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THE STING OF REJECTION

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Sunday 5th July 2020

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..

July Writing Prompts

THE STING OF REJECTION 

 The scene was played out in the rural peace of central suburban England. Deaven and Gertie were lovers and they had enjoyed a long affair together throughout their years at University.

 They had returned from a long holiday together in the sun of the Caribbean now a fragment of both of their memories as they landed in windswept, rain-lashed England.

‘Will your parents be at home when we get there Gertie? I would like to meet them and have a chat with your father.’

‘Yes! They should be there Deaven. What do you want to see him about?’ asked Gertie, feigning ignorance.

Deaven smiled and said nothing in response to this. The chauffeur was waiting for them when they alighted from the train and they were whisked off to the Manor House; Gertie’s home.

Immediately they arrived; after the introductions had been completed, Deaven asked to have a private word with Gertie’s father and the two of them retired to the library.

Raised voices could be heard and the noise of a gunshot broke the silence of the manorial splendour.

The servants dashed in to find one man shot dead and the other man with a serious head wound. 

It seems Deaven had asked for the hand of Gertie in marriage and the sting of her father’s response of total rejection had caused him to lose his sense of reality. Deaven had pulled a ceremonial sword off the wall and attacked the overbearing man. Gertie’s Father had pulled a gun from a desk drawer and killed the young man in self defence.

The tragic effect of the sting of abject rejection had a permanent irredeemable effect on all their lives.

© Written by John Yeo

MISTY MOON MAGIC

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3rd JULY 2020

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..


July Writing Prompts

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MISTY MOON MAGIC

by John Yeo

  The night was perfect for Eli, he had been waiting for the full moon. There was a faint mist swirling around the huge monolith. The stones were lit up and conditions seemed just right.

He’d been sad for weeks since his lifetime partner Miriam had been killed by a lightning strike.

 It was out of the blue a sudden electrical storm with wicked forked lightning had quickly blown up and taken the life of Miriam.

 Eli had searched through his many volumes of magical spells and came across the perfect spell for bringing life back from the dead.

 Eli had some locks of Miriam’s hair that he placed on the largest stone, known locally as the altar stone. 

 He intoned the age-old words and called to the misty moonlight to raise Miriam’s spirit.

 Suddenly there was a heavy downpour, with crashing thunder and streaks of lightning that cut through the misty atmosphere.

 Eli was struck down and died instantly. Miriam had been calling to him from the other side of the curtain of death.

  Their spirits were reunited by the light of the mystical magic of a blue moon.

The storm soon petered out leaving Eli’s lifeless body draped across the altar stone. There was a smile transforming his face in death.

© Written by John Yeo 

CITY IN THE SKY

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THURSDAY 2nd JULY 2020 

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..

July Writing Prompts

CITY IN THE SKY

by John Yeo


  The travellers had driven the mules and the assembled pack train from the lower slopes of the mountains. They had endured a long arduous climb to a large hidden valley within the peaks.
Professor Tomlinson, a well known explorer, was the brains behind the expedition.
Jim Smithers was a respected botanist, who had joined the team to study the flora along the mountainous trails.
There were two other members of the team, Laura, a  redheaded lab assistant and Sam, a strong young  English cockney man who was included to take care of everyone along the way.

The Professor addressed the team.
‘Listen everyone, we haven’t far to go, if we reach the fabled city in the sky, we will be lucky enough to contact a unique civilisation, the chances are, some of us could be wealthy beyond measure.’

   Jim Smithers and Laura, who had certainly become an item, during the earlier part of the climb smiled. Marriage would certainly be on the cards now.


Suddenly they were under attack, a thousand arrows, spears and boulders rained down on them from above.
Sam was the first to go down as the expedition was surrounded by the local inhabitants.
The rest of the team were bound hard and foot and dragged by the mules to a golden shining city in the clouds.


How they came to tell the story of what happened next will be the subject of some more Flash Fiction another day.

© Written by John Yeo.

THE LAST OF LUKE

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TUESDAY 30th JUNE 2020

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..

June 2020 Writing Prompts

THE LAST OF LUKE

by John Yeo

The assembled gathering were sombre to say the least, the sheriff took the prayer book in his hands and said.

    ‘The Colonel was a fine man who deserved everything he had achieved.’

The councillors and the local dignitaries all agreed that there’d never lived a finer man than Colonel Luke.

   ‘The Colonel was a devout man full of Christian charity, when he left every penny of his legacy to the town. The money will go towards feeding the poor and educating the children.’

A voice rose from the rear of the assembly.

    ‘He was a racist slave driver who made money out of the very people he is bettering.’

There was a chorus of assent from the gathering.

