SHOPPING MALL

A Prompt Response for Flasher Friday

http://ourwriteside.com/category/prompts/friday-fiction/

Image © Copyright John and Margaret

By John Yeo

    Saturday night, the stores in the mall put the shutters up for the night. The last shoppers made their way to the exits, joined by the last of the mall staff. The night security staff arrived and manned the CCTV cameras continuously filming the whole of the shopping area. Joe and Pete were night security men who did regular foot patrols outside the mall.

    The Saturday midnight patrol was always eventful, many a time they came across drunks arguing with each other or young lovers canoodling in the rear doorways and entrances to the mall. This Saturday was different, one Joe would remember for the rest of his life. The two men came upon, what looked like a bundle of rags heaped in a shop doorway.

   Pete, a large stocky man with a shaved head, and a tattoo on his right cheek  noticed it first.

     “Hey Joe, look at that! someone has dumped a heap of rags in the doorway. No, wait, it’s moving, someone is asleep under there. We will have to wake them up, we aren’t allowed to let people sleep on the mall property.”

    “You’re right Pete, I will just shake the bundle with my foot, to get a response!” Then without thinking he kicked the edges of the rags gently. Joe was the shorter of the two men with dark, greasy hair, he was the most aggressive of the two.

     Both men stepped back, extremely wary, as the bundle of rags came to life with a squeal and a thin, unkempt woman, began furiously attacking them with a tatty umbrella.

    “Please leave me alone you ignorant sex-starved animals, I have no money and I am afflicted with an STD, that will infect you instantly.” The lady screamed.

   “Now hold on,” said Pete. “What are you doing here? You can’t sleep here, you should go home and sleep! We are security officers, doing our job. What’s your name?”

    “Mary,” said the lady, now noticeably calmer. “I have tried all the night shelters and hostels, even the Salvation Army hostel is full. I knocked and the duty security man just said,

    “Sorry we have a full-house, there are no beds available.”

      Joe said, “You can’t sleep here, it is more than our jobs are worth to allow that!”

    Mary started sobbing uncontrollably. The two men were both taken aback at this turn of events.

       Pete turned to Joe and said, “We may be jobsworths, but we are not made of concrete.” Then he turned to Mary and said, “Come and have a cup of tea with us, we have a storeroom you can use, for tonight!”

      Photographs Mary carried, revealed she was Maria Popova a famous ballerina who had been missing for weeks. Joe gained her confidence and informed the authorities. It turned out Maria had suffered memory loss, becoming isolated from her family.

  Joe and Pete became her personal security guards, both men were substantially better off for their kindness to a stranger in distress.

(498 WORDS)

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~All rights reserved

This is my response to a prompt from Our Write Side to their Friday Flasher prompt. A short story in no more than 500 Words using four elements

• Place: a shopping mall
• Character: a ballerina 
• Object: a full house
• Mood: wary

Follow this link To comment:  Join in and have fun

http://ourwriteside.com/friday-flasher-shopping-mall/

CHEAP AT HALF THE PRICE

A Coldly Calculating: Prompt for Our Write Side~”Cheap at Half the Price”

Write a story 700 words or less answering the challenge.

http://ourwriteside.com/coldly-calculating/

Image © Copyright John and Margaret ~ All rights reserved

by John Yeo

    Cecil Wharton, held his audience spellbound with a smooth flow of well-rehearsed patter.

   “Hi, everyone! The drinks are on me! Business is booming! Sales have gone through the roof. Our products are beginning to be recognised everywhere. Step forward and enjoy a glass of this fabulous tonic and cure-all. We guarantee you will not only feel better physically, your bank balance will swell. Join our successful team, we will show you the way to enhance both your health and your bank balance.”

   These encouraging words were inwardly digested by Coral and Doris; both married with young families, this was a situation neither of the two friends had ever experienced before. Immersed in a world of friendliness and positivity, they were introduced to some high-powered successful people and made to feel special.  Doris and Coral were fired up, excited, they soon signed up to become entrepreneurs, with this successful company. They began to start taking orders from their friends and acquaintances. Business soon boomed, with an impressive turnover, although there was a negative reaction from several customers regarding the beneficial effect and the complaint that prices were too high.

Coral’s Aunt Bessie, was very vocal in her unhappiness with the price, and flatly refused to have anything to do with this elixir.

