The controller

Prompt  ….

PHOTO PROMPT © Nathan Sowers

The old-man had little time to enjoy his estate. However, he would go around it on all full moon nights and meditated in the especially constructed outhouse. It was out of reach for all others.

During the last full-moon night few days ago – he started on his monthly ritual and detected the mirror.

‘My stay on this planet is complete’, he thought.

He carried the mirror in to the outhouse.

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Next morning the old-man was reported missing. The outhouse was completely empty except for a shattered mirror.

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47 of the world’s 50 richest billionaires sighed with relief.

Words ~ 99

Thanks for the prompt Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. SHALOM.

An unusual tribute

Prompt  …

Thank you Yinglan for this week’s prompt.

Ram Singh was a dog trainer par excellence. He trained many police dogs who earned honors. He also trained a popular dog who detected over 3329 kg of RDX explosives, 600 detonators, 249 hand grenades, and more than 6000 rounds of live ammunition during the 1993 terror attack of Mumbai that left 257 dead and 713 injured. It is believed that the dog played a crucial role in saving 1000s of citizens from these explosives. The dog died in 2000 and was buried with full state honors.

Ram Singh continued to train sniffer-dogs for different squads in the country and finally passed away few years ago. Dogs were his love and donuts his passion.

A seminar on dog training was organized as a tribute to him. One of his younger assistants brought this clay donut-dog and placed it on the lectern.

Words < 150

Thank you Priceless Joy

 

 

Striving for a photon

Prompt  ….

PHOTO PROMPT © Carla Bicomong

Keerti a budding vocalist and winner of Indian Idol struggled in the Indian film industry without success.

His manager advised him to perform on Kartick-Poornima  during the Deep Daan on the bank of Ganga at Hardwar in the foot hills of Himalaya.

The crowd that had come for the Ganga-aarti and ritualistic worship enjoyed the pleasant diversion. His concert was much appreciated and was highlighted in the media.  Soon he was a celebrity.

The darkness waits for a ray of light eternally but occasionally it goes out to find the photon that may release it from itself.

Words ~ 97

Kartik-Poornima – Full moon in Hindu month of Kartik (generally falls in November). Shiva  killed a demon named Tripuri on this day and hence, it is known as Tripuri-Purnima.  There is a tradition of taking a bath in Ganga and donating lamps on this day – it is believed that this fulfills all human desires.

Ganga-aarti – Offering of light to River Ganga.

https://youtu.be/JMoQPldFgko

Thanks for the prompt Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. SHALOM.

 

 

The Boss

Prompt  …

The world is divided in to two categories of human beings – those who are bossed and those who boss. Unlike other bosses my boss is not bossy – he just believes he is the best.

Recollect Fred the fat, somnolent, breathless boy in Pickwick papers. My boss is a grown-up and darker version of Fred who has been cured.  However, you expect him to take a puff form his nebulizer if you are in a discussion (nobody dares to argue) with him. Fortunately, he enjoys good health. He believes that rules are made to be followed (by others).

One day he entered the Vigilance HQs through a NO ENTRY to explain certain official irregularities. The CVO came to know about it and his services were terminated. Occasionally you can see him hovering around the main entrance.

Words ~ 136

About the prompt-pic – The building in the prompt is a multilevel parking in a posh market of colonial era. It was recently built at after a century old police & fire station was shifted. Then the entry was freely allowed but many would rather avoid it.

However when the parking came up millennia’s would occasionally drive their two wheeler up the exit stairs. Then the ‘No Entry’ sign and a barrier were put in place.

Thank you Priceless Joy

Birth a star

Warning – These stunts are performed by trained professionals, don’t try at your home or work place.

Prompt  ….

PHOTO PROMPT ©  Yvette Prior

What a mess ……….  how do you work here Dom?

Good day, sir! I work hence the mess.

But I see only the evidence of your bad habits.

I am a subtle mix of the good and bad. The good work has been dispatched to your office and I shall soon clean its byproducts.

You mean the reports you were assigned to prepare have reached my office. When did you send them …..

This morning, sir!

So why has it not reached me.

Your PA does not like to clutter your desk. He follows the pace you work at, sir!

