Words for Wednesday will be here for the Month of April. All the way from Newfoundland, Canada, which has its own time zone - 30 minutes ahead of the rest of Canada. Thanks as always to Elephant's Child for keeping this feast going.
This meme was started by Delores a long time ago. Computer issues led her to bow out for a while. The meme was too much fun to let go, and now Words for Wednesday is provided by a number of people and has become a movable feast.
Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write. Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or an image. What we do with those prompts is up to us: a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore... We can use some or all of the prompts, and mixing and matching is encouraged.Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog. I would really like it if as many people as possible joined into this fun meme, which includes cheering on the other participants. If you are posting on your own blog - let me know so that I, and other participants, can come along and applaud.
Here are the words for this week, In two batches with an image in the middle, use some or all of the prompts.
Wardrobe
Silhouette
Sergeant
Dispensation
Placebo
Displeasure
Sympathy
Discretion
Good luck all!
Update (my take on the words)
Normally, Cat would never emerge from the wardrobe during daylight but the noises outside had forced him to abandon his discretion. Through the window and murky fog, he could dimly perceive The Sergeant's silhouette making his noon rounds. He was filled with sympathy for the broken man allowing him a dispensation from normal human behavior.
The loss of Mrs. Sergeant had disrupted the entire household. Even Old Dog had gone off his feed and had ceased his only remaining hobby of making fun of Cat. It was a sad household. They offered each other placebos of pats and licks when their paths crossed, but their displeasure in each other's company in this time of interminable grief was evident.
Everyone just wanted to be alone. The Sergeant marching around outside, Old Dog moping in his basket by the fire and Cat hiding away in the wardrobe.
But today was different. The Sergeant had finally broken outside. He was weeping openly. Cat looked at Old Dog and flipped his tail. They slowly walked to the door.
The Sergeant came in, leaning his back against the closed door and then, bending down, enfolded Cat and Old Dog in his arms.
I am the Sergeant at Arms, protecting the gateway to Narnia.
ReplyDeleteSilhouetted against the window I might look placid and harmless but you need my dispensation to enter that hallowed wardrobe. Your displeasure at your exclusion means less than nothing to me. The final decision (and discretion) is mine. Don’t expect sympathy because you will get none – and if you dare to challenge my decision your wounds will require much more than a placebo to heal…
Oh good. I would sure take some wounds in the process of getting into this wardrobe.
DeleteEC that is a brilliant take. I'm still working on mine!
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We bow down in awe to THE creative wordsmith of this weekly exercise!
Deletewonderfully done!
DeleteThe cat has the final word.
DeleteFun EC - I can imagine you ruling the roost of the wardrobe ... delightful ... cheers Hilary
DeleteThank you for the words, love EC's use of them :)
ReplyDeleteI will work on my story tomorrow and post it on my blog on Friday.
Yes, she had a hard act to follow up there, River. I look forward to yours@
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Will have to work up a story when i get home from work, and i'll be back to link up when i do.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to it Mimi!
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My story is up, over here.
DeleteHi EC and Wisewebwoman - Ec - just glad I was able to help with last month's words. Here's mine from the first set with the image:
ReplyDeleteTime to come out of the wardrobe … it was dark outside now, the mist had come down, his silhouette only visible against the window.
Sergeant hoped he wouldn’t be found … he really didn’t want to go to the vets … he was just feeling old and of course cranky.
Time wasn’t on his side … he just wanted this one last dispensation in life … to be left alone, quietly to take his leave and to disappear into that gloomy darkness of respite from this world.
Cheers to Newfoundland! and Canberra ... Hilary
sad, but nicely done. I've often wondered what some of my cats were thinking when they stared out at the weather.
DeleteWell done, Hilary. Great use of the words.
DeleteHilary that's wonderful! I love your take!
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Sad, but well written story.
DeleteHilary Melton-Butcher: Sad, and often true. Jazz is not a fan of the vet - but he retires under the bed rather than the wardrobe. Fortunately it isn't time for that last trip...
DeleteExcellent take on the words. Yes, sometimes animals just want to be let alone to make their way across to the other side.
DeleteThank you all ...
DeleteI've posted mine here
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your take, Cindi - well done!
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It’s quite amazing how my clothes seem to have shrunk in the WARDROBE. Wardrobe – now that’s an interesting word. It can mean the unit of furniture in which you store your clothes, or the clothes themselves. As I gaze at my SILHOUETTE in the full-length mirror on the door, DISPLEASURE boils up. I don’t expect your SYMPATHY but when we meet for lunch at least show a little DISCRETION and don’t make the kind of stupid comment you are quite capable of, passing it off as a joke. And what you think is a chuckle comes across as a snigger. And why we need to eat at an Italian buffet with pasta and bread as far as the eye can see is beyond me. What I need is a PLACEBO not another dollop of pasta on my place. But the lasagna is heavenly, the gnocci fantastic, the fettucine alfredo divine and the bread made in heaven. Who can resist such delectation? Especially you, thin as a wraith, acting like drill SARGEANT marching me from temptation to temptation. You will get no DISPENSATION from me. Hmmm, I wonder if they will have that exquisite zabaglione as one of a score of choices for dessert? It will go wonderfully with expresso and a shot of Sambuca. Might even have to go back for more.
