Inspiration Monday – Can’t see past my gun

Inspiration Monday on the Bekindrewrite blog, 13 February 2012. There’s a whole host of stuff to choose from, but what inspired me this week was the phrase; Can’t see past my gun. So here is my interpretation …

______________

I’ve been here for two days. It was dark when I arrived, I found a good spot in the ditch and got hunkered down before dawn.

The first day wasn’t too bad, the waiting is the worst. When nothing happens for hours, boredom sets and, if you are not careful, you start imagining things; movements, sounds. Even the bugs crawling past your face become interesting.

Laying so still makes your muscles ache and your joints grow stiff. The sun was pretty hot for a couple of hours after noon, but all this clothing kept my skin from burning. The cool of the evening shadows was wonderful, for a while, but soon the temperature dropped to a chill.

When darkness fell I managed to move each joint and muscle in turn, just enough to ease those aches. I needed to sleep as I knew today would be important, it is the reason I am here. Sleep was intermittent. The bugs and the aches made sure I didn’t doze too long.

Water and rations before dawn have to sustain me. Today my eyes and ears are tuned acutely to the road and buildings stretched out in front of me. There is activity, a good sign. The morning sun is shining from behind my left shoulder, an ideal place. But it won’t stay there long. It will soon be zero hour, the car must be on time.

Yes! Here it is. The black limousine is flanked by a couple of SUVs. They have stopped right outside the main entrance, perfect. Half a dozen black suits spill out of the SUVs and scour the street for signs of … anything they don’t like really. They’re satisfied it’s safe, The Man is out of the limo and stretching his arms. He’s had a long trip.

I ease the ‘scope in front of my right eye, now I can almost read the time on his expensive watch. The cross hairs are centred on the back of his head … squeeze gently. The flash eliminator does its job, just a gentle pop as the 7.62mm round makes its way to the target.

My work is done.

_______________________

(c) 2012, K Patrick Moody

Inspired by Bekindrewrite’s Inspiration Monday post for 13 February 2012 – Can’t see past my gun

Inspiration Monday – 6 Feb 2012

Inspired again. Last Monday’s InMon on the Bekindrewrite site included the phrase, Try not to scream. That had to be inspirational, so here is my entry.

_______________________________

“Try not to scream – it’s such an unpleasant noise.”

He pulled the leather straps tighter around her wrists and ankles, then turned to the workbench behind him.
Even with her whimpering she could hear the grinding of blade on stone.

“Not everyone screams, y’know.”

She bit her lip. Tears rolled down her cheeks

“Some are too scared to …”

scrape, scrape, scrape,

“… they think it will make me angry ..”.

scrape, scrape, scrape,

“… but I don”t get angry …”

The grinding stopped, but the quiet was worse.

“… much.”

He turned back, drew close and looked into her eyes, his foul breath crawled across her face.

“Mother”s were that colour – until the accident.” He stroked the blade down her cheek, “Yours will do just fine.”

Sunlight glinted off the newly sharpened blade as the door opened behind him.

“Dad! Not again! Put that down! Grandma’s been dead for ten years!”

__________________________________________

(c) 2012, K Patrick Moody

Inspired by the prompts on Bekindrewite blog, Inspiration Monday

1970s – the next instalment

Because I’m old – and the 1970s were interesting times for me, I’m adding a series of articles to this blog.

They originally appeared, some time ago, on another blog recording memories of those unique and interesting times, and deserve another airing. The 80s and 90s were spectacular, too, but that’s another series of articles.

Click on The ’70s tab to read the first two articles. The rest will follow soon.

Inspiration Monday – 30 Jan 2012

A last ditch entry to InMon, I hope I’m not too late. : Covered with words:

“It is covered with words, but these words mean nothing to me.”
He spread the scroll gently on the table, the leather brittle with age. His finger traced the line of characters from right to left.
“What does it say? What does it mean?”
“I wish I knew. It’s not Hebrew, but it is similar. I think it may be Aramaic.”
The boy reached out to touch it.
“No!” he caught his wrist and snatched his hand away from the relic. “This is important. It is very … very old.”
The boy looked hurt, but said nothing. His father’s face was suddenly different. His warm, kindly eyes were now cold. There was an icy fire burning in them.
“You must not mention this old piece of scrap to anyone …”
“Ok, dad.”
“No-one! Do you hear?” His face contorted and his eyes flared in the boy’s face.
He re-rolled the scroll and placed it carefully into the pouch, and the pouch into his rucksack.
He turned and left the chamber, the boy scrabbling to keep up.
“These are holy words, they will make me rich.”

____________________________________

(c) 2012, K Patrick Moody

Flash fiction inspired by Inspiration Monday – Covered with words

Inspiration Monday – 23 Jan 2012

Here’s another submission to Inspiration Monday. Catching up with the posts, this one is for the current prompts, dated 23 January. My choice of prompt this time, All according to plan.

