each other or young lovers canoodling in the rear doorways and entrances to the mall. This Saturday was different, one Joe would remember for the rest of his life. The two men came upon, what looked like a bundle of rags heaped in a shop doorway.

   Pete, a large stocky man with a shaved head, and a tattoo on his right cheek  noticed it first.

     “Hey Joe, look at that! someone has dumped a heap of rags in the doorway. No, wait, it’s moving, someone is asleep under there. We will have to wake them up, we aren’t allowed to let people sleep on the mall property.”

    “You’re right Pete, I will just shake the bundle with my foot, to get a response!” Then without thinking he kicked the edges of the rags gently. Joe was the shorter of the two men with dark, greasy hair, he was the most aggressive of the two.

     Both men stepped back, extremely wary, as the bundle of rags came to life with a squeal and a thin, unkempt woman, began furiously attacking them with a tatty umbrella.

    “Please leave me alone you ignorant sex-starved animals, I have no money and I am afflicted with an STD, that will infect you instantly.” The lady screamed.

   “Now hold on,” said Pete. “What are you doing here? You can’t sleep here, you should go home and sleep! We are security officers, doing our job. What’s your name?”

    “Mary,” said the lady, now noticeably calmer. “I have tried all the night shelters and hostels, even the Salvation Army hostel is full. I knocked and the duty security man just said,

    “Sorry we have a full-house, there are no beds available.”

      Joe said, “You can’t sleep here, it is more than our jobs are worth to allow that!”

    Mary started sobbing uncontrollably. The two men were both taken aback at this turn of events.

       Pete turned to Joe and said, “We may be jobsworths, but we are not made of concrete.” Then he turned to Mary and said, “Come and have a cup of tea with us, we have a storeroom you can use, for tonight!”

      Photographs Mary carried, revealed she was Maria Popova a famous ballerina who had been missing for weeks. Joe gained her confidence and informed the authorities. It turned out Maria had suffered memory loss, becoming isolated from her family.

  Joe and Pete became her personal security guards, both men were substantially better off for their kindness to a stranger in distress.

(498 WORDS)

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~All rights reserved

This is my response to a prompt from Our Write Side to their Friday Flasher prompt. A short story in no more than 500 Words using four elements

  • Place: a shopping mall
  • Character: a ballerina 
  • Object: a full house
  • Mood: wary

Follow this link To comment:  Join in and have fun

http://ourwriteside.com/friday-flasher-shopping-mall/

Friday Flasher

CHEAP AT HALF THE PRICE

A Coldly Calculating: Prompt for Our Write Side~”Cheap at Half the Price”

Write a story 700 words or less answering the challenge.

http://ourwriteside.com/coldly-calculating/

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Image © Copyright John and Margaret ~ All rights reserved

CHEAP AT HALF THE PRICE

by John Yeo

    Cecil Wharton, held his audience spellbound with a smooth flow of well-rehearsed patter.

   “Hi, everyone! The drinks are on me! Business is booming! Sales have gone through the roof. Our products are beginning to be recognised everywhere. Step forward and enjoy a glass of this fabulous tonic and cure-all. We guarantee you will not only feel better physically, your bank balance will swell. Join our successful team, we will show you the way to enhance both your health and your bank balance.”

   These encouraging words were inwardly digested by Coral and Doris; both married with young families, this was a situation neither of the two friends had ever experienced before. Immersed in a world of friendliness and positivity, they were introduced to some high-powered successful people and made to feel special.  Doris and Coral were fired up, excited, they soon signed up to become entrepreneurs, with this successful company. They began to start taking orders from their friends and acquaintances. Business soon boomed, with an impressive turnover, although there was a negative reaction from several customers regarding the beneficial effect and the complaint that prices were too high.

Coral’s Aunt Bessie, was very vocal in her unhappiness with the price, and flatly refused to have anything to do with this elixir.

 Coral was an attractive young lady who made friends easily and was soon successfully selling high levels of the product. Coral was invited to five-star hotels to attend conferences and introduced to many successful employees.

 One fateful day, Coral was attending a sales meeting at a venue, not far from Aunt Bessie’s home, and she called in to see her unexpectedly.

“Hello! Aunt, I am working nearby and I thought I would drop in and visit, to see how you are getting along.” Coral said; smiling, as she hugged her Aunt.

 “I’m fine Coral, except for my aches and pains, this arthritis is always painful and I can’t seem to shift it whatever I do.”

   “Aunt Bessie! I know you won’t believe me but I have just the thing for your painful arthritis, we have a new product that will ease your pains.”

 “Now Coral, you know I can’t afford the high prices your firm charges for their products and I don’t believe in them anyway!”

