BATTLE OF WITS

SUNDAY 22nd NOVEMBER 2020 

November Writing Prompts

BATTLE OF WITS

by John Yeo

The answer always at the end of the fingertips 

We are sure it will never drift far out of reach

Beating the virus is becoming a battle of wits.

The world has been overtaken by a mutual crisis

Nations collaborating and sharing the research

The answer always at the end of the fingertips.

~

The death toll mounting widespread contagion befits

A closedown of society, widespread fear of defeat 

Beating the virus is becoming a battle of wits.

Confinement essential borders just close to friendship 

Perhaps death and sickness have a lesson to teach

The answer is always at the end of the fingertips.

~

Science searches desperately for a vaccine to contain it

Prayers for the families with no solution to the breach

Beating the virus is becoming a battle of wits.

The rallying call to the carers, healers and medics

To stem the tide of desperation with a caring outreach 

The answer was always at the end of the fingertips.

Beating the virus has become a battle of wits.

© Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

HARMLESS

FLASH FICTION ~ This is a flash fiction story based on a photograph of a Tree Peony taken in our garden.

Image © Copyright John and Margaret ~ All rights reserved

by John Yeo

    The searchers were ever breaking new barriers searching for supplies of the life rejuvenating substance. Flyers from neighbouring hives would do battle in the skies over new territories, where undiscovered unknown sources of nectar could be found.

    Humphrey was a warlike bee who had fought in many a stinging battle with members of a neighbouring hive. Humphrey never travelled alone, he was always accompanied by Harriet his constant companion and fellow explorer.

   One memorable day Harriet zoomed back from an exploration sortie, in a state of zizzling excitement!

   Humphrey had never seen her behave like this and he waggled his wings and zignalled his disapproval.

    “Humphrey, call out the swarm! I have discovered the largest source of nectar I have ever seen, Huge flowers, on a bush, flowers as large as a whole planet. We must stake out the territory, drive out the opposition and store up the supplies!” Harriet hummed excitedly.

      The sight that met Humphreys eyes as he flew over the fence almost stopped him in mid-flight. Huge pink blooms, shielding hearts of delight, literally oozing sweet nectar in undreamt of quantities, confronted him. There were several unidentified alien smaller bees, buzzing aggressively around.

       “Harriet; return and call for reinforcements, we need everybody here, fighters, workers, even the drones. These are very valuable sources of supply, we must drive out these aliens and stake our claim.”

      Humphrey attacked the smaller bees who reacted in surprise and flew away fast, Humphrey was delighted at such an easy conquest, as the squadrons and drones of his swarm moved in and began gathering the seemingly endless supplies of nectar.

      Rumbling waves of sound, became faintly audible, and got increasingly closer.

       ’Sounds like a storm on the way!’ thought Humphrey.

     Then as he looked up, a squadron of the alien bees arrived, followed by two of the largest bees he had ever seen. When these monsters started attacking his swarm, Humphrey got angry and charged the leader sinking his sting into the monster’s eye. Harriet could see her soulmate was in danger and promptly attacked the other large bee in exactly the same way. The remainder of their swarm then attacked the two huge aggressors from every angle and brought them down.

  Sometime later two humans were admiring the large flowers, watching the bees hard at work, one bent forward to smell the perfume.

 

   “Watch out, there are bees about, you may get stung!”  Said one in a warning voice.

      “Don’t worry, these are honey bees, they are harmless.”  The other one replied.

 

 Humphrey staggering under another load of nectar had to smile at that.

 

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

 

 

 

FRIDAY NIGHT

Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers ~ Writing challenge.

https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com

Hosted by Priceless Joy.

The goal is to write a story between 100-150 words (give or take 25 words) based on the provided photo. 

Photo © Etol Bagam

by John Yeo

    Bill entered the  bar and spat on the wooden floor. A gooey green mess landed at the feet of a woman, seated at a wooden table.  The heavy makeup she wore hid the hard, world-weary face.  Bill, adjusted his trousers, balanced on an ample waistline. Lank, greasy black hair hung beneath a grubby hat.
  “What the heck? You dirty, lousy, good for nothing!” Lucy spat right back into his bleary red-rimmed, black eyes.
  Bill took a wild swing, with his right hand, a sledgehammer of a fist missed by a mile. He cursed loudly, then doubled up in pain as Lucy kicked him square in the groin.
  A nasty shouting and screaming row developed. Bill wildly attempted to grab a fist full of Lucy’s long brown hair as her sharp, finger-nails gouged tracks across his already scarred face.
  The bar swiftly emptied as the police arrived, to end this public dispute.
Bill’s final words to Lucy were “Where’s my dinner?” The couple walked off arm-in-arm.
“Happens every Friday night!” said the barman to the policeman.