Kerbside Conversation

“Oh, another master plan! You always got a plan, ain’tcha.”
“It wasn’t my fault the cops turned up.”
“No? So why we sat here?”
“We made bail, didn’t we?”A thoughtful pause.

“What are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know. What d’ya want to do?”
“Haven’t you got any more ideas?”
“Why should it always be me that has the ideas?”
“Every time I have an idea, you tell me it’s stupid.”
“That’s ‘cos every idea you have is stupid.”
“Well , you come up with something, then.”

Silence fills the next few moments …

“OK. What day is it?”
“Thursday. What’s that got to do with it?”
“What happens on Thursday?”
“ … nothing?”
“Think again!”
“The benefit check arrives?”
“Yeah! Right! So do you feel rich when you cash your check?”
“I only get enough to pay the rent and buy a few beers. That ain’t rich.”
“So, let’s invest it – and get rich.”
“You mean stocks ‘n’ shares ‘n’ stuff like that?”
“See. Now you being stupid. – We want a quick return on the cash.”
“OK, Warren Buffett, how we gonna get rich?”
“We gotta have a plan … “

——————————————–

(c) K Patrick Moody, 2012

Inspired by the prompts on Bekindrewite blog, Inspiration Monday

Inspiration Monday – 16 Jan 2012

This post is in response to a blog I’ve found, Bekindrewrite Blog. The rules are more relaxed than the Friday Prediction and the One Word Challenge, no word count, no genre, and five rather vague prompts to pick from, but no less of a challenge. My choice of prompt is Inconvenient death.

There is a link to the site at the end of the piece.

——————————-

I waited an appropriate length time before I went to collect him, after all there was no need to rush. 

Unfortunately he had made rather a mess of things. Extreme sports do have extreme consequences, and base jumping is, after all, quite extreme.

He hadn’t tried the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth before. It is an impressive structure with, he hoped, enough height to enable him to glide across the harbour. The un-roped climb up the outside had caused quite a stir. He had managed to get high enough to avoid the grasping hands of police and security, and continued upwards.

About half way he was feeling the strain. The smooth surface was making the climb difficult, so he rested and watched the TV crews scuttling around, setting up satellite dishes and cameras to record his slow, but steady, progress.

As he set off again, he hadn’t noticed the lace of his trainer was undone. I didn’t say anything. It’s not my place to, you see. He wiped his hands on his shirt and reached for the next bolt head. His foot felt for a foot hold. The loose trainer twisted and slipped, the jolt pulled his hands from their grip.

When I reached him, blood was pooling around his head, his arms and legs splayed at unnatural angles. The local radio station had broken his fall with their van, and he’d bounced on to the concrete. He stood and gazed down at his own crumpled remains. The poor soul was obviously confused. I rested my hand on his shoulder, and he turned to me, fear in his eyes for the first time.

I said, “Death is inconvenient … but happily, not terminal.”

——————————–

(c) K Patrick Moody, 2012

Based on a prompt in Inspiration Monday

Update – January 2012

In preparation for the New Year, the year of The Dragon arriving on 23 January, I’ve given the old blog a bit of an update.

Two new pages have been added, Scratchings 3 and 4, and the others renamed to form a more logical convention. The new pages contain some of my more recent flash fiction, and the 1970s page will gradually be populated with the articles I posted on Josie’s Pop and Crisps blog. I managed the honour of being her Top Guest Blogger!

I’ve changed the appearance of the blog with WordPress’ Rubric theme, for a whole new look.

Let me know what you think.

New Year at Lily’s

The Friday Prediction at Lily Childs’ Feardom blog is off to a great start. The biggest entry list ever, and some of the best flash fiction ever. I’ve posted two of my entries on my writing-only blog, kpatrickmoody.blogspot.com, the last one for 2011, A New Beginning,and the first for this year, Welcome Aboard. They are under the 100 word tab. Click on over for a read, leave a comment, let me know what you think.

Better get started on this weeks Prediction …

December’s One Word Challenge

December’s one word for the challenge was ‘scarlet’.

You can read my entry, Best Served Cold, on the Scratchings 4 tab.

Earlier visitors may have been directed to a new, experimental, blog page which has since been removed. I’ve brought everything back under the Scratchypen blog.

Feardom resurrection

Life seems to have run away with me recently and I haven’t posted any flash fiction to Lily Childs’ Feardom – Friday Prediction. It seems that someone is short changing the weeks and they are a few days short. But today I have submitted for your enjoyment a tale of hope and new life to come in A New Beginning.

Nip over to Lily’s place for a read. There are some real good tales over there.