“Aunt Bessie: I insist, I want you to try this elixir. I will pay the cost and you will feel tons better. Here take these two Bottles, follow the directions and I am sure you will ask for more as you begin to feel the effects of a pain-free life. Just take one tablespoonful a day.

The afternoon passed swiftly before Coral had to leave to get back to the conference.

“Goodbye, Auntie Bessie! Let me know how you are getting along with the elixir, OK!”

 “Goodbye, Coral, I’ll give it a try, if it gets rid of these horrible pains it will be cheap at half the price!”

Coral was in New York, when she heard the news, the firm she had been employed by was wound up, due to a number of unexplained deaths linked to their products. The Managing Director was facing charges of criminal negligence.

 Horrified, Coral boarded an aeroplane and was soon knocking hard on the door to Aunt Bessie’s home. A neighbour asked if she could help.

Coral nervously said, “Yes I am trying to contact my Aunt Bessie.”

 “I know where she is darling, always so kind and good-hearted, several of them went at the same time, all ladies of the church!”

  “Where?” Screamed Coral! Now very nervous and upset. “What happened? When?”

  “Don’t worry love, she’s fine, they all went on a church pilgrimage, I can give you a contact number if you like,” said the neighbour.

  “Yes, please! it is very important, I need to speak to her!”

A few minutes later Coral shakily dialed the number and got through to her Aunt Bessie. “Auntie, you remember that elixir I gave you, please stop taking it. I will explain fully when I see you! Don’t take any more at all!”

“Oh! Don’t worry darling, I flushed it all down the toilet. I don’t trust things that I don’t know anything about.

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

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SCI-FAE

A prompt response for ~Inspiration Monday: Sci-Fae

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Images © John and Margaret

SCI-FAE

by John Yeo

 I woke up in a haze of non recognition of where I was, who I was and how I had arrived here.

Everything was strangely unrealistic, unusual, unrecognisable a colourful arena on a world of kaleidoscopic strangeness. As if a disturbed artist had poured and continued to pour his paint in rivulets of colour on an ever changing landscape. An orange flare dazzled the permanent light that shone from the multi coloured suns lighting up the distant horizon with a green fire that seemed to be all-consuming. Billows of purple steam suddenly sounded loudly, hissing and spluttering as blue liquid stone flowed down a yellow ochre liquid bed on a river of jagged rocky liquid. There was a silent crash of electric thunder as a winged figure sped up from the bowels of the middle sky. Emerging from a point that mystically merged with the pink of a rising horizon and the disappearance of the future into the past. A point in time that was midway between now and then.

 “Welcome to the world of Sci Fae!”  Boomed a falsetto base sound, that seemed to convey communication as if a note composed of a base clef swimming in an ocean of liquid soprano had arrived together to assault the ears with pure music.

 Then a loud buzzing as an alarm sounded on the machine that lay in waiting. An information loaded gadget waiting for the button to be pressed to silence the alarm.

  I tore myself away from my dreamworld of the night, to face the familiar mundane music of snarling, honking, beeping traffic that I would certainly become a part of soon. An alarming prospect indeed.

“Morning Darling!” I mumbled as I dragged myself out of bed.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

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CLASSICAL GARBAGE 

A PURELY FICTIONAL prompt response for ~Inspiration Monday: CLASSICAL GARBAGE:

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A prompt response for ~Inspiration Monday: Classical Garbage

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CLASSICAL GARBAGE 

by John Yeo

Mind to mind communication had arrived! Prater collected all his gems of high Philosophy from the aether, a secret translucent medium that allowed concepts and ideas to be transferred from mind to mind, and person to person, without the need of papyrus or parchment. Known only to a few members of the higher inner circle, this secret was kept close to the hearts of the chosen few. The higher thinking was that if the aether medium was open to all and sundry, a certain, quite high, percentage of world knowledge, would be contaminated by the everyday dross that passes through the average mind under the guise of pure thought. The inner circle were the most arrogant, supercilious, patronising group of people, that has trod the earth, since the dinosaurs ruled the world.

  Many students barred from entrance to the thought patterns of this inner circle of minds, would follow this elite gathering of intellectuals, who became known colloquially as Prates, in honour of the founder and high-minded Prater, who discovered the magic of the effects of the mysterious aether. 

 Time passed and many of the lesser Prates, would follow the inner circle of closed minds around, writing and gleaning every word that dripped, amid the saliva that exuded, from the mighty mouths. Quite soon a huge body of writings and fantastic verbiage was amassed, and became generally known as the philosophical quantum mass of unsorted verbal diarrhea.

  One disastrous day as the inner circle were meeting to exchange thought-processes in the closed cavern of the rock-adversity, a huge volcanic eruption exploded and wiped out the inner circle completely.

