The Protector

Photo prompt courtesy Lakshmi Bhat

I stood glaring intensely at Teddy, willing him to follow me to the other end of the garden, but he just refused to budge. I fumed with anger and frustration. Why couldn’t kids understand anything?

Taking deep breaths, I brought myself under control. There HAD to be a way to get Teddy to where I wanted him. Out of sheer frustration, I jumped high, and performed a double black-flip. If that didn’t catch his attention, nothing would.

Teddy’s cute, round eyes grew huge as he saw my acrobatics. I knew I had him then.

I scampered ahead, and Teddy followed. For my plan to work, timing was everything, so I often stopped to smell the roses.

And then, I saw Teddy’s parents come out for their morning tea.

Things happened in rapid succession now.

Teddy tried to lift up the snake next to his parent’s chairs.

His parents shrieked.

I entered the melee, and bit the snake into two.

Maybe I should have told Teddy’s parents that the snake had been lying dead there since last night, but then, Teddy’s Mom wouldn’t have told his Dad, “Rikki Tikki Tavi has saved our Teddy’s life, he must come back to us.”

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200 words.

Written in response to Sunday Photo Fiction – March 10, 2019, hosted by Susan Spaulding.

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When the Cat is Away

Before I start today’s story, a brief note of apology for having disappeared without notice. Thankfully, it was for the best reason possible, a wedding in my immediate family. I reached back late last night, filled with excitement, and billions of bacteria clogging my throat and chest, so here I am, writing a bit of antibiotics-led nonsensical nursery rhyme. Cheers!

 

Hickory Dickory Dock

The mouse ran up the clock

The clock struck One

It was time for some fun

It jumped upon the cuckoo

And rode till past Two

But before it was Three

It set the cuckoo free

Between Four and Five

The mouse started to twist and jive

It danced till it was Six

Time for its daily fix

Breakfast from Six to Seven

This indeed was heaven

But no longer could he wait

For Eight would be too late

So it jumped on to the bed

And Sleeping Beauty screamed loud enough to wake the dead

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99 words.

Written as a part of Carrot Ranch Literary Community’s Flash Fiction Challenge.

 

Home is Where the Heart is!

Photo by Jay Mantri @ Pixabay.com

I struggled to hold back my tears as I looked at the disheveled pillows. They reminded me of Grandma, gone away now, forever.

I choked up as I remembered her gentle smile and kind eyes.

If only she’d agreed to leave the pillows when the pest control human had been called.

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273 characters.

Written in response to Kat Myrman’s Twittering Tales #125 – 26 February 2019

The Elusive Light Bulb

Picture courtesy ColiN00B@Pixabay.com

Robbie cleared his throat and started speaking tentatively, “It was dark when I woke up, but suddenly, there was a flash, and a light bulb came on.”

Everyone in the room gasped.

Encouraged by their response, Robbie continued, “It hadn’t been there when I’d gone off to sleep, but I wasn’t complaining. I crept towards it, slowly but steadily. But as soon as I took my first step, the bulb started flickering, almost as if it could sense my approach, and I froze.”

Everyone in the room froze.

Robbie took a brief pause to drink some water, and continued, “However, after a few tense, sweaty minutes, it started shining brightly again, and I breathed a silent sigh of relief.”

Everyone in the room breathed a not-so-silent sigh of relief.

Robbie went on, “When I got a bit closer, I was horrified to see it trying to unplug itself, as if it wanted to escape. I quickened my pace, but so did it. The air was thick with tension and anticipation.”

Handkerchiefs had come out in the room by now, wiping brows, and in one particular case, underarms.

Robbie went in for the kill, “I was now just a few steps away from it. But it had almost managed to free itself. I started running now, and took a flying leap. But just as my fingers were about to clutch it, the plug came out, and it was pitch dark again.

And that is why you find me standing today without any bright ideas for this advertising campaign, Boss.”

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Written in response to Fandango’s Flash Fiction Challenge #2

The First Thing We Do…

Photo prompt courtesy Susan Spaulding

I’d found her sitting by the side of the road in the dark.

