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UNEXPECTED CONVERSION

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MONDAY 9th OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION
 
PROMPT ~ Describe ways in which your character does or doesn’t show piety.

UNEXPECTED CONVERSION


by John Yeo


  An introduction is called for here. Allow me to introduce the obnoxious Dr. Ferdinand Dickus. A cold-hearted, uncaring scientist without piety of any description whatsoever. The Doctor was a firm believer in the Darwinian Theory of evolution, survival of the fittest. As far as the religious belief in any form of afterlife was concerned, there was no such thing. Dickus was an unbeliever. According to the logical scientific evidence, we were born on this earth with nothing and we would ultimately leave thIs earth with nothing. According to him the object of life on Earth is getting as much out of life on earth and to lIve as comfortably as possible in the process. Therefore he had no charitable inclinations at all.
In total contrast, his Mother, Lady Esmeralda Dickus was a devout Christian who worshipped In the local church and was extremely well regarded by the local community for her charity donations

 One foggy winter morning, he stepped out of his private helicopter onto the helipad located on the roof of his laboratory.

    ‘Good morning Sir!’ said his secretary, who immediately fell into step with him as they headed towards the entrance to the building. 

    ‘Hello Dorinda! What’s new? Is anything pressing?’

    ‘Well Sir, there’s an urgent message for you to contact your Mother as quickly as possible.’

    ‘Thanks Dorinda!’


Minutes  later Doctor Dickus got through to his home phone number which strangely, was answered by the familiar voice of the family doctor.

      ‘Bad news I’m afraid Sir. Your Mother has had a serious stroke and a massive heart attack, she’s extremely close to death. I’m afraid there’s little conventional medicine can do now. Your Mother’s living on borrowed time. Your daughter is present I’ll put her on the line.’

     ‘Thank you!’


    ‘Daddy, I’m scared, please come home. They say the only hope is prayer. We are all desperately on our knees begging for a miracle. Please hurry!’

A few hours later the helicopter landed on the lawn at the family home. Doctor Dickus raced to his Mother’s bedside to discover she had made a miraculous recovery.
Later everyone, including the Doctor, proclaimed her recovery was unexplainable. Most said it was certainly the work of God in answer to the prayers of the family.
  Afterwards in the fullness of time, Doctor Ferdinand Dickus became a devout believer.

©️ Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

MR PEACOCK’S POSSESSIONS

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SUNDAY 8th NOVEMBER 2020 ~ BOOK REVIEW 

MR PEACOCK’S POSSESSIONS


by LYDIA SYSON

  Mr Peacock and his wife run a medium sized Inn located in a seaport in New Zealand. The growing family are just about getting by on the profits of the Inn and their six children are in danger of going hungry.
  Along comes a speculator who paints a wonderful picture of a fertile tropical island which he can lay claim to and settle on with the family. Life would be so easy, they would be self-sufficient and he would own the island. In return he would find a buyer for the Inn and Mr Peacock would be able to buy supplies and fund the passage for the family.
  Excitement grows and the family finally arrive, on Monday Island. The stark reality of the sheer rocky cliffs and lack of anything except basics adds to the feeling of dread. Mr Peacock finds he has been cheated when he has opened the bags and boxes of supplies he purchased from the ship’s Captain and finds rotten foodstuffs and flour.

  The family slowly settles in and begIns to overcome these initial setbacks Trading vessels were few and far between, due to the location of the island and the landing difficulties.
  The ship that had dropped them off returned with six South sea islanders to help with the work. At this time Albert, their oldest son disappears. This disappearance and the mystery of the missing  Albert runs right through the book.
The six islanders work hard, settle and begin to slowly integrate. Much suspense and suggestions of racism and slavery run throughout the background of the story.
There Is a vivid description of the birth of the Peacock families seventh child, 

 There is a wonderful amalgamation of Biblical religion and the Mythic mysterious Islanders beliefs. There Is a rich vein of suspense running through the final chapters which makes this book unputdownable 
The culmination of the story is the solution to the mystery of the missing Albert. This leads to a shocking revelation with the finale to a brilliant well written story.


