Ochre Idyls

I've got two words for you.

Oh?

My name then. What's my name?

I never gave you one.

The scientist in the wheel chair's eyes fell off to the side then turned to him.

I called ...

I should say, you're perfect in that you're your own. You answer to you, should you choose.

You know, I get that. Must be all the programming. Yo ...

Good god. You want me to accept I'm not human? I bleed, I tire, I'm a mess, man.

You are perfect. By design.

Your design. That's what you're t ...

The matron was fussily housekeeping as if nothing happened. He went to his room and contacted the office.

Despite his report, nothing was differ ...

Ask yourself why this sense of justice but no regret.

Something hit close to home.

Lila silently slumped to the floor, her words still fresh. A ...

During your life, you've been tied to nothing. No one. Outside of the force that is. And there's a reason for that.

Psych 101. Go on analyze m ...

I'm serious. You ever wonder why you can't remember things?

I'm remembering plenty right now, sister.

Childhood? Any family? Anything outside t ...

I'll bet you sleep in your native soil, he whispered in her ear. Bloodsucker that you are. Let's go for a ride, Lila.

The temptation to wrap his hands around her porcelain neck nagged at him. ...

Two little birds. Perched on his shoulder. One pointing back home, wherever that might be, and one pointing to the edge of destruction. One felt good. The other empty.

He chose empty. Not that h ...

Mondays, he said. Why is it always Mondays? Not a lick of sense.

He scooped up the rifle and whisked off into the night, a rain slicked shadow r ...

There is no try, only do.

Flash after flash brought him to his knees, head clasped between his hands.

And then a word, imagined into image. A thistle, tough and proud. It stood despite the flashes and the memories retu ...

He laid the gun carefully on the rooftop, watching the rain rinse over it. Droplets riding like tears to the ground. He couldn't think why he was there, couldn't remember his name. He was a blan ...

Hum thing in the way she moves.

Another flash. Bright. Quick. Then rain again. Night. A scoped rifle in his hands. He pulls his eye from the lens. Clears his head. It's context, he thinks. Why am I here? A sense of observatio ...

The feeling washed over him like an ocean wave in his stomach. The unreality of the moment faded to black and he awoke in a brighter and cleaner place.

He tried to rise but no motion was possi ...

Wind me all the way up, doll.

I assure you I am very, very much alive, my dear.

She stepped closer to him, her bare neck showing no sign of bruising.

But your reply to our in ...

I know your type, he said with an appraising look.

Red flag already. This wasn't looking professional. Had the matron tricked him?

A voice c ...

Looking for a manger, he said at the front desk, his voice steady but graveled.

We get that all the time, the attendant replied, nodding.

The vo ...

Well, I must press on. No time to lose.

They already know you're coming.

Her tone was flat and the light in her eyes went out as she sank into ...

Her relief went without apology, hands wringing as she answered.

Who do you report back to.

I don't know them. They call on the phone. I call t ...

Poise lies mainly in the spine.

He expected her eyes to be open wide. They narrowed instead.

In spite of what you think you know, she began, when I thought of my death it was always a sudden demise. Never the death of a thou ...

He slipped into the government issued vehicle delivered last night. The GPS screen glowed as the engines hummed to life. He thought of the matron and her obvious pretense. A cog, but not a playe ...

So, what's the plan for today, the rooming house matron asked.

It was morning and she held a small plate of buttered toast. He looked at her, curious, grabbed a piece of toast saying, Governme ...

Shoes off, pants still on, he lay on the bed. The rooming house's climate controls kicked in. His body tired, his mind would not stop. This assignment was like no other. Did who he is have somet ...

He had the feeling he was staring down a mountain. A herculean task of discovery with just the tip showing. His intel had been wrong, or lacking. A case relies on the strength of its investigat ...

Lady luck sure knows her tramps.

There's no such thing as no lead. There's always a lead. Second guess yourself if you have to.

Join us. The two words stood out. Part of something larger. He mentioned change. Vigilantes? Sec ...

The pause gave just enough time and he knew it. He reached for his pistol, a blink in time, to see nothing. Silence. No residual trace of heat or moisture.

Curious. He'd had a lock on him. It w ...

The front door creaked. The floorboards creaked. The dusty light stayed close to curtainless windows.

Join us, a voice called out. Change isn't a ...

The citrus farm was a once thriving operation. He took the train, with a stop just a half mile from the old place. He touched the back of his head. The wound was sticky. Left standing among the ...

Knowing who but not where, the android detective cross-referenced all locations associated with the perpetrator on a map. Two stood out. One in plain sight, the other on the outskirts of town. Pl ...