 Coral was an attractive young lady who made friends easily and was soon successfully selling high levels of the product. Coral was invited to five-star hotels to attend conferences and introduced to many successful employees.

 One fateful day, Coral was attending a sales meeting at a venue, not far from Aunt Bessie’s home, and she called in to see her unexpectedly.

“Hello! Aunt, I am working nearby and I thought I would drop in and visit, to see how you are getting along.” Coral said; smiling, as she hugged her Aunt.

 “I’m fine Coral, except for my aches and pains, this arthritis is always painful and I can’t seem to shift it whatever I do.”

   “Aunt Bessie! I know you won’t believe me but I have just the thing for your painful arthritis, we have a new product that will ease your pains.”

 “Now Coral, you know I can’t afford the high prices your firm charges for their products and I don’t believe in them anyway!”

“Aunt Bessie: I insist, I want you to try this elixir. I will pay the cost and you will feel tons better. Here take these two Bottles, follow the directions and I am sure you will ask for more as you begin to feel the effects of a pain-free life. Just take one tablespoonful a day.

The afternoon passed swiftly before Coral had to leave to get back to the conference.

“Goodbye, Auntie Bessie! Let me know how you are getting along with the elixir, OK!”

 “Goodbye, Coral, I’ll give it a try, if it gets rid of these horrible pains it will be cheap at half the price!”

Coral was in New York, when she heard the news, the firm she had been employed by was wound up, due to a number of unexplained deaths linked to their products. The Managing Director was facing charges of criminal negligence.

 Horrified, Coral boarded an aeroplane and was soon knocking hard on the door to Aunt Bessie’s home. A neighbour asked if she could help.

Coral nervously said, “Yes I am trying to contact my Aunt Bessie.”

 “I know where she is darling, always so kind and good-hearted, several of them went at the same time, all ladies of the church!”

  “Where?” Screamed Coral! Now very nervous and upset. “What happened? When?”

  “Don’t worry love, she’s fine, they all went on a church pilgrimage, I can give you a contact number if you like,” said the neighbour.

  “Yes, please! it is very important, I need to speak to her!”

A few minutes later Coral shakily dialed the number and got through to her Aunt Bessie. “Auntie, you remember that elixir I gave you, please stop taking it. I will explain fully when I see you! Don’t take any more at all!”

“Oh! Don’t worry darling, I flushed it all down the toilet. I don’t trust things that I don’t know anything about.

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

http://ourwriteside.com/coldly-calculating/

 

DISTRESS CALL

A Prompt Response for Flasher Friday

http://ourwriteside.com/friday-flasher-seat/

DISTRESS CALL

By John Yeo

 I woke with a screwed-up face, distorted at the intrusive sound of my cell phone, jangling urgently, aggravatingly, to grab my attention. The digits on the phone registered 11.30pm!

“Hi, Carl here! What”s up?”

“Hello is that the 24/7, TV repair service?”

I cursed inwardly. ‘Why the heck did I advertise a 24-hour service? That was Mary’s dumb fool idea. You will make a fortune in call-out charges, she had said.’
“Yes, Carl here! How can I help?”

“The TV has just packed up during an important newscast! We need to get the thing working again, to be able to find out news of flash floods in our area, our houseboat is moored by the river?” An agitated male voice was on the line.

“Hold on!” I replied. “Are you sure you want me to come and fix it at this time of the night? I have to inform you our callout charges are high, and I may not have the parts on the van. I will need to know the make of your TV now, and what exactly happened when your TV stopped working.”

“Oh, I don’t care about the cost! Just come and fix it, I will pay you well. The TV stopped, just like that!”

   “Whereabouts exactly are you?” I asked, sighing inwardly.

  “The Moorings opposite, 37 Canal Street.”

“OK! I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” I said, dragging myself out of bed, throwing on my overalls and heading for the door. The wind was blowing a force nine gale with driving rain, I cursed as I jumped in my van and headed for the canal. As I reached number 37, I saw a figure on the dark towpath ahead, outside a long, well lit up houseboat, waiting. The man was thickset, well-built, with a shock of red hair.
  “Hi!” I said, “TV repairman?”

   “Yeah! Come aboard. The TV just stopped working, I dunno what happened, but we need it urgently as it is the only way we can keep informed.”