Words ~ 100

Thanks for the prompt Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. SHALOM.

 

 

No Solutions

Restore human legs as a means of travel. Pedestrians rely on food for fuel and need no special parking facilities. ~ Lewis Mumford (Author of – The City in History, Technics and Civilization, The Myth of the Machine etc)

Prompt  …

Thank you Ted Strutz. for this week’s prompt.

The conversation was the same in many of the cars waiting to get on.

The old road to city center is always clogged. Why did you not take the new sea link?

Well ……  That is a toll road and it is expensive.

Sometimes, when there’s too much traffic clogging up the road, you need to take a different route and pay for it.

If I pay the toll every day – we shall end up having our meals at Langar (free meals served at Sikh shrines). We already pay taxes for using the roads, cars and even for the gas – where does all that money go?  This is unfair.

Another one said – The traffic-jams are here to stay. Start walking. Sitting in any case is the new smoking.

Words ~ 125

PS- I regret this is more a commentary rather than fiction.

Thank you Priceless Joy

 

 

TTs

Prompt  ….

PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio

Erratic floods, superstorms, droughts and volcanic outbursts left this planet with only1% of inhabitable land and roughly 0.5% of population ( a number that many rich believed the planet of early 21^st century could ecologically sustain).

The habitable parts are small pocket at the poles with wide stretches of water and deserts separating them. Thanks to the technology the survivors lived well.

Each colony is a self-sustaining entity. Vertical farms, transgenic animal husbandry and nano manufacturing met the basic needs.

A small pause and the video continued – unfortunately the average height of humans is just 6 inches now.

Words ~ 99

TT ~ Tom Thumbs

Thanks for the prompt Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. SHALOM.

 

 

A tale of many cities

Prompt  …

Thank you Wildverbs for this week’s prompt.

Jack woke up on the bench.

He owned a cardboard mansion until yesterday. It had been two large boxes taped together – a wonder in in cardboard architecture. Jack had inherited it from a young man who had been beaten to death by a bunch of young thugs – who considered it their patriotic duty to free the society of poor, unwashed and dispossessed members. Other box dwellers watched and thanked God it was not them. Finally, the thugs departed; and Jack offered him a sip of water. The man bequeathed his home to Jack and died.

Jack had lived there for a few days and then the guilt of watching him being beaten without helping overcame him and he put a match to it and moved to the river park refusing to strive for a survival that he considered futile.

A few days later the bench was occupied by another Jack.

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Ironically the bench and the park too vanished soon. It was replaced by hundreds of box-homes stacked one over other.

Words ~ 171

Thank you Priceless Joy

 

 

Epilogue

Prompt  ….

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

Howard George Kettler invented a widely used typeface of the twentieth century. Kettler’s Courier typeface was used more than Times-New-Roman and Helvetica combined. The U.S. State Department used Courier-New-12 as its default font for treaties and other official diplomatic documents till 2004.

The small typeset-mechanical press was finally buried in the last decade and Mr Trebuchets sold his press paraphernalia at a garage sale.

Wentworth (Jr) bought the wooden trays used to keep the type-sets (~sorts) and started a garden but could not sustain it from the depredation by transgenic-bees of the from neighboring farm.

The union of tangible and intangible.

Words ~ 101  100

Thanks for the prompt Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. SHALOM.

Tools of the craft

Prompt  …

Thank you Yinglan for this week’s prompt.

She graduated with honors.

Today was her first day at job. She had been told what was expected of her. All her requirements were provided and finally a fat man in grey suit had left her in this special shoe shop. (Why a shoe shop she thought.)

Well …. fresh from the farm – your first mission? One of the young men asked.

She kept silent.

Never mind – your preference in footwear?

Another silence followed.

I think these Louboutins will fit you perfectly. There is a knife hidden in the right toe. Click your heel on a hard surface and it will pop out. Click again and it slides back.

The second man handed her a bag. ‘This contains a lipstick video-camera, dot-candies that are really GPS tracking devices, a nail polish that will dissolve metal and some multipurpose dental-floss made of carbon nano-tubes.’ He said.

The lady thanked them and felt she was ready to start her ascent in the Corporation.

Words ~ 162

Thank you Priceless Joy