 

(174 WORDS)

 

Copyright  ©. Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

 

 

PICTURE IT AND WRITE ~ A SERIOUS MISTAKE

This is a latest Picture it and Write prompt from Emilia’s blog ~ 29th

November 2015

https://ermiliablog.wordpress.com/2015/11/29/picture-it-write-79/

Image Provided and Credited by Ermilia

 

A SERIOUS MISTAKE

by John Yeo

My name is Kate,
I am a healer now, I have my medical degree. I will say a fond farewell to my family and friends as my boyfriend, Marcus and I are journeying to Africa to take up voluntary employment with the Flying Doctor service. We have decided to take the opportunity to learn and practice medicine in this challenging and varied environment.
My Father and Mother are firmly behind our plans. Dad has always backed me in my wilder plans, from the memorable day I came home from school and announced I was taking up a new hobby.

Marcus was a bit dubious at first; “What about our future careers? “

“Don’t worry Marcus, I am sure we will be fine, with our self-reliance and skills, this will be very good for our future lives together.” I reassured him, with my fingers firmly crossed and a smile on my face.

Marcus and I settled into our new vocation, and experienced a wide variety of varied, and sometimes very sad situations . We had to work separately, although we were attached to the same team, we were working with separate pilots. We would meet up in the late evening and share some very precious weekends together.

One memorable day, I was approached by a young man, who appealed to me and begged me to go with him to look at his Mother, who had taken a fall. Contrary to all the warnings and advice from all concerned, I decided to examine his Mother, and I entered a hut to find a figure prone under a blanket. Suddenly another man leapt up and went to grab me as the first man suddenly lunged at me with an open-handed slap around my face.
The next few minutes will be relayed over and over in my thoughts and memories for ever. All my trained reflexes went into overdrive as I fought off these two men, and in the name of self-protection I had to break limbs on both men.
After I had got my breath back, I called the police and an ambulance and spent the next few minutes using my medical skills to reset their broken bones.

Oh! I forgot to mention my new hobby my Father had approved of, and encouraged me to take up, was martial arts and boxing.

Later the authorities were holding an investigation with a view to charging the two men with assault. I decided to drop all charges and let them go.
Everyone agreed they had probably learned a lesson, and punishment had already been severely administered.
My reputation went before me wherever I went after that incident, and the locals would be queuing up to see me.

Marcus and I were soon working together, when he obtained a pilots licence. We worked in Africa for three years sharing many hair-raising adventures together.

As usual the Picture is supplied and credited by Emilia

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved.

 

A prompt response for “INSPIRATION MONDAY:” ~ SKIN AND SCALES

http://bekindrewrite.com

Ichthyosis Vulgaris

by John Yeo

  The day that Billy changed his appearance, he began to look like a fish, scaly skin broke out all over his face. The teacher said to him,
“Billy you are in the wrong country! No maybe you are in the wrong pond. Ha Ha!”
Billy blushed, and ran out of the classroom, his teacher apologised for the thoughtless remark and sent him to see the school nurse.
The trouble was no one at the school had ever seen anything like this before. Even the nurse was unsure of what to do for the best, and sent him home.
“You had better see your doctor Billy, I am sure he will know what to do!”
The doctor made an appointment for Billy to see a specialist in six weeks time.
Meanwhile, Billy was bullied and taunted every day, children can be cruel to someone who looks a little different from normal. Fatty Palmer, was the worst,
“Hey Fishface, you have had your chips! Get back into the frying pan!”
Billy cringed with embarrassment and backed away from the crowd, spending more and more time alone.
Stella became friends with him and gave him a lot of support. Stella’s father was a gymnastics teacher and she had learned a lot from him.
Fatty Palmer and his friends gleefully made fun out of the two of them,
“Here comes fish head and the trout, look out gang the freaks are about!”
Stella and Billy walked away together.
“Ignore them Billy,” said Stella, “We will only get into worse trouble.”

Billy went to the hospital and was examined in the skin clinic by a specialist who said.
“I am sorry to say you have a common inherited skin disorder called Ichthyosis Vulgaris, sadly there is no cure, but I can prescribe soothing creams and lotions. The symptoms should disappear in a short time and they may never return, but there is a chance they will come back in later years.”
“Ichthyosis what?”asked Billy’s Mum, “Your Dad had a similar thing on his chest Billy, very mild though.”
“That would be right,” said the consultant.

Some days later, Billy and Stella were walking home. Fatty Palmer and three boys were lying in wait for them, jumping out on the pavement they began jeering and threatening Billy. Stella took one look and went into action with a whirlwind of kicks and punches she brought Fatty down, and broke his arm. The other boys were on the receiving end of some very harsh punishment, before running away smartly.
Billy was astonished, Sella grinned and said. “My Dad is a black belt in Karate and he taught me a lot, I am also a black belt and I will show you how to look after yourself.

Billy and Stella stayed friends, became engaged, and got married. Of course that was ten very happy years ago now.

Copyright (c) Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

Ichthyosis vulgaris is a skin condition that causes dry, dead skin cells to accumulate in patches on the surface of your skin. It’s also known as “fish scale disease” because the dead skin accumulates in a similar pattern to a fish’s scales. “IMAGE AND INFO FROM THE NET.”