It was the heart-wrenching crying that drew my attention towards her, she sounded as if someone had reached inside her chest, and cruelly snatched out her heart. I’d imagined that having seen so much misery in my profession, my heart would’ve turned to stone by now.

I’d thought wrong.

I sat beside her, and she narrated the entire story to me, of cruelty, followed by an evening filled with love, and then, everything being lost to her because of a cruel twist of fate.

I gently took her hand, and bade her stand. “Come with me,” I told her, “it doesn’t have to end like this.”

Barely able to walk with only one shoe, she somehow stumbled alongside me, trusting me implicitly.

A trust which I lived up to more than adequately, even if I say so myself.

The poor girl who kept her stepmother’s house, forever covered in cinders, was the glamorous princess of the land today.

Her Prince Charming had agreed to marry her….as soon as I threatened him and his father with a Breach of Promise case.

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194 words.

Written as a part of Sunday Photo Fiction – February 24, 2019, hosted by Susan Spaulding.

The Perfect Trap

Another lovely memory from our Norway trip almost two years ago. The pics are from Longyearbyen in Svalbard, the northernmost town in the world.

jagahdilmein

This is me, frozen on the wall, but still a terror for pesky tourists like this Indian in a jacket

They come to my home and strut about like they own the place, creating a terrible racket

’tis a pity that I cannot move around much as my lower body is across the wall

Or I would have taught these imbeciles a suitable lesson for their brazen gall

But being in a state of limbo for 200 years does give you some time to think and plan

The thrill of the hunt anyways lies in doing what your prey does not think you possibly can

So, after a lot of iterations, I have crafted a strategy befitting an apex predator like me

It involves oodles of guile, deviousness, and cunning, just thinking about it fills my frozen heart with glee

The first step in this master plan, let me finally…

View original post 60 more words

A Giant Awakens

Photo prompt courtesy Sue Vincent

I woke up to find that I had gone blind….or maybe it was just the world that had turned dark. I frankly couldn’t say which would terrify me more.

I had been the last of the Rock Giants, humans pissed on the spot if they even got a glimpse of me, lowly animals, the so-called predators, offered themselves as sacrifice to save their families. Those were the days….

But alas! Ever since that blasted Merlin placed that irrevocable curse upon me, I’d gone into a deep sleep…till the time I was not asleep any more.

Maybe the humans had blinded me when I fell unconscious. I let out a loud roar of frustration, and the earth shook.

The earth….

Ah, so the vile treacherous humans had buried me inside the earth. But what was buried once, could be excavated as well.

A new hope filled every pore of my being. I tried to get up, but the earth was too densely packed around me. A rock giant, imprisoned by sand and stones. I would have cried if I could.

Days passed, or maybe months. I just lay still in my grave, feeding myself little by little on sand, building my strength, readying myself for my escape. Till one day, I finally decided to put my escape plan in motion.

During my long period of hibernation, I’d realized that trying to get out all at once was futile. I had to focus all my efforts on a narrow point.

I wiggled my index finger a little, and felt the earth around it move a little. I knew then that I was on the right track.

With renewed intensity, I started pecking at the earth upwards, like a woodpecker, pecking away nonstop at the earth above me with the tip of my finger. For seven nights and seven days, I kept on digging upwards, till finally, with one last push, my finger broke through the final layer of the ground.

It would now take energy from the heat of the sun, and feed it to the rest of my body. Within days, I would be good as new, and then, that Merlin and the rest of the human race would face my wrath.

I could already feel the heat of the sun warming my finger.

Aaaah…that felt really good. I didn’t expect the warmth to spread that quickly, though.

Wait….it’s not warm anymore….it’s hot…..what is happening…..AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

120 meters above the ground, Jake and Stuart added some more sticks to their campfire. “I don’t know what this thing that came out in the middle of our fire is,” said Jake, chomping away to glory, “but it’s finger-lickin’ good!”

*************************************************************************************Written in response to the #writephoto Prompt – Timeless at Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo.