A prompt response for INSPIRATION MONDAY ~ “GROUND CONTROL”

 

A prompt response for Inspiration Monday

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A prompt response for Inspiration Monday: “Ground Control”

ENCLOSURE

by John Yeo

 “I used to be able to walk for miles through grassy fields, just enjoying the seasons turning around in the perennial cycle of life, death and birth. Wildlife was prolific in those days, the hedgerows would be full of birdsong and interesting little rustles and sounds of scampering and scurrying little feet. I would take a pen and a notebook to record my thoughts, sometimes a piece of poetry would seep into a corner of my mind and I would hastily sit on the grass and put pen to paper. There were times I would sit and sketch  Many a time, I have been caught in a storm and hastened to the nearest hedgerow and dived beneath the bushes and elderberry trees seeking shelter. Mostly I remember sunny days, cloudless blue skies, and perennial wildflowers everywhere. Life drifted on smoothly, with the peace to ramble the fields and think alone.

Then came men with guns, and fences appeared, with signs that warned. ‘Private Property. No Trespassing, Keep Out.” Life became restricted to tiny pathways of muddy footpaths sometimes overgrown and impassable. The times had changed and brought Ground Control with fenced enclosure.”

“ Yes Mr Robinson, now try to rest before ward rounds and the doctor arrives.”  A busy nurse bustled in and tidied up his bed.

“Now I have this harsh dementia and my short-term memory is gone, at least I can stroll  those bygone lanes again in my mind, Nurse.”

   “Yes Mr Robinson, try to rest now.”

 “I feel as if my mind is fenced and restricted, I can no longer freely think and enjoy the world of now, I am restricted to tiny foggy footpaths of memory, sometimes overgrown and impassable. I feel I am grounded, not in control, fenced in by the evil of dementia.”

“Yes Mr Robinson, do you need the commode now?”

 “No thanks nurse, I think I will sleep for a while.

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~All rights reserved. 

Sunset over Bridgeman Downs

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PICTURE IT AND WRITE ~ DANDY-LIONS IN THE JUNGLE

This is a latest Picture it and Write prompt from Emilia’s blog ~3rd January 2016

Picture it & Write

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As usual the image is supplied and credited by Ermilia

DANDY-LIONS IN THE JUNGLE

by John Yeo

   The tropical rainforest steamed as the heat and rain mingled to create the perfect growing conditions. The Professor and the team were on an exploratory expedition, to discover an almost mythical species of flora, that was rumoured to have extraordinary effects on the human body.

    The Chief native guide who had an unpronounceable name, was commonly called Chalky by one and all, due to his habit of wearing white zig-zags all over his body. On this day he approached the Professor. to parley.

       “We are getting close Boss! The plants are growing everywhere in the next wide clearing. Many spirits of our tribe guard this secret area. We will have to take care we do not tread on sacred ground.”

       “Of course! We will extend every due respect to you and your ancestors Chief. Mrs Mills, who funded this trip is keen to sample the amazing effects of these wondrous flowers immediately. I am here to take some seed and samples to reproduce the effects at home in our country.”

  The team crossed a broad river, over a rickety bridge, and were immediately confronted by a sea of yellow flowering plants that stretched as far as the eye could see.

    “Almost like a distant relation to our own dandelions. I believe dandelions are a useful diuretic if they are taken in vast quantities of dandelion tea.” said the Professor interestedly.

 The team quickly set up a camp on the edge of the clearing and began harvesting some of the roots, leaves and the yellow flowers.

  Chalky, the Chief, began to instruct the Professor’s assistant in the preparation of the plants, to produce the desired effects.

     Seventeen stone, Mrs Mills stepped forward, “I hope this works on me, I really need to lose weight instantly.”

The professor nodded, and reassured her that the effects had been working for centuries on these tribal people.

  The tribal shaman instructed Mrs Mills to lie prone on a stone altar and the prepared fluid was administered. Instantly water started gushing from every pore and orifice in her body. The shaman stepped forward and administered an antidote to stem the flow. Almost half of Mrs Mills body fluids had gushed away in seconds, before the antidote was administered.

   A very surprised Professor then exclaimed,  “Call the medics forward to examine Mrs Mills at once!”

A stunned Mrs Mills had lost a great deal of her body-weight almost instantly.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

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A prompt response for “INSPIRATION MONDAY ~UNKNOWN SENDER

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Image © Copyright John and Margaret

A prompt response for Inspiration Monday

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A prompt response for Inspiration Monday: “Leap to a Beginning”

UNKNOWN SENDER

by John Yeo

     “Where did that come from?” Asked, Minnie Mills, when she entered the post-office and handed in the card that had been pushed through her door by the postman.

    Elizabeth, the very experienced counter-clerk, scratched her head in curiosity. “We never know.  Are you sure you don’t recognise the handwriting? There doesn’t seem to be a visible postmark on the wrapper, it’s all smudged.” Elizabeth had worked in the village post office for twenty years and she knew everyone intimately, she was always very helpful, and rather nosey when it came to other people’s post.

     “I wonder what it can be, I am not expecting anything and I have never seen that writing before. I have heard there are some dangerous people around who send out letter bombs and parcel bombs, to all and sundry.” Minnie exclaimed with a slight tremor of her normally stiff upper lip. Minnie had just turned 83 years old, the week before, but her mind was very sharp from reading the newspapers and watching television.

    Elizabeth smiled in disbelief. “No! Mrs Mills, I don’t think so. Who on earth would want to send a bomb to you? I can call the manager if you like, but I don’t know what he can do. I expect he will call the police, who will then call in the bomb squad.”

    Charlie Jones the local odd job man was standing next in the queue, “Come on! Hurry up! I have work to do. Will you get a move on, I will take it outside and open it up if you like!”

   “No thank-you very much!” Exclaimed Minnie Mills. “I don’t want your death on my conscience.”

 Elizabeth gave him one of her special warning looks, and pressed the bell for the manager, who was in the office at the back of the shop doing his books. Bill Green had been managing this little village office for a couple of years now, having moved from the big city to enjoy life in the country with his family.

     “Can I help you?” Bill asked the odd job man, then sold him a first class stamp and showed him the door.

 Elizabeth rapidly explained the situation to the astonished manager.

     “Well, there is a procedure to follow when we encounter a suspicious package. I have a special number to ring for instructions. Don’t do a thing until I come back.” He rushed into his office to make the call.

  He returned in a couple of minutes and announced, “Help is on the way, meanwhile we must put the package in a bucket of water and take it outside, far away from the post office.”

 A short time later an unusual looking van arrived with strange aerials on the top and headed straight for the bucket. Some minutes later an army officer entered the post office.

    “There is no cause for alarm, this is definitely not an explosive device. We have x-rayed it and we ran a metal detector over it, and there is nothing metallic inside.” He reported, then drove off to another investigation.

  Elizabeth, the counter clerk was very curious, and when everyone had gone, she urged Minnie to open the parcel. “Go on, open it now in case I can help you.”

   Minnie gave her an old fashioned look, then said, “No I will take it home now.”

  When she got home she gingerly unwrapped her package to discover a rubber Hot-Water Bottle, donated by Age Concern to keep her warm in the winter.

Ahh! That’s nice of them she thought, smiling to herself.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 21st December 2015 ~ SAFETY FIRST

Safety First

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Image © Copyright John and Margaret

Safety First

Share the story of a time you felt unsafe.

ROUGH SEAS

by John Yeo

  The most memorable time that I felt unsafe and insecure was a time when we were in the middle of the ocean, aboard a relatively small ship. We had experienced some quite strong winds, and there was a rough swell, that was rocking the ship a little. We were quite used to this traversing the Bay of Biscay.

   On that memorable day we were eating a leisurely meal in the ship’s dining-room, I was sitting opposite my wife Margaret, with a view of the open sea through the windows on the side of the ship. The dining-room was quite high up, on the fourth level of eight, or nine if you include the open Verandah deck. 

   As I looked up, the windows in front of my viewpoint were underwater, literally underwater! Then within a millisecond or less, there was an huge shocking bang, as an enormous freak wave hit the side of the ship. The shock reverberated through the dining room, tables were thrown over and large metal serving stations were upended. There was the sound of crockery smashing everywhere and food and broken glass was scattered.   Several passengers were injured as the tables trapped people beneath them and the room was an area of total devastation. 

 All of the public rooms were affected and the damage to the fixtures and fittings was substantial. The passengers were ordered to return to their cabins as the clear-up began, we returned to find our television set had been ripped from the brackets that secured it to the wall. The maintenance department were obviously attending to the urgent areas of dangerously damaged fixtures and fittings.

 We were confined to our cabins until further notice, and informed that our meals would be delivered to our cabins by the room-service staff. The Captain kept everyone well informed, of the ongoing situation over the internal tannoy system. The weather was still pretty rough and the seas were high but nothing to compare with the original freak wave that had caused such devastation. That was totally unexpected by the officers on the bridge and came literally out of nowhere.