Written by John Yeo

(365 WORDS)

SECOND FLOOR FIASCO

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WEDNESDAY 4th NOVEMBER 2020

November Writing Prompts


SECOND FLOOR FIASCO


by John Yeo

  The apartment block was an Edwardian house set in the centre of a row of rundown properties that were once well-to-do dwellings for the upper middle classes. We rented a two-roomed furnished apartment on the second floor. The wallpaper featured male peacocks with their tails in full courting display. A mud-coloured threadbare worn carpet graced the floor. Our bed was a double sized mattress on the floor with four grubby pillows and a heap of assorted coats and blankets for warmth. There were a couple of battered wooden dining chairs with clothes piled on them to take the place of a non-existent wardrobe.

   We had neighbours, Sarah and Josh on the same landing, who also rented a couple of rooms. When I say that we had neighbours; that was before the explosion that sadly took their lives.
Apparently it was a case of the huge number of electronic devices connected to an illegal supply of electricity. The fire was caused by a short circuited electrical device that blew up. Fortunately it was a minor local explosion.


©️ Written by John Yeo

HISTRIONICS

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Weekend Writing Prompt #181 – Histrionics

SUNDAY 1st NOVEMBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION



HISTRIONICS


by John Yeo

Mary always dressed in strange clothes that were designed to attract attention.
With her scarlet hair, her purple hat, she was dressed to cause a sensation.

Mary talked Incredibly loud, laughing hysterically to deliberately flout convention.

Flirting outrageously, with tears of tension, histrionics were her pathway to stardom.

(48 WORDS)

TEMPORARY CATASTROPHE

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FRIDAY 30th OCTOBER 2020 ~ POETRY PROMPT ~ ‘The birds didn’t go south for the winter’

TEMPORARY CATASTROPHE 

by John Yeo

The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year

Since global warming started climate change

It was puzzling to see them remaining here.

~

Due to the heating up of the atmosphere 

The unusual seasonal effects seem strange

The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year.

~

They changed their presence on the biosphere 

Swifts and swallows were soaring their range

It was puzzling to see them remaining here.

~

The perpetual dawn chorus was tunefully clear

Insects remained to live in a strange disarrange 

The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year.

~

Natural consequences would be surely severe

Science would need adaptation to rearrange 

It was puzzling to see them remaining here.

~

It was mysterious to witness such abrupt change

Wings have ceased to fly the global sphere

The birds didn’t go south for the winter this year.

It was puzzling to see them remaining here.

