Pray, Skin, Symbol

Words: pray, skin, symbol

Prompt: Making the ritual of praying easier by putting a symbol on the skin.

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Sweater, Breathing, Scheme

Words: sweater, breathing, scheme

Prompt: A devilish scheme to accelerate one's inheritance by designing a sweater that cuts off the victim's breathing.

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Diamond, Horn, Earthquake

Words: diamond, horn, earthquake

Prompt: The perfect Christmas gift, horn made of pure diamond, causes an earthquake each time it's used.

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Carpet, Sound, Predator

Words: carpet, sound, predator

Prompt: Using carpet to dampen the sound one makes, so as to avoid being menaced by an unseen predator.

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Coffin, Knot, Chip

Words: coffin, knot, chip

Prompt: A coffin is decorated with a gorgeous knot design. One of the knots contains a chip or some sort.

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Cattle, Illustrate, Core

Words: cattle, illustrate, core

Prompt: A cow goes to the earth's core to illustrate the environs.

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Mouse, Egg, Crusade

Words: mouse, egg, crusade

Prompt: A mouse goes on a crusade to obtain an egg from the refrigerator. This isn't just any egg, though, and the mouse will stop at nothing to get it.

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Sport, Slap, Feast

Words: sport, slap, feast

Prompt: A sport where the objective is to slap the other team's faces with wet objects. Afterwards, a feast is held for the winning team.

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Twilight, Creation, Orthodox

It's time to change things up a bit on this blog. It was fun to flesh out some weird ideas, but sometimes it felt that I got carried away. So I'm dialing it back and trying something different.

From now on, I'll present three random words and one short suggestion for a piece that uses said words. As always, there are no real rules.

Here's the first go.

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Nest, Column, Yard

Come over here to the yard and look out that way. See that column? See what's on top?

Yeah, that's a nest, and I think one of those rocs made it. Nothing else is big enough to make a nest of that size!

Nobody should be surprised they're all the way down here now. We told those developers not to build on the mountain. We warned them, but they didn't listen!

I hope the monsters start messing with those big shots' luxury cabins. Raiding their trash cans, using their decks like scratching pads, carrying off their pinky-sized poodles. And those rich bastards would deserve it all!

Though I'm kind of surprised a roc would choose the old church column. It's all the way out in the field with all that space surrounding it. But I guess it would be kind of a lookout of sorts. Makes sense. You could probably see all kinds of critters to catch...

You know something? That gives me an idea.

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Sour, Bed, Blast

Mr. Stuffy, Mommy keeps telling me there's no such thing as monsters. But I know there are! Monsters are real. What else is chewing on my bed's legs?

Every time I hear those chewing noises, I'll scream for Mommy. But those monsters are too quick. They always disappear when Mommy gets to my room. So she's never seen them and she's never heard them

But I got an idea! Uncle Greg works in the candy factory. He always brings over stuff for us to eat. Last week he brought us Sour Glue. I thought it was sparkly glue because of the bottle. But it's really candy. I'm smart enough to not eat real glue. I said I was, but Mommy warned me never to eat real glue. Then she ate the candy glue, and her closed her eyes really right. She said it was really sour and she could barely open her mouth. She was right. I tried it and my lips were almost glued together!

And the other candy, it was Fire Blast Rocks. They're colored red and they look like rocks And they're really hot! Mommy tried them and she said it was the worst thing she ever tasted.

When she was scrunching up her eyes and yelling, I hid my candy under my shirt. I pretended to eat up all the Sour Glue and Fire Blast all at once. I copied Mommy and pretended I wanted water, too. Mommy and Uncle Greg believed me, because they didn't ask me where my candy went to.

I said I had to go brush my teeth. But I really put the candy away in my bedroom. I put it under my pillow. Monsters don't ever go up on the bed, but they do like to stay under it. I know this because they chew on the bed's legs a lot. So my candy was safe. I needed it for my plan.

So this is my plan. I'll wait until Mommy says good night to me. When she's gone, I'll set up a trap. I'll take the Sour Glue and squirt it all over the bed's legs. Then I'll sprinkle the Fire Blast Rocks over the candy glue. The candy glue will make them stick to the legs and the candy rocks will make their mouths burn. They'll be yelling for water, but I won't get them water.

Mommy should hear them yelling, then she'll come running and she'll see them.

You got all that, Mr. Stuffy? Good.

Now keep a watch out. You need to tell me when those monsters are coming. I'm going to set up the trap now.

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Shell, Cupboard, Golf

I never wanted to live in an exclusive neighborhood, but my husband insisted that we move into one since "we can afford it now." In exchange for my willingness, he promised to make the kitchen of my dreams. To be honest, my dream kitchen is just spacious enough where I'm not bumping into any counters when I turn around. But if I wanted anything more than generous space, it was cabinets inlaid with iridescent shell.

My husband kept his word. Not only did he order the cabinets with the shell, he also got a matching cupboard for my gourmet baking supplies. The shell wasn't the real deal, but it looked real enough. All I cared about was the shine that shell would give off.

Gosh, did it ever. It made sitting at the breakfast nook so much nicer. The tiny rainbow reflections were the perfect backdrop for my cooking adventures—especially when I was successful with a challenging dish!

But you know what you get when you live in an exclusive neighborhood? A golf course. You know what that brings? Golf balls.

Golfers are always playing year round, but the activity really ramps up in the spring and summer. Every week, I'd find a new ball somewhere in the yard. Some were dangerously close to the house.

I started a collection. Any time I found one of those buggers, I dropped them into a metal bucket. I didn't know what I'd end up doing with them, but there was a silly part of me that thought of them as a sort of prize. Maybe I'd learn how to juggle. I could put on a show, mocking the golfers as they rambled past in their carts.

It all came to a head when, one morning, I was enjoying my coffee and listening to birdsong when the window shattered. A damn golf call had crashed through it! Fortunately, I was at the island and not the breakfast nook, but there was glass on the floor.

And a dent in my prized cupboard.

That tore it. I was getting my revenge—and I'd put those golf balls to good use.

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Diamond, Fisherman, Quest

Let me tell you about the first part of my quest. You might not think this whole thing is big enough to be called a quest, but it is in my mind. So I'm calling it as such.

I went down to the lake. It was shimmering in the sunlight in every shade of blue you can imagine. Little flickers of color were flitting around under the surface. I knew right away these were the type of fish I needed to catch: the Rainbow Facet Salmon.

I got close enough to the water to see them. I spooked them, but they didn't roam far. They were just like how my daddy described them: the length of a grown man's arm, shiny blue eyes with the white pupils, and scales like a stained glass window. I almost felt bad for wanting to catch one of them.

I got out the sachet of diamond chips and put it on a hook. I hung it over the water, just like I was told to do, and sure enough, those fish came swarming around underneath it. Then I lowered the bait into the water.

I didn't think a little bag of diamond chips would chum the water that much. But those suckers were jumping all over each other like it was the last piece of food in the world. I probably could have caught one with my other hand if they weren't so slippery.

The line went taught. I yanked up, and out flew a salmon. It landed on the bank, right next to where I was going to make my fire. I'm not much of a fisherman, or a sportsman for that matter, but that was a pro move right there.

Once I had that fish cooked and ready, I thought about all the beautiful things I was going to see. All the portals that would open, all the veils that would pull away. I could start on the next part of my quest.

I bit into the fish, then opened my eyes to see the world anew.

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