 We were confined to our cabins for almost two days, and for us that was the safest place to be. I certainly felt unsafe during those two days of high seas, and I was quite relieved when things were back to normal and our ship was sailing on calm waters into the sunshine.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

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Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 18th December 2015 ~ THE ARTIST’S EYE

The Artist’s Eye
The Artist’s Eye Is there a painting or sculpture you’re drawn to? What does it say to you? Describe the experience. (Or, if art doesn’t speak to you, tell us why.)

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 Auguste Rodin’s “The Thinker”

by John Yeo

  Wherever or whenever, I have ever seen a reproduction of this incredible work of art, I am entranced. I am sure this is a very allegorical piece of work, full of hidden alternatives. My thoughts are with the mind of the sculptor.
  What was in the mind of the sculptor as he constructed this work of art? What was he trying to reveal through the deep concentrated reflection of thought revealed in the face of the subject?
  When I ponder on the ponderer and think about the mind that is reflected in the depiction of a mind, set deep in thought. It is difficult not to equate the creative process, reflecting the mind of the creator with the creator of this work of art. Was the sculptor in a creative trance that guided his mind and his hands to portray such an intense reality? The figure of the man has his head bowed resting on his right hand in a position that can only be viewed as deep concentrated thought. One wonders what was actually in the mind of a man who could produce such an incredible piece of work.
  In the mundane world of most people’s reality, survival and the normal processes of day-to-day living fill the crevices of an average mind to the exclusion of almost everything else. The dedication required to simply create something as intense and perfect as this amazing work of art must be phenomenal.
  To me this represents the complete dedication and incredible mind power that is required to start, build, and complete any complex project or creative accomplishment.
  Auguste Rodin’s depiction of a thinker always sets my thinking processes off on a wild stream of thought. I can only begin to guess how other minds are affected by this incredible work of art, that would be like trying to read the mind of a bronze statue that is obviously deep in thought.
  According to historical legend Auguste Rodin originally created this statue as part of a much larger piece of work. Apparently the figure was supposed to represent the Italian poet Dante Alighieri thinking about his incredible epical story of Paradise and Inferno.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

A prompt response for “INSPIRATION MONDAY:” ~ WHERE WOLF

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WHERE WOLF

by John Yeo

   He was a drifter who always moved with the whims of his ever-changing quest. A searcher for peace and serenity that drove him always ever-onward to new horizons.
 No one ever really knew him, it was very difficult to penetrate the hard shell that obscured and shielded his ever hungry-mind.
He had a four-legged companion, a tame wolf, who travelled with him and rarely left his side. Rumour had it, he had stumbled across an injured wolf cub in the forest and nursed it back to health. The wolf just followed him wherever he went after that, and a deep relationship developed between the man and beast.
  On the rare occasions his friend went missing, there would be several wolves howling in the night and his friend would be gone, sometimes for a few days.

 Perhaps it was the need for human contact that led him to make his home near our forest encampment. We were a small community of self-sufficient small-time farmer and growers. The community accepted and welcomed him with open arms and friendship, as he drifted around doing small jobs and hard laborious work for food and drink. He was very fond of the homemade rough strong cider, that was brewed by one of our fruit growers.

  One sad memorable week we discovered several dead sheep and a goat, killed by a predator and left half-eaten in the fields. Suspicion fell on the tame wolf and several of our menfolk approached the man and his wolf with guns.

 There was unease as he stood facing these angry farmers without fear, the wolf just stood beside him.

      “We’ve come for the killer wolf, step aside or die!” Shouted the leader.

  “Why? The wolf is not a killer and he stays with me.” Replied the drifter.

  Then the wolf growled and howled, and looked at his friend, there was a moment of shocked silence as the drifter whispered, “Where Wolf?”
Moving on the fringes of the forest in the distance, cautiously stalking a wild bird was a full grown wild cat. There was a volley of shots from the men as the big cat fled into the forest and disappeared into the trees.

  The next day the drifter and his friend were gone never to be seen in that part of the forest again.

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo All rights reserved

 

Wolf Marg

Image © 2015, Barbara W. Beacham

 