ReplyDeleteI love the imagery in this David, the overwhelming power of all those carbohydrates calling his name. Great take on the words.
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Oh now you have made me long for Italian food shame on you. Now when I can't go to a restaurant and indulge. Well written all the same.
DeleteDavid M. Gascoigne: My sympathies are all with your protagonist. I do hope that some day the drill sergeant (and all of his/her ilk) wakes up fat.
DeleteWell done! So much temptation does most of us in, and those who can eat without it showing up do not understand.
DeleteH David - wonderful take on the delights so many of us are missing by not being able to get out and about ... it hasn't helped my silhouette either! Some people can be so cruel and thoughtless ... but I'll enjoy my food and try to be sensible! All the best =- Hilary
DeleteMy story will be up soon'ish. The words inspired me to a long, long continuation af the story of Mary, Allan and the end of the world. I'll have to split it up.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it Charlotte!
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I glanced at the framed silhouette of my grandmother atop the wardrobe. Next to it, a black-and-white photograph of my grandfather in his Army uniform. The dispensation of sergeant stripes had been tight, and he had been proud to wear them.
ReplyDeleteYou said so much with these few words, Carol, well done!
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Carol Kilgore: Lovely to see you hear with your brief and very poignant take on the challenge.
DeleteA small vignette from a quiet life, well done.
DeleteHeroes from our ancestry, their photos make me smile, too.
DeleteHi Carol - delightful to read ... how often we look at relatives' photos to see their successes at various times ... love it ... thank you - Hilary
DeleteMy story is below the original post of prompts!
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Wisewebwoman: It is well before dawn here - and I am weeping. This is an exceptional use of your prompts.
DeleteOhh sad, sad story. But so true to life and still sweet.
DeleteThank you Charlotte. I think there's some hope at the end. Grief takes its own course.
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A beautiful and sad tale.
DeleteThank you EC, no greater gift than tears for a story. I had a challenge with my own prompts but it all came together in the end :)
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A look at my true nature, WWW:
ReplyDeleteHe calls her Sergeant when she picks up after him, puts things away. He calls her a Nazi because she likes their home tidy and orderly. He appears to think – at least he acts that way – that he is entitled to special dispensation when it comes to being considerate of someone you live with; that (is it because he is a he?) he can walk into the house, set down his tools on the bench in the porch, his lunch kit on the kitchen counter, his flyers on the kitchen table … and they should stay there till he decides to move them if he gets around to it. Woe to a woman who doesn’t agree!
It’s not that he will put them away himself. Oh no. Perhaps his intentions are good, but … his belongings will be left for days, weeks, months, even, if she doesn’t eventually act upon her displeasure at the clutter left in his wake. She has no sympathy for his attitude; good intentions don’t count for much when there is no followup. A spare old key for a machine no longer in use won’t be left on the window ledge forever. Empty beer cans won’t be left in the kitchen sink. His dirty socks won’t be left on the bedroom floor, and they certainly won’t be put into the laundry, washed, and lovingly placed – folded, as he prefers – into his wardrobe. Hell no. They will go into a garbage bag. He may search high and low for them; perhaps they will never be found. Instead of offering him even a shadowy silhouette of truth, she will give him a placebo of innocence. “Where have all your socks gone? Hm. I don’t know, honey. Where did you leave them?” Because if a simple, reasonable request cannot be respected … well, respect goes both ways, doesn’t it?
Respect should go both ways. Too many people think they don't have to behave well at home, that they can "be themselves." What they don't see is that home is the place where you should be safe from the bad, or even just disrespectful, behavior of others.
DeleteVery well written, Kate. You totally outline the reasons I have stayed single for many a year now. I would be far nastier than her methinks. Maybe she should designate a room in the house which he can junk up with his stuff or she can toss it there?
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I love this. And wish that more woman did the same. Well done.
DeleteHi Kate - yes life needs to be respected doesn't it ... it doesn't take much to set some standards for oneself - great take on the words. All the best - Hilary
DeleteWow. This is so sad.
ReplyDeleteI inserted what turned out to be a placebo much to the displeasure of the mall cop who gave me no sympathy. I should have used more discretion.
ReplyDeleteMike: Captain Succinct rides again...
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