The light flashed. Slivery ribbons at first, then so bright he fought to keep his eyes closed. The heat in his neck did a slow rise to his brain flushing into the mother of all headaches, throbb ...

He's too late. She lies supine on the bed, bruised around the throat, eyes wide open and fixed with terror. An ice bucket has fallen to the floor contents mostly unmelted. In his periphery, an a ...

He followed the clues to the top of the grand staircase. Each article of clothing strewn haphazardly along the way. The hall to the left held a trail of more incriminating evidence, meant not to ...

The hint of a tear sparkled.

Charmed, I'm sure.

Ha! Charmed you are!

Sirena's charms always held fast and tight, and this was no exception. The balloon buffoon before her ...

You weren't happy to see him.

No, not especially.

But you let him in and he stayed how long?

About a week.

And when you weren't together, ...

Paper hearts lace fragile chains.

A left on Wilshire and down Main. He didn't need the GPS to picture it in his head. He'd mapped practically the entire city in his head. He could tune into this stream at will, marking buildings ...

The sky overhead looked bruised, swollen. A storm was coming, but the air was still, pressure rising. The front door's girth was unimpressive compared to the foyer's opulence. He seldom got to s ...

Was Pepper's brocade too much?

His inquiries took him to the arena, still littered with the detritus from last night's prize fight. He hadn't attended but traces of holistic imagery were still measurable. None whole. Like the ...

It wasn't the noise she expected to hear, there, hot and breathy on an old fashioned phone, the kind you leave the dialing part on the table, the kind that gets sweaty in your hand and you can sm ...

Just a job, he thinks as he scans the room and chooses a seat. A high stool with its back to the wall. Colored lights alternate. Showy, he thinks, but that's the point. He needs info but he's not ...

Fourteen years old walking home from school, hand in hand. We sat in her backyard, watched the clouds float by crisp and cool. We watched, and felt, the ochred leaves fall from the trees. I never ...

I came back to our house. They tore it down after the fire, filled in the basement. But I stood there, out back, looking in where our kitchen windows used to be. I knew that's where I'd find you ...

You know, pushing them like that might not get you the result you're looking for.

Like what? I'm just pushing them.

Like that, hard. Too hard i ...

We stored the provisions below a trap door in the kitchen floor, five years' worth. We'd need it, she said. Repeatedly. But not why. Mother had built it up slowly, ordering online and stashing ...

Lay down the cash. No funny business or else.

I've got the cash, right here.

He hefts an attache case.

On the table. Open it.

The case lands ...

Four was too many. I couldn't carry them all equally and three of them slipped. Time is elusive and I have to act fast. Most call them time reflections. More like dreams. They're real, though. I ...

Wanton wind calls in the breeze.

"We can do this one of two ways. Easy or hard. Salami or salad. Your choice."

Honestly, Joe, that's so cheesy. And weird. Salami or salad?

It' ...

Pl Lloyd Weatherby, at your service. I see you've decided to return to the scene of the crime. Good show. Now, as a private investigator, I invite you to reconsider your elusive behavior. It's ...

Two young detectives are called to the scene of a crime, murder in a greenhouse. The body is purple and clutching it's own throat. A sure sign of poison. Plant misters turn on automatically.

Th ...

The would-be despot looked out over the breadth of his aspirations. High atop his crystalline skytower, for as far as the eye could see, lay land ravaged by toxic devastation. The damage had been ...

Four years 'til dawn's early light.

There's a stretch of highway, northwest of the city, that heads up into the mountains through dense old growth trees that block out most light. Night driving is impossibly dark. A neon motel sig ...

Where's there? I'm going to need to know if you want me to help. No, I get it, you can't say, but you're still calling me, so either you're in physical danger and need me like now, or this is so ...

Do you want to go on holiday to Aruba?

What do you mean go on holiday? You don't go on holiday, they just happen. Aruba has its own holidays?

O ...

They wanted to ban learning.

Life throws its hat in the ring.

Without sun, shade fades to black.

They caught sight of themselves in the mirror, and laughed until tears ran down their cheeks, tears like rivers flowing downstream, flooding basements, high school halls. The drowned also caught ...

The detective's eyes studied the footprints. Unlike his predecessors, he could see a pattern, not the chaos they deduced was a fight. No one would come to this roof and brawl, not with this vie ...

Her cowboy stance said, "Let's play."

Nice hair, Mr Grey.

You like?

Yeah. Why did you change it though?

Just a whim.

No, it don't buy it.
You look really good. Why?

No spe ...

She had to fight to keep the exhaustion from pulling him into sleep. His head nodded sharply, once, twice. The eery calm of first the funeral home and then the church worked a double roundhouse ...