   As I entered the lounge on the houseboat I almost tripped over a pair of what looked like human legs sticking out from behind a long seat. Ignoring the implications of this I started to work on the TV set, and simply put in a new fuse, then switched it on, it was working perfectly.

   “That’ll be £150 pounds please?” I said, nervously pondering on the strange pair of legs that were clearly visible under the seat.

Suddenly they moved as a tall blonde young lady, wearing nothing but a life jacket, leaped out from behind the seat. “How much?” she asked in a shocked voice.
I recognised her instantly as a well-known celebrity, married to a clergyman. 

  “Don’t worry Darling!” exclaimed the man and peeled the money from a wad of notes, handing it to me. “ Keep quiet about who you have seen here. OK, fella!”

I took the money And left without a word.
(495 WORDS)

Copyright Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

This is my response to a prompt from Our Write Side to their Friday Flasher prompt. A short story in no more than 500 Words using four elements

• A TV repairman (Character)
• Under a Seat (Place)
• Night (Time)
• Life Jacket (Object)

Follow this link To comment, Join in and have fun

http://ourwriteside.com/friday-flasher-seat/

SCI-FAE

A prompt response for ~Inspiration Monday: Sci-Fae

http://bekindrewrite.com

Images © John and Margaret

by John Yeo

 I woke up in a haze of non recognition of where I was, who I was and how I had arrived here.

Everything was strangely unrealistic, unusual, unrecognisable a colourful arena on a world of kaleidoscopic strangeness. As if a disturbed artist had poured and continued to pour his paint in rivulets of colour on an ever changing landscape. An orange flare dazzled the permanent light that shone from the multi coloured suns lighting up the distant horizon with a green fire that seemed to be all-consuming. Billows of purple steam suddenly sounded loudly, hissing and spluttering as blue liquid stone flowed down a yellow ochre liquid bed on a river of jagged rocky liquid. There was a silent crash of electric thunder as a winged figure sped up from the bowels of the middle sky. Emerging from a point that mystically merged with the pink of a rising horizon and the disappearance of the future into the past. A point in time that was midway between now and then.

 “Welcome to the world of Sci Fae!”  Boomed a falsetto base sound, that seemed to convey communication as if a note composed of a base clef swimming in an ocean of liquid soprano had arrived together to assault the ears with pure music.

 Then a loud buzzing as an alarm sounded on the machine that lay in waiting. An information loaded gadget waiting for the button to be pressed to silence the alarm.

  I tore myself away from my dreamworld of the night, to face the familiar mundane music of snarling, honking, beeping traffic that I would certainly become a part of soon. An alarming prospect indeed.

“Morning Darling!” I mumbled as I dragged myself out of bed.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

http://bekindrewrite.com

 

 

CLASSICAL GARBAGE

A PURELY FICTIONAL prompt response for ~Inspiration Monday: CLASSICAL GARBAGE:

Image © Copyright John and Margaret

A prompt response for ~Inspiration Monday: Classical Garbage

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CLASSICAL GARBAGE 

by John Yeo

Mind to mind communication had arrived! Prater collected all his gems of high Philosophy from the aether, a secret translucent medium that allowed concepts and ideas to be transferred from mind to mind, and person to person, without the need of papyrus or parchment. Known only to a few members of the higher inner circle, this secret was kept close to the hearts of the chosen few. The higher thinking was that if the aether medium was open to all and sundry, a certain, quite high, percentage of world knowledge, would be contaminated by the everyday dross that passes through the average mind under the guise of pure thought. The inner circle were the most arrogant, supercilious, patronising group of people, that has trod the earth, since the dinosaurs ruled the world.

  Many students barred from entrance to the thought patterns of this inner circle of minds, would follow this elite gathering of intellectuals, who became known colloquially as Prates, in honour of the founder and high-minded Prater, who discovered the magic of the effects of the mysterious aether. 

 Time passed and many of the lesser Prates, would follow the inner circle of closed minds around, writing and gleaning every word that dripped, amid the saliva that exuded, from the mighty mouths. Quite soon a huge body of writings and fantastic verbiage was amassed, and became generally known as the philosophical quantum mass of unsorted verbal diarrhea.

  One disastrous day as the inner circle were meeting to exchange thought-processes in the closed cavern of the rock-adversity, a huge volcanic eruption exploded and wiped out the inner circle completely.