~

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

~~~~~~

When I first saw this prompt l began thinking about the consequences of global warming on the whole of the avian family. 

The heating of the atmosphere is such a slow insidious process that the consequences to birds wouldn’t be an instant event.

  Obviously this would not be a simple matter for birds as migration is linked to food supply and food supply would have to increase to cater for the birds. If there could ever be a continuous food supply in one area for the birds that didn’t fly South and were able to survive, surely breeding patterns would change and there would certainly be an over-abundance of birds, thus putting more pressure on the food supply. A good subject for a poetic flight of fancy.

SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED

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THURSDAY 29th OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION 

This is a response to a Flash Fiction prompt from ‘Putting My Feet In the Dirt’, Writing Prompts hosted by ‘M’.
Which can be found by following the link below..

PROMPT ~ SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED

October Writing Prompts

SIGNED, SEALED AND DELIVERED

by John Yeo

 The duel was to be fought at dawn between a celebrated army officer and a mysterious, anonymous man in black. Both men had professed love for the Lady Svetlana, a desirable Russian beauty who seemed to have deliberately played one man up against the other.

 Captain Lewenski pointed the pistol and pulled the trigger. Everyone gasped as the man in black turned to the assembled witnesses and fell to the floor mortally wounded.

  ‘I leave without questioning?’  gasped the man as he lay dying. 

At that point another shot rang out from a coppice nearby, and the Captain fell dead without a murmur.

   The seconds shook hands as Lady Svetlana walked out accompanied by a retinue of attendants and minders.

   ‘At last we have cleansed ourselves of both these nasty double agents who have been responsible for so many deaths.’

  ‘They were duelling over your affections, my lady.’ said the taller of the two seconds, who had represented the Captain.

‘My affections lie with my country. This duel was fought for our survival. The order for the execution of the victor, was signed, sealed and delivered to me.’

 Two further shots broke the silence of the cold morning light and both seconds fell dead.

 ‘Cleanse the remains!’ Lady Svetlana ordered coldly and an ox cart was loaded with  four corpses.

©️ Written by John Yeo

EBENEEZERS FREEZER

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WEDNESDAY 28th OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION

https://sammiscribbles.wordpress.com/author/sammicoxwriter/

EBENEEZERS FREEZER

by John Yeo

 Let me tell you the story of Ebeneezer 

Renowned for being a tightfisted miser.

He mistrusted everyone without exception 

Hid away his wealth for his own protection.

In his kitchen he had an extraordinary freezer

With toughened steel to withstand any assault 

He kept precious gems and bullion within this vault.

With his bread and cheese.

(56 WORDS)

MUDDLED MEMORY

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RANDOM WRITING PROMPT
TUESDAY 27th OCTOBER 2020 ~ FLASH FICTION 

   You bought a memory foam pillow at a garage sale. Little did you know that it wasn’t an ordinary pillow. The pillow gave whoever was lying on it the memory of its previous users. 

~~~~~~

THE MUDDLED MEMORY 

by John Yeo

    I’m a single man, living in a sparsely-furnished bedsit in a densely populated area of the city. It was pushing the bounds of reason to describe this place as furnished when I first rented it and I had bought many items to make things a little more comfortable from local charity shops and garage sales.

 It was Sunday night when I started to feel odd. I remember suddenly waking with an urgent desire to visit the bathroom. I was feeling quite muddle-headed and I had to blindly force myself to remember where the bathroom actually was. I simply put this down to the result of a heavy-headed sleep and I got back into bed and tried to sleep. 

  I lay awake for a while and my mind began to drift over some odd subjects. I began to worry about getting caught and arrested by the police for my crimes. The criminal offences I was ruminating over were connected with money-laundering and extortion. I remember thinking they were just a series of ultra-realistic dreams. I brought to the surface of my mind a whole sequence of events and places where I apparently had lived and images of the people who were also involved in these criminal activities. Eventually I drifted off into a deep sleep until the alarm clock shrilled out and it was time to get up.

  I dressed for work and stopped in a small local cafe for breakfast. The weird dreamlike experiences from the night suddenly came to mind as I sat and ate and I thought I recognised the area where I was supposed to have lived and committed my crimes. The house was much like a large detached place where I had stopped to buy some items for my flat from a nice lady who was having a garage sale to clear some unwanted effects.

  I didn’t think anything else about the dream when I got to work as I was far too busy working on some intricate accounts.

  I was shattered at the end of the day as I hadn’t slept too well the night before and I went to bed early, where I immediately fell into a deep sleep. I woke a couple of hours later and visited the bathroom, again I was unsure where the bathroom actually was and I seemed to be unfamiliar with the way things were situated. I returned to the bed and tried to sleep again, without much success. 

  My pillow was uncomfortable and I turned it over and over trying to get the memory foam to fit my posture. Then I remembered I was married to a lady named Jean and we had been wed for three years. My brother and sister were also living in our house temporarily but they had both recently left the house. Jean had cleared everything out from their rooms, dumped some junk and had a garage sale with some other items, in aid of a local charity.

 I was heavily involved in a betting business where I made high profits from money-laundering and much besides.

  The next day everything faded into the background when I woke and I dragged myself to work and over my lunch break I confided in my friend Shirley.