Terry pulled his '69 Camaro into his side of the garage, glass packs crackling. With the ignition off and the sound lulling to an ever-present ringing in the ears, he stepped out next to his wif ...

I prize each moment with you.

The letters blurred on the screen before him. Shoulders slumped, sleep pulling at him with a hunger, he struggled for the next word. Deadline was all he could think of, over and over. Dead. Line ...

His prize was his just deserts.

I want to give you my all.

Tall as a legend, Jack Sprat strode out of the hills dressed in hide britches on a fine, clear morning. It was the first time he'd been away from his amply gorgeous wife since their wedding day. ...

Oh it drives you to sin.

Doesn't it just.

I mean, it's so invaluable. They can't just put that in front of you and expect any less.

Do you mean ...

Sunday morning breakfast was a ritual in our house. Our father always making bacon and eggs, or pancakes. Not much deviation. It didn't matter. It was always a treat. We'd all be released from o ...

Once quenched, forever smitten.

So, hap is an old word meaning chance, luck?

That's right.

And if you're happy, you're, like, actually lucky.

In a manner of speaking.

Wel ...

Put it in park, Gary, it's just gonna roll.

I pulled the handbrake...

You broke it, Gary. Remember? Kaput. Kapische?

Right. I forgot. Say, tha ...

Slog, as a noun, sounds dirty.

Their knowledge was incomplete. They had charts and graphs. Their demographics were well thought out and extensive. All their facts were accurate. They simply missed the heart of it. The simple ...

His garden was weeds. Literally untended and in his words beautiful. We'd come to talk but mostly experienced awkward silences punctuated with mumbles, hand gestures, and the occasional sigh. He ...

Do you think we should be here?

There's a slight chance my calculations were wrong.

Meaning?

Meaning, our immediate location may curtail our c ...

There's a distinct odor coming from over there.

Where, beside that tomb? The open one?

Yes. I'd wager that whatever left it isn't far. The odor ...

Whose squeeze box is this?

The voice bellowed out the cottage door and over the glade. Small mammals took momentary notice; birds remained obliv ...

Elmer stood up from the pew and walked out of the church. While not unusual, it was curious since the preacher was still in the pulpit. On the church steps, he tucked some plug tobacco between h ...

Oh Carly, why? You're so vain, girl. Give it up.

I won't. Can't. Listen, he took me for an idiot. A cheap floozy with no more brains than tree sap. I am not letting this go. And it's nothing t ...

The old cottage needed work, its needs neglected for years. In the kitchen, a good cleaning brought back its working memory. Upstairs, the bedroom floor and walls stood bare. Opening a window her ...

Amon walked into the barbershop with a limp in his step, not the swagger he was known for. His normal dress, track pants with cotton ribbed tank tops, was replaced with suit and tie.

Mornin', ...

It's Wing Day!

Cor, what's that then?

Oh I forgot you don't have Wing Day in jolly old England.

We've discussed this before, I believe. Jolly ...

Running at night is the only way between camps. We sleep during the day when the specters are out. All transparent, they'll fly right through you, at first, testing you out. Sometimes, when oth ...

They say your uncle's crazy.

What do they know.

But he writes all that crazy stuff. My mom says I can't have any of his books.

What does she k ...

It's not gonna pan out.

I don't follow.

People don't just roll over. Something's brewing, man. Can't you feel it?

Just this anger inside.

Th ...

You cannot skirt the law, sir. Your vehicle is on camera, your plate number clearly visible. I'm here to collect the fine.

But I don't drive. ...

bone chants shimmer
on flicking flame's rise
priestess winters
plotting a surprise

come calling seasons
bind to my need
cast off treason
cancel ...

Tom Thumb drew himself up to his full height, shoulders pressed, gut tucked. This was his prize stance, and he was a winner. He would show them all. For every doubt ever harbored, he would grow ...

Dexter knows what's up
He's keeping it real
Keeping it clean
Got his ducks
All lined up
Rolled nice and tight
Don't tell now
Cause down they go
Ou ...

You can plant one right here, please.

"There is wonder," she said to me. Her words came over my shoulder, close into my personal space. Her voice was soft. Her breath, just touching m ...

So that's the story.

But what happened to the frog?

Ah, the frog. He hopped toward the pond but got caught by the princess' guards. So back h ...

Float's a boat learning to swim.

Will's play was in its third run. Audiences had grown small and he needed a new hit to put on. Something to really pack them in. He pitched what he'd been working on to his partner.

"I just don' ...

They said his statues could breathe.

I am not a patient man. But for what it's worth, I did stay that day. No one came. So it couldn't be me. I waited until the sun went down, then left. I wasn't there after dark.