  Thus was the final loss of the mysterious aether and the accumulated wisdom of the ancients. The lesser Prates then produced their enormous volumes of accumulated verbiage and during a lesser eclipse of the third sun, piled every manuscript into an enormous heap and set fire to it, destroying every last word.

  A far-sighted seer from the interior of the continent of Africa, suddenly appeared on the scene, declaring. “Let’s start the whole thing all over again!”

   Then began the millennium of peace and sharing of wisdom between all the differing mystical scientific communities around the world.

 

Copyright © written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

http://bekindrewrite.com

DOUBLE VELVET

Smooth
Daily Prompt on WordPress ~ 5th June 2016 ~ DOUBLE VELVET

Image © Copyright ~ John and Margaret

Prompt for the day on WORDPRESS ~ ‘SMOOTH’

The Daily Post

 

by John Yeo

  Robin was leaning against the bar, relating his meeting and his experience, with Mellita Mann  a well known rising star of film and television.

   “Self assured and sophisticated, a social siren. Queen of all she surveyed, I tell you this is so unlike her.”

  Raving madly about the lady he had bumped into in his local supermarket, Robin sounded, shocked, surprised and visibly shaken.

  “Her hair was in curlers, she had no makeup on, and she was rude, pushy and rude. I would never have believed it, if I hadn’t seen it myself! She actually stole something, picked it up from the shelf and put it right into her pocket!” Robin went on.

“I have seen her acting on television, I feel as if I know her intimately. There she was looking like a scruffy scarecrow, stealing from the supermarket. I called out loudly, ‘Stop thief!’ Then I was manhandled and pushed away by this Gorilla of a man, who swore at me several times and told me to get lost. The police then arrived, and I was threatened with arrest, for a breach of the peace. I asked to speak to the manager to report the theft of the property, but I was stunned when the manager suddenly burst out laughing, the Police officer was also smiling. Then a tall smartly dressed man stepped forward, his next words took me totally by surprise.”

    “We are in the middle of filming an anti-theft short film here. Please accept our apologies for your embarrassing, worthy reaction, we would like you to accept this money to go some way to smoothing over this unfortunate situation!” I am Henry Hills, the director.

  Robin grimaced, made appropriate shocked remarks, reflecting his hurt feelings at this unforeseen embarrassment, and left with, £1000.00 in cash.

 Later he would be found in the local bar drowning his well smoothed feelings with a velvety smooth Guinness, having passed on £500.00 to his daughter, who worked in the store.

Life’s like that!

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

The Daily Post

 

BLIND PILOT

A prompt response for Inspiration Monday: Blind Pilot

http://bekindrewrite.com

Images © Copyright John and Margaret

by John Yeo

Thomas settled himself and began to give a running commentary of the flight to the instructor.

    “We are heading due East over the rainforests, everywhere you look is a sea of trees, reaching out in every direction!”  Intoned the Thomas the pilot, over the internal intercom. “The slight movement that is observed is the canopy of the rainforest waving with the motion of the winds. White flowers adorn the tops of some of the trees, giving the illusion of foamy patches moving in synchronous harmony. Occasionally birds will appear and disappear again into the safety provided by the thick green moving tree cover.”

    The observer, Brian Bell, looked down with a totally different perception; puzzled, he enquired, “What is that square object in the distant horizon?”

   Thomas answered, “It is hard to tell from here, I have an idea that is a man made structure, probably an ancient abandoned Indian temple, the distinguishing feature from here is the way it merges into the surrounding forest.”

   Brian then suddenly said, “From the look of that sky, you will have to  watch out; a storm is gathering, and could be approaching fast. You will have to ride the air currents and fly up above the storm clouds, to escape. Do you agree? “

 “OK! Yes you are right, I haven’t liked the look of that sky, since the exercise began.” Thomas replied.

  “Thanks Thomas, you can climb out of the Flight Simulator and we can discuss your performance.”

  “Certainly!”

“Thomas, your handling of an aircraft is excellent, your reflexes are sharp and fast. However there are several areas that need some explanation, and clarification.

Firstly, we were flying over a blue sea that was moving with the motion of the waves. The white patches, you described as flowers, were actually flecks of foam on the top of the moving waves. The birds you described were a couple of dolphins and some flying fish. The structure in the distance was a bright red container ship, quite a long way off, but clearly visible. Finally we have been flying in a clear blue sky with wispy clouds.”

