Patricia's House Guests

Rain

Patricia was watching her neighbor's children for a few weeks during the summer. Alice and Jason hadn't had a vacation in a few years, she knew they'd appreciate her help.

"Whats a few weeks?" Patricia thought to herself as Benny, the littlest, proceeded to dig a hole in the middle of her favorite flower bed. "That'll be a bath tonight!" She mumbled to herself.

She picked up Benny and directed him to a clear section of dirt that didn't contain flowers before turning to check on the other two.

"What on earth are you doing?" Patricia asked Dot, the eldest, who was running around in circles with a stick she had found under the old oak tree. 

'If only a stick could solve all MY problems!' Patricia chuckled to herself.

A duck ran through Patricia's legs in a panic closely followed by Toby, the only blond one of the trio. The ducks all quacked frantically and lose feathers fluttered around the yard.

"Come now Toby! Don't scare the ducks so!" Patricia called.

Toby slowed down and turned to grin back at Patricia. Patricia rolled her eyes. It was so hard to stay upset with any of them! A bit of a breeze picked up and pulled at the edge of Patricia's wrap. Benny jumped up in surprise as the sound of distant thunder rolled across the sky. Dot, on the other hand, paid no mind to the approaching storm until the rain started to fall.

"We better go in guys!" Patricia called, throwing her wrap over her head as she ran toward the porch. Toby, Dot, and Benny swiftly ran after her, pausing for just a moment on the porch to shake the rain off of them before they followed patricia inside to dry off. 

Patricia passed around the towels to dry them off before all three curled up beside her on the couch to watch the rain make a mess of the yard. The ducks looked happy enough to have the puddles all to themselves. Toby followed their antics intently while making pictures on the window with his cold nose. Another round of thunder gently shook the house and Benny and Dot snuggled in closer. The rain continued to fall, she knew it wouldn't be long before the three of them would fall asleep... right here, in her lap.

"Maybe it would be nice to have some dogs of my own around here..." Patricia pondered. 

*(photo credit: rain and blue pot via photopin (license)

By the way? Did you find the secret word? 

This week's clue is: "It would be mean to call them dogs!"

Based on the secret word, do you think you know what the secret phrase is? The secret phrase opens the first door which contains special secret goodies from Stacy Garrett who is currently trying to promote her new book The Door with an indigogo campaign . It truly is an amazing project that deserves to be supported! Gorgeous original photos illustrate this amazing fairytale story! You can find a list of other sites hosting other pieces of this week's secret phrase over on Stacy's facebook page or on "The Door" link on her website!

If you have figured out what this week's secret phrase is... enter it here and don't forget to come back next week for the next hint!: http://www.stacyjgarrett.com/#!the-door/tqu6j 

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This Week's News:  PDMI's Marketing Director called to let me know two days ago that the Hilton Head Island (SC) Barnes and Noble has ordered copies of my book to put on their shelves! I'm super stoked! This is the second Barnes and Noble confirmation I've received!  Just a reminder, I'll be at the Magnolia Mall Barnes and Noble in Florence SC on July 26th for a signing. Rumor has it that Rivi may even show up with me to take pictures with visitors!  

If any of you spot my book "The Alien Mind" out in the wild, please take a picture of it for me! I'd love to see how far it is going!

W: Everyone Needs Water- Flash Fiction

“You are weak and worse yet, you do not even realize you are weak!” The Aruk named 12 hissed at a group of children as he marched them along a grueling sandy terrain.

 Back inside the station the Aruk leader, called 1, glared through the window as he watched the children’s progress. 

“Why haven’t they given up by now?” 1 asked his 2nd in command beside him.

 “They’ve only been here for just a short time sir, but we do need to figure out how to break the human species’ spirit soon if we are going to have a chance at winning the war in the future.” 2 replied, his body flickering and never gaining solid form.

 1 huffed. 1 knew, being a temporal histographer, 2 could see how much longer they had if they had any hopes of changing their future.

 “This species gaining our powers is NOT in our best interest. If they fight this hard now to keep going, they would have been an unstoppable foe if they had been allowed to develop to their full potential on their home planet.” 1 said, his voice dark and brooding.

 Outside, the children were growing tired and thirsty. The sun high in the sky burned on their exposed skin. Still the Aruk guards shoved them on.

 A young boy by the name of Nathan stumbled a little in the sand. His guard shoved him and ordered him to keep up. His mind felt like jello, his stomach churned in the heat, his muscled weak from dehydration and yet he continued on.

 I won’t be the one to cause my friends pain because I failed the test, Nathan thought about the rest of his friends still back in the cells.

 If only I had some water!

 Spreading his arms out beside him, being careful not to disturb his fellow runners, he wished for a breeze to take away the heat.

 Or maybe even some rain! 

There was no rain or even the slightest breeze on this desolate planet the Aruk lived on though. Nathan’s eye was suddenly drawn to the forehead of the Aruk guard running beside them where sweat beaded on his purple skin. The guard wiped his three fingered hand across the red and black tattoo’s and flicked the sweat to the ground.

 Water! Nathan’s mind reeled.

He stopped running and held his hands out toward the guard in desperation.

 1 leaned closer to the window and watched in horror as the purple skin of one of his guards faded with almost instant dehydration. The guard stumbled back horrified. 1 waved his hand over the window to open it and called out to his guards.

 “Dispose of him quickly!” He ordered, The children mustn't be allowed to develop those powers!

The guards circled around the children and two guards pulled the kicking and screaming boy from their midst.

 “How, in the midst of all this, did he manage to develop the ability of a healer?” 1 demanded of 2 after he closed the window once more.

 2 didn’t answer. His form flickered even more feverishly now as he scanned the timeline.

 “Don’t dispose of him just yet,” 2 told the guards as they dragged the terrified boy past them. “Sir, the timeline has changed. If we can develop these humans’ abilities we can use them to fight FOR us in the coming war!”

This flash fiction piece takes place before the events of The Alien Mind. Just something I am working on to help me analyze my antagonists motivations and frame of mind. Bear in mind that none of this is edited or finalized- just me doing some free range writing ;)



photo credit: When nothing will do via photopin (license)

Today's post was also inspired by the letter W. W is for:   as part of the Blogging from A to Z April 2015 challenge! Click on the letter to join on in the fun!

Every day (excluding sundays) I will be writing a post about something that begins with the letter for that day. Most of the time you will find a sci-fi flash fiction piece here.


For Readers: I leave you with this quote: The best weapon is your mind. Without it you are defenseless. Without it you are weak and worse yet you do not even realize you are weak.

Tell us about a time that some fast thinking got you out of trouble...