  Thus was the final loss of the mysterious aether and the accumulated wisdom of the ancients. The lesser Prates then produced their enormous volumes of accumulated verbiage and during a lesser eclipse of the third sun, piled every manuscript into an enormous heap and set fire to it, destroying every last word.

  A far-sighted seer from the interior of the continent of Africa, suddenly appeared on the scene, declaring. “Let’s start the whole thing all over again!”

   Then began the millennium of peace and sharing of wisdom between all the differing mystical scientific communities around the world.

 

Copyright © written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.


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DOUBLE VELVET

Smooth
Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 5th June 2016 ~ DOUBLE VELVET

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Image © Copyright ~ John and Margaret

Prompt for the day on WORDPRESS ~ ‘SMOOTH’

The Daily Post

 

DOUBLE VELVET

by John Yeo

  Robin was leaning against the bar, relating his meeting and his experience, with Mellita Mann  a well known rising star of film and television.

   “Self assured and sophisticated, a social siren. Queen of all she surveyed, I tell you this is so unlike her.”

  Raving madly about the lady he had bumped into in his local supermarket, Robin sounded, shocked, surprised and visibly shaken.

  “Her hair was in curlers, she had no makeup on, and she was rude, pushy and rude. I would never have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it myself! She actually stole something, picked it up from the shelf and put it right into her pocket!” Robin went on.

“I have seen her acting on television, I feel as if I know her intimately. There she was looking like a scruffy scarecrow, stealing from the supermarket. I called out loudly, ‘Stop thief!’ Then I was manhandled and pushed away by this Gorilla of a man, who swore at me several times and told me to get lost. The police then arrived, and I was threatened with arrest, for a breach of the peace. I asked to speak to the manager to report the theft of the property, but I was stunned when the manager suddenly burst out laughing, the Police officer was also smiling. Then a tall smartly dressed man stepped forward, his next words took me totally by surprise.”

    “We are in the middle of filming an anti-theft short film here. Please accept our apologies for your embarrassing, worthy reaction, we would like you to accept this money to go some way to smoothing over this unfortunate situation!” I am Henry Hills, the director.

  Robin grimaced, made appropriate shocked remarks, reflecting his hurt feelings at this unforeseen embarrassment, and left with, £1000.00 in cash.

 Later he would be found in the local bar drowning his well smoothed feelings with a velvety smooth Guinness, having passed on £500.00 to his daughter, who worked in the store.

Life’s like that!

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

The Daily Post

 

BLIND PILOT

A prompt response for Inspiration Monday: Blind Pilot

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Images © Copyright John and Margaret

BLIND PILOT

by John Yeo

Thomas settled himself and began to give a running commentary of the flight to the instructor.

    “We are heading due East over the rainforests, everywhere you look is a sea of trees, reaching out in every direction!”  Intoned the Thomas the pilot, over the internal intercom. “The slight movement that is observed is the canopy of the rainforest waving with the motion of the winds. White flowers adorn the tops of some of the trees, giving the illusion of foamy patches moving in synchronous harmony. Occasionally birds will appear and disappear again into the safety provided by the thick green moving tree cover.”

    The observer, Brian Bell, looked down with a totally different perception; puzzled, he enquired, “What is that square object in the distant horizon?”

   Thomas answered, “It is hard to tell from here, I have an idea that is a man made structure, probably an ancient abandoned Indian temple, the distinguishing feature from here is the way it merges into the surrounding forest.”

   Brian then suddenly said, “From the look of that sky, you will have to  watch out; a storm is gathering, and could be approaching fast. You will have to ride the air currents and fly up above the storm clouds, to escape. Do you agree? “

 “OK! Yes you are right, I haven’t liked the look of that sky, since the exercise began.” Thomas replied.

  “Thanks Thomas, you can climb out of the Flight Simulator and we can discuss your performance.”

  “Certainly!”

“Thomas, your handling of an aircraft is excellent, your reflexes are sharp and fast. However there are several areas that need some explanation, and clarification.

Firstly, we were flying over a blue sea that was moving with the motion of the waves. The white patches, you described as flowers, were actually flecks of foam on the top of the moving waves. The birds you described were a couple of dolphins and some flying fish. The structure in the distance was a bright red container ship, quite a long way off, but clearly visible. Finally we have been flying in a clear blue sky with wispy clouds.”

Thomas was stunned at this and couldn’t believe his ears!

 “In my opinion,” Brian went on: “You need to get your eyes tested for colour blindness, it is a common condition, not insurmountable. Colour blind pilots can get certification, with restrictions. No night flying for example.”

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

 

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