  The priest intoned the words of the last two verses from the gospel according to St. Luke.

Colonel Luke’s body was consigned to the flames of the crematorium.

The feelings of the townsfolk were mixed, love and pride mixed with hate and abhorrence. Goodbye Colonel Luke.

‘May you rot in the embers of the fires.’ 

© Written by John Yeo.

UNWELCOME

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UNWELCOME

by John Yeo

  The play had gone down badly. Jason was in disgrace. ‘What happened to the lighting halfway through the performance?’ asked the theatre manager.

The director and the cast were non-committal, blunt and absolutely rude. You could cut the atmosphere with a knife.

Jason the leading man had actually re-written the script and made some unwelcome advances to Marlene, the leading lady.

 ‘You were drunk! You fool. No wonder Marlene slapped you and screamed the house down when the lights went out, that was never a part of the script. You’re fired! 

(91 WORDS)

© Written by John Yeo

TILLY THE TUNA

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SUNDAY 28th JUNE 2020

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..

June 2020 Writing Prompts

TILLY THE TUNA 

by John Yeo

We are off to visit the Sealife aquarium today. Both the children are excited and the atmosphere is charged.

 ‘Mum will there be real sharks swimming there? We’ve only ever seen them on the television.’ asked Billy.

‘Of course there will be sharks and lots of other kinds of fish. When you walk through the aquarium tunnels underwater, they’ll be swimming over your heads.’

 Milly, their eight year old couldn’t wait to meet a special fish.

‘I dreamed about Tilly, a tuna fish who had twins and they swam all over the place in the seas around the British isles.’

 ‘Don’t be silly Milly, tuna fish aren’t found here, they live in the oceans far away from here.’

 ‘My Tilly lives in my head Billy and I can place her wherever I want her to be.’

Billy said to Milly, 

‘If I had a dream about Tilly the tuna I wouldn’t eat the sandwiches Mum has made for lunch.’

 Milly cried, to think Tilly had died and Billy ate the tuna sandwiches.

© Written by John Yeo

MARIGOLD MOMENTS

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FLASH FICTION 

June 2020 Writing Prompts

MARIGOLD MOMENTS

by John Yeo

Mary just adored them and did everything in her power to preserve the magical Marigolds that grew along the borders of her garden. She would water them daily, even when it rained. One day there was a loud knocking at the door. Mary went to open it and there didn’t seem to be anyone around, just a huge bunch of sweet smelling gold coloured Marigolds. 

‘Wonderful!’ She thought, ‘My favourite flower, they smell so freshly cut and they look so good. I must put them in a vase straight away.’

Shortly after there was another knock on the door and when Mary answered, she saw the local postman with a card in his hand.

‘Here you are Ma’am, someone has remembered it’s Valentine’s Day and sent you a card.’

‘How do you know.’ asked Mary.

‘Easy said the postman, there are kisses and hearts all over it.’

Mary smiled and opened the card immediately when she was alone, sure enough it was a Valentine’s Day card with beautiful Marigolds all over it.

 Mary wondered who the unsigned card was from.

Later that day she met Bob, the greengrocer in town and oddly he had a large Marigold in his lapel.

Mary smiled , yet still the penny hadn’t dropped until Bob blushing said to her.

‘I love your Marigolds Mary, your garden is as beautiful as you.’

Then it was Mary’s turn to blush as Bob handed her a bunch of Marigolds with an engagement ring in a box.

‘Please marry me Marigold Mary.’

© Written by John Yeo 

THE ENDLESS RAILWAY

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FRIDAY 26th JUNE 2020

June 2020 Writing Prompts

THE ENDLESS RAILWAY 

by John Yeo 

George entered the surgery and waited by the reception desk. He was a large overweight man in his early forties, he was conspicuously wearing an anorak with the hood up. Ruth the red headed receptionist bustled in from the room behind the reception area.

‘Can I help you?’ she enquired,

‘Beg pardon?’ George replied.

‘CAN I HELP YOU?’

‘Yes of course! I have an appointment with Dr,Green.

‘Take a seat! Ruth said rather loudly, she was wondering if this patient had a hearing problem.

A few minutes later the buzzer sounded and George made his way in to keep his appointment.

‘What seems to be the trouble?’ enquired the doctor.

‘ Well, Doctor, I’m hearing things.’ Said George.

‘What sort of things?’

George said, ‘Noises, like a train on the tracks.’

‘Ah!’ said the Doctor, sounds like Tinnitus. Let’s have a look at your ears.’

‘’Yes please Doctor, it’s like being on an endless railway journey’

© Written by John Yeo

SHALLOW HOPE

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SHALLOW HOPE

June 2020 Writing Prompts

by John Yeo

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.

© Written by John Yeo