  We decided to visit the house I remembered from my dream, on some pretext and check out the lie of the land. When we got there we found the house empty and shuttered up, the neighbour next door informed us they had moved overnight.

   When we arrived at the office there was a message for me from my neighbour at home to let me know there had been a fire in my house and the whole two flats, including mine, had been destroyed.

  Shirley and her husband immediately offered me the benefit of their spare room for a while until I was able to find somewhere to live.

   Strangely, I never, ever, experienced those strange dream-like feelings again.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

WILD WIND WITH STORMY RAIN

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MONDAY 26th OCTOBER 2020 ~BLOG POST 

This is a response to a Flash Fiction prompt from ‘Putting My Feet In the Dirt’, Writing Prompts hosted by ‘M’.
Which can be found by following the link below..

October Writing Prompts

PROMPT ~ Merely monsters

WILD WIND WITH STORMY RAIN 

(Merely Monsters)

by John Yeo

   The  sky briefly turned pink after we’d experienced a short heavy shower of rain with high winds this afternoon. We had some storm damage last week and I lost a smallish tree from one of the borders. 

 I was busily staking up and giving some support to a couple of our shrubs today when I got caught in the rain. More high winds and heavy rain is forecast in the next couple of days. The problem is, this excessive rain, coupled with the high winds, weakens the root systems and there’s a danger of trees and shrubs getting blown over and uprooted. I have enjoyed taking care of our Camellia shrub which gets bigger and better every year. The winds have forced this 16 years old shrub to bend precariously and I’ve staked it with a double stake support. I also have a Forsythia that needed a supportive stake. This Forsythia shrub brings back some good memories to Margaret and I, as it was nurtured from a cutting we obtained from the garden of a very special lady who once lived in Bishops Stortford. I think as these  plants and trees reward us every year it’s worth spending time taking care of them.

   I also snapped a quick shot of a large pot of pink Nerines that are in full flower at the moment. 

This collage shows our beautiful Camellia and Forsythia shrubs in flower in early Spring.

© Written by John Yeo

UNCOMFORTABLE CORONAVIRUS VIBES

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SUNDAY 25th OCTOBER 2020 ~ BLOG POST

PROMPT ~ Write about a time you were uncomfortable

UNCOMFORTABLE CORONAVIRUS VIBES

by John Yeo

  The huge publicity campaign highlighting the dangers of interaction with other people during the current Coronavirus pandemic makes one feel extremely uncomfortable all the time. 

   Whenever one ventures out of the house the dangers, whether real or imagined are all around. Most people we come into contact with, take the necessary precautions by keeping to the metre distancing recommendations and a high proportion wear a face covering when entering the local shops.

 However there are still the virtually unconcerned minority, who take enormous risks with their own health and everyone else they come into contact with. 

  The daily statistics, sadly give a clear picture of the latest figures of people who have become infected with the virus and sadder still, the number of people who’ve been hospitalised. Then the most uncomfortable statistic of all, the daily death toll from this unremittingly vicious virus. 

 We live in a small town of narrow streets around the main shopping area that has been turned into a one way pedestrian area. One side of the main road has been designated by clear arrow signs pointing in one direction. The opposite side of the road has a series of arrows clearly pointing in the opposite direction. The shops and the shopping area are built close to the main road, with narrow pavements, leaving little room for people to pass one another and still comply with the social distancing recommendations. 

 The main shopping road is a one way road for traffic and the town gets exceedingly busy at times. Some incredibly ignorant, unenlightened people, will insist on walking along the pavements in the wrong direction causing other pedestrians to walk in the road to maintain the social distancing regulations. Very few people wear a face covering except for when they enter the shops, where it is a legal requirement.

  We tend to avoid shopping in town unless it’s absolutely essential, but of course there are times when a visit to the Pharmacy or the Optician or the Hairdressers makes it unavoidable. 

   At this particularly unusual time during this obnoxious Coronavirus pandemic going into town will always be accompanied by an unpleasant, uncomfortable feeling.

© Written by John Yeo