General

Protocol vaccine

the rushed clinical trials

crossroad dilemma

confusing anomalies

uncertain mind-set prevails

Reena’s Exploration Challenge# 169

confusing signals

old memories cry from afar

not one size fits all

Reena’s Exploration Challenge#169

-Eugenia

featured image – Pexels

Reena’s Exploration Challenge #168

PROMPT #168

SITUATION

A breakdown in domestic water supply

CHARACTERS

• President of a municipal corporation
• A harangued home-maker
• Founder of a fund-raising startup
• Seller of water tankers
• A poet/writer

COMPLEXITIES WHICH CAN BE ADDED

Work-from-home scenarios, Covid, weather or whatever you can think of.

TASK

Write a story as small as a sentence, or as large as 500 words, or somewhere in between. I promise to read the entire piece.

If you can tell a poetic tale or write a ballad, you are most welcome to do it.

The story has to be from the perspective of any one of the given characters. The other characters in the piece can be one or more of those listed here or any other character you can introduce in the plot. No restrictions on those self-driven bots which take over your thoughts.

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sometimes pain is so intense

grief so unbearable

It was a weekday and the members of the household were up and about to be in time for their workday. The lady of the house, had switched on the washing machine and let it do its job.

Out of the blue, the kid of the house visualised doing something new. Perhaps bring the beach home? He set the water draining outlet of the washing machine which pointed outwards, into a room. What ensued later was unnatural flooding and the lady furious about the extra cleaning, rued, ” Sometimes the great bones of my life feel so heavy. None is grateful for the efforts I put.”

While the son in all excitement was fervently collecting some sand for his make believe beach!

Soapy beach indeed!

123 words.

Acknowledgements :- Thank you Reena Saxena for hosting the Reena’s Exploration Challenge #168 and Linda Lee Lyberg for hosting Prosery at dVerse. Thank…

I am taken aback by the hiss of dissent
an angry spluttering follows
splattering me with icy coldness
on this mellow winter morning!

I try again
this time there is empty noise
the hissing continues
with a bit of frothing at the mouth!

I exclaim loudly in anger
muttering profanities under my breath
I should have taken the nut brown appearance yesterday
as a portent of things to come!

The tear shaped drop hanging precariously
clinging for life to the faucet
seems to smirk at my tears of frustration
adding to the unmitigated covid anxieties!

We don’t get any snow
nor was there scheduled repair work
how dare the water I take for granted
play hooky at will to throw my life out of gear!

Frantic calls hither and thither
reveal the vile, bitter truth
the rising ammonia levels had forced
the water board to halt the supply!

The dry…

Last April that awful day, when water left us high and dry

a lesson learnt the hard way, will stay with me forever.

Summer announced its arrival with the mercury soaring,

adding to the woes, the pandemic locked us indoors.

The old leaky connection pipe succumbed under pressure at night,

the next morning the taps at home went dry.

A call to the water board confirmed our worst fears,

the wait for a tanker would be an endless one.

With shutters of shops down, the repair too would be a prolonged affair

fractious moods ensued a torrent of rants and expletives,

a house full of people letting off their steam,

finally sapped of energy, the listless souls vented muffled sighs.

A kind neighbour lent us a can of water,

Rationing its use, the trailer made us realise,

we don’t want to watch the movie, “A day without water”…

Reena is the host of Reena’s Exploration Challenge

The shampoo is in my eyes when the shower coughs and spits and stops. I grab blindly for the towel; missing twice before my fingers find it.

Great, I think, and much stronger words pass through my mind on their way to my mouth. I wipe my eyes, head, and shoulders, still conjuring curses. The shower remains mute.

Thank goodness I shaved first!

I stumble to the kitchen with the towel wrapped around my waist. No water there either, except two bottles of Pellegrino.

I grab one of the bottles and wonder “could I make coffee with this?” I open the bottle and take a big drink. I love the mineral and bubbles in my throat.
I get a large cup and spoon in the best instant coffee I have. I add the Pellegrino and watch the strange foam form as I stir it. Then I open the microwave and…