A prompt response for “INSPIRATION MONDAY:” ~ BOOK DROWNING

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BOOK DROWNING

by John Yeo

The sad thing was he never planned what happened. I mean literally, he was drowning his sorrows, after receiving the latest rejection letter from another unenlightened, uneducated, unrealistic, uninformed publisher.
      “Another Gin and Tonic. Please bartender.”
  “Yes Sir, ice and lemon?”
        “Yes thanks, heavy on the gin, light on the ice and just a dash of tonic. I need to make the bottle of tonic last all night.”
  “OK! Sir!”
          “Bartender, have you ever felt so shitty, that even dogs would turn their noses up at you?”
  “Beg your pardon, Sir?”
           “I have spent days, weeks, then months, working on a personal masterpiece of creative writing, only to be told that it is not quite right for publication, by several different ignoramuses! What do you think about that?”
The bartender shrugged animatedly as he went on,
         “No-one seems to care about the hard work and the pure dedicated effort that is required to put a piece of writing together. Another gin please! No make it a double. Just a splash of tonic from my tonic bottle please, and a tinkle of ice.”
  “OK, Sir.”
There was a huge tropical fish tank, covering a whole wall of this downtown bar, leading to a small pond on the terrace, people would sit staring at the tropical fish for hours just to relax, while taking a drink. He had never noticed this before and thought to himself, this must be where the expression, drinking like a fish comes from.
       “Bartender!”
  “Yes Sir!”
            “Charge my glass again with the same please! Do you ever have dreams that get smashed to pieces, then the rude awakening to a harsh reality. I think I may just have to rewrite the whole damn thing from the beginning again!”
  “Are you sure you will be OK! Sir.”
           “Of course! Thanks, I’m fine, pour me another, I’m stepping outside on the terrace to get some air.”
Then he unsteadily walked outside to a table and began to curse.
The bartender then heard a splash as a large paper envelope was unceremoniously dumped into the water.
The man then turned and left the bar.

Copyright (c) Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

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DAILY PROMPT ~ 29TH AUGUST 2015 ~THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS

DAILY PROMPT on Word Press

Missing Sequels
If you could create a sequel to one favourite (standalone) movie, which would it be? How would it build on the original?

The-Birds---Hitchcock

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THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS

by John Yeo

  I am not much of a movie buff, but my favourite candidate For a sequel would be an Alfred Hitchcock, movie from 1963 entitled “The Birds”, this is a horrific take of a buildup of bird power, beginning to frighten and attack humanity. We are left with a feeling that the birds are massing and gathering to launch a full scale attack on humanity and take control of the world. The build up and massing of thousands of different species of birds at the end of the film, leaving an open- ended horrifying ending, is a wonderful candidate for a sequel. Many would say however that to attempt to interfere with a work of such outstanding brilliance and try to write a sequel is pure sacrilege.

  My sequel would continue with the random and increasing attacks on the population, leading to the involvement of the military. Much slaughter of our avian attackers would then begin by all means possible, including flame throwers and gas. The response from the birds would be to mass together and enter buildings and attack the occupants from within. There would be terror and fear reigning throughout the land as the casualties mounted and the authorities were powerless to defeat these random attacks.
Mitch and Lydia would survive and there would enter a new character, a hermit from the wilderness of the Rocky Mountains.
 Gabriel would arrive with two huge Eagles circling above his head and offer to rid the leading aggressive birds of their leaders, leaving the hordes of feathered attackers in disarray.
There would be a huge price to pay for this solution however, Gabriel requests a huge area of land with a palatial property and an income to be paid for the rest of his life. Some would hesitate to pay any price at all, leave alone this unrealistic demand made by Gabriel. Members of the government would finally agree to his demands as the attacks by the birds inside the buildings became almost impossible to stop.

The action then would go something like this ……

“Gabriel then blew on a very high pitched whistle, the response from the Eagles was instant and soon there were a large number of these huge birds in the skies attacking and destroying the leaders of the fearsome flock of attackers.
 Within hours it was all over and some semblance of normality had returned to the lives of the beleaguered populations. A peace settled on the community for a settled period of months.
Gabriel approached the leaders and requested his agreed price for the miracle of the return to peace and normality. There was much discussion and the upshot was a much smaller offer than he had requested. A few thousand pounds and a medal of honour, with the freedom of the land forever.
Gabriel was very irate and demanded his reward without success. The leaders just laughed in his face.    The result was devastating as Gabriel drew a trumpet and blew hard and long, one note, silent to the powers of human understanding.
There was a guttural squawking from a flock of Crows and a screeching of large Seagulls as a huge flock of birds massed to attack. The birds were back and menacingly massing to begin to attack the citizens again.”

 The sequel would finish with a concerted attack on a large public arena during a well-attended sports final, the birds would attack suddenly from all directions. The casualties would be huge from this totally unexpected surprise attack. The army and extermination teams would race to the area but they would arrive to find not a single bird in the area. Then fighter planes would appear; to discover the flocks had separated and we’re now scattered over a very huge area.

Copyright (c) written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

(With grateful thanks and respect to author and producer of the original masterpiece)

I really let my imagination run riot with this prompt. I think this is the sequel that would be impossible to make.

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