Thank you. Just ...

Rise and shine is for the birds.

Oh, the feel of it. The touch. So crisp, so smooth, so fresh. The nouveau riche and their money are easily parted. So easy these days. Not like grandpa's day. Old money then. Grandpa had some g ...

Some people just never learn.

They day I filed for divorce, the music died. Every day I used to have a tune stuck in my head. It would be on repeat, randomly, throughout the day. But ever since the filing, nada. Zip. I thin ...

If you will it, it will come.

Johnny wound his way through the shrubbery remote in hand. Two clicks off, one click back on. Old guy owner mentioned a dog but he'd be in and out and gone; no muss, no fuss, no police. He had a ...

Beware the strike. That's all it said. Strangest fortune cookie ever. Jill said maybe the cookie factory was having labor issues. But Will knew, could feel in his bones, that it was directed at ...

"Wait, what, who the...," his voice trailed off like the end of a cowboy movie.

"Oh yes. Just who you deserve actually."

"I got rights."

"Yo ...

This was the home stretch. It was important not to forget this time. The words were there on the tip of my tongue but the more I tried, the further they retreated in my head. "Damn it," was all ...

The narrowness of the train corridor was interrupted only by the rhythmic thumping. Now on an older stretch of track, the rail joints made themselves known in a give and take I did not find soo ...

I had to let off some steam. Hell of a day and I was wound up tighter than a big bass drum. Client was edgy, pushing for results, word on the street was that I'd turned, nothing was copacetic. S ...

I rested my truck in the shade, a hundred yards from the lane up to his cabin. It was hot, the bio-brownout's magic still in effect. He was lakeside and armed in his stone cabin. He had made a ...

Dinah looked out the kitchen window. Snow fell on the parking lot behind the restaurant. She saw Alice slipping from her car, coat blowing back in the squall, apron pressing tight against her l ...

Avian guest
This sill I'll share
For the moment, for the morning
A lesson in pane
On life's journey

Three scared teens clamor inside their skins, shoulder to shoulder in the cab of a rusty pickup.

There's a road.

But we could go straight.

I ...

Please release me, let me scream.

What comes from this brain is easy
I think
No, not like I think
Or put in much effort
My essence just flows
Fluid like ink

I've been called lou ...

The queen of the angels sighed. It was glorious and well deserved. Her lands being peppered in lashing battles, she kept us tight to her bosom. And with the battles done and the disquiet stilled ...

I tried to chain several prompts together this morning, hoping to create something longer. They're in reverse order on my profile and I've decided this format won't work for that. So, a one-off. ...

George's foot tapped out the rhythm his whole body was feeling. 1946 and home from the war. Life was sweet, the heat of a hot summer was in full swing, and Elizabeth was just about as pretty as ...

I'm at the point I don't want anything from you.

You know you don't mean that.

I do and I'm done with your equivocations.

You've got to stop ...

You tickle yourself in the dark academia
Of words, fanciful and polysyllabic
You mean one thing yet obscure it
To a privileged realm; You shout i ...

The dream makes pawns of us all.

he loved in dog years
quick tail wags and full-on bounds
little did he know

This game's my idea of fun!

"For rest, you take bag. And you," her heavy accent pointed at me, "I want answer. Yes or no?"

The forest had thinned out and we set up camp on a flat rock overlooking the valley. One of our ...

It's hardened snow, a layer of crust tough enough to hold my weight. I edge my way to the tent pole. It's almost swallowed by the snow. A drift, dangerous, six feet if you go by the pole height ...

Fortune ate my lunch
Chicken salad in a bowl
It did look left, and it did
Look right, but only fortune
was at its side.

Because, because, because. There's always something with you. I have an idea. Why don't we just wing it? You know, just let go of all that stuffy, work-ey, kind of grown up responsibility stuff a ...

Yes, I remember the girl with kaleidoscope eyes. All those years ago. I could be forward, back then. We drank, we moved. We moved on. Still, those eyes. The smile that lit them. Portals, other di ...

You been downtown lately?

No, why?

They're bringing back soup lines.

Soup lines?

Like from the depression era.

Oh.

Yeah, it's so bad.

You ...

Cassandra's near eternal time trapped underground was over. The doctor and Igor watched as the gigavolts coursed through her suppine form. They moved toward the table. A flutter. A stir.

The fe ...

Dr Shock. Horror Theater. Saturday afternoons. B&W classic horror. Vincent Price, even Jack Nicholson in his first role. But the beheaded lady sticks out. Honeymooners crash and she loses her bod ...

Cupid, baby, why you always shooting those arrows at others? Here, let me see that bow, I'll show you some of what you got going on.

I'd rather n ...