Thomas was stunned at this and couldn’t believe his ears!

 “In my opinion,” Brian went on: “You need to get your eyes tested for colour blindness, it is a common condition, not insurmountable. Colour blind pilots can get certification, with restrictions. No night flying for example.”

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

 

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PAIN THIEF

A Prompt Response for Inspiration Monday

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Image © Copyright John and Margaret

A Prompt response for Inspiration Monday

by John Yeo

 It came upon Old Fred slowly, without any warning, just a gradual seepage of the atrocious, mind blowing pain he had learned to live with all his life. Fred was disturbed about this development,

 He looked down at his gnarled bent fingers and hands, ‘No change’ he thought. ‘I don’t like this, ‘I’m usually suffering sharp pains at this time of day. I think I’ll have to see the Doctor. These new drugs he has prescribed are actually making a difference.

 

 The next day, found Fred in the Doctor’s surgery waiting room, sitting next to a smartly dressed lady who couldn’t stop coughing all over the place.

 ‘Hmm’ thought Fred, ‘I hope I don’t catch anything nasty whilst I am sitting here!’

   Fred turned to the lady, smiled, and said;  “Can I offer you one of my special large soft tissues?”

        “Oh!  Thanks so much, I have just run out.” She replied, returning Fred’s smile,

Then she suddenly began moving and walking as if she had cramp in her legs.

    “Are you alright?” Asked Fred in a concerned voice.

   “Yes thanks! Ouch! I seem to have been struck with very sharp pains in my legs.” She replied.

      ‘That’s odd,” thought Fred, ‘my pains have virtually left me now.’

Fred’s name was the next to be flashed up on the screen and he walked straight in to see the Doctor. He suddenly realised he had left his stick behind, Fred had never walked without a stick for years.

     “Hallo Mr Jones, how can I help you? Oh dear, excuse me, I have a terrible pain in my arm. Sorry Mr Jones. What seems to be the trouble.”

     “Well Doctor, as you know, from my records I have suffered pain all my life! I have learned to live with it. Now it seems to be going fast, I miss the feelings of agony as the pain shoots through me. 

   Are you alright Doctor? I thought I recognised the effects of a spasm in you just now! Anyway, I think I am a victim of pain theft, your tablets have stolen a part of my life away.”

 

    “Yes! I’m fine now thanks. I can’t imagine where that pain came from. Let me get this straight, Mr Jones, you are here because you no longer have your pains. I find that unusual behaviour, I can’t help you get the pains back, I’m afraid. I am going to make an appointment for you to…

  Ouch! There’s, that strange pain again!…Sorry Mr Jones I want you to see our Practice Nurse, she is a pain specialist, who will assess your pain Then, if you think you are the victim of a pain thief, I will make an appointment for you to see a Psychologist. Ow! That was painful!  I will just ring for the Nurse to take a look at you straight away.”

 

    Nurse Joseph’s knocked on the door and bustled into the consulting room.

   “Ouch!  Would you take a look at Mr Jones, for me please and assess his pain levels?”

      “Certainly Doctor. Oh my God!” She exclaimed, rubbing her shoulder vigorously. “Come this way Mr Jones, Ouch! Excuse me, I have sudden shooting pains in my arms and shoulders.”

 They left the Doctor’s consulting room together.

 

  The Doctor suddenly drew an astonishing unbelievable conclusion. In all his career he had never encountered anything quite like what he was considering. His previous patient had come in with a severe cold, and suddenly developed painful legs. He had never had spasms of pain in his life before today,  then Nurse Joseph’s mysterious pains began as soon as she entered his office.

 

  Sometime later the Doctor called in a Neurologist and after confiding his astonishing suspicions to the Neurologist, he ordered Mr Jones to be placed in an isolation ward with barrier nursing.

  The irate Mr Jones asked for the Police to be called to investigate the mysterious theft of his pain.

 A Psychologist arrived and was soon doubled up in severe pain, when he was introduced to Mr Jones.

That settled the diagnosis of Infectious Pain Syndrome.

 

Fred was placed in an isolation unit, where he sadly died three days later, having decided everyone he had come into contact with, was a pain thief, making his life nothing but a miserable pain-free existence.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

http://bekindrewrite.com