Use the above image as inspiration for a poem or short story.
Alternatively, if you are an artist or photographer, use this as an opportunity to showcase your own work.
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We lived in an apartment complex in Africa surrounded on two sides by a park. The park had some birds and small animals, so I wasn’t totally surprised when one morning, I woke up and found a peacock on the balcony of my apartment, which faced the park. This was a male peacock as opposed to the female peahen, and it was beautiful. The feathers were long and looked absolutely lovely when spread out to their full width. The main colors of the bird were blues and greens. I watched the bird as it was content to sit on the balcony rail.
My daughter came running out to the balcony, yelling for breakfast. She startled the peacock, and he rose to leave his perch. I scolded her, and after she stopped crying, she looked at the pictures I had found online to show her what she had missed. She wasn’t really interested in the peacock and ran off to play. She and her friends headed down to the park, where they loved to play almost all day. I kept checking to see if he would return, but he never returned that day or the next. I wish I had gotten a picture of him before my daughter startled him. Maybe one day, he would return.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
You don’t have to share your work, but I always enjoy seeing what you come up with if the prompt gives you inspiration.
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June 29, 2020
Dear Diary,
Well, today was the day I have been waiting for. I have been waiting as patiently as possible for this day to arrive, and I never thought it would happen.
Bob and I have been writing to each other online for years, and I never thought he would get around to asking me out. He always told me he had a wife and that he couldn’t get involved with me, but over the years, he has let on that he has had other women in his life despite what he told me. I never knew if he had slipped when talking about another woman. I was interested despite the fact he was married. That didn’t bother me so much. We had talked on the phone at times and exchanged pictures so I had this deep down feeling that was growing in me. I don’t know how you fall in love with someone you have never met. I have no idea if the pictures he sent me were really him, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to meet in person.
This afternoon, he called and asked me to meet him tomorrow at a local diner for lunch. He didn’t live in my area, he said, so he would have to make a long drive to meet me. He was willing to make the drive since he didn’t want to chance running into his wife. I am so excited. I hope he has some feelings for me and that this isn’t just a simple lunch date. I don’t want to be the other woman, but he insisted this was just a lunch between friends.
I must admit I feel guilty about meeting him behind his wife’s back, but I can’t control my steadily growing feelings for him. He told me to meet him at the local mall, and we would drive together to the diner.
Good night, dear diary!
June 30, 2020
Dear Diary,
I am so mad. He was late getting to the mall, and despite the fact that two hours had passed, I was still waiting for him. He never called me to let me know he was going to be late, and when I tried to call him, he never answered.
Finally, a car pulled up next to me in the empty part of the mall parking lot where I was waiting. I didn’t recognize the person, but couldn’t imagine why they were parked right next to me since I was in a remote area of the mall.
He rolled down his window and said, “Hi, Jackie. I am glad that you waited for me to get here. I got caught up in traffic.”
I was stunned. Who was this, and how did he know me? “Who are you,” I asked him.
“I’m Bob. Who else would I be?”
“Bob? You don’t look like your pictures.” I didn’t say anything else as I pondered what was going on. This guy was heavy and pretty ugly. The only thing I recognized was his voice. That was the same since we had been talking on the phone. I had fallen in love with the guy in the pictures, who was very handsome. “What is going on here?” I asked him.
“I’m sorry, but I never send my real picture. I want to see if we are compatible before meeting a woman.”
“I can’t believe you deliberately lied to me. I trusted you to be who you said you were, and now you show up and are totally different from the pictures. This is not cool. I am leaving now. Don’t you ever contact me again.”
“Oh well, your loss.”
I left and didn’t look back. I immediately deleted all my contact info for him, and now I am back to being friendless. I can’t believe I wasted three years on this nutcase. I am glad I never told anyone about him. What a fool I am!
Good night, diary!
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Rules of the hop: Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less. Use the current week’s prompt word. Link up at Wednesday’s post. Link goes live at 6:00 pm through Saturday late… Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers.
PROMPT WORD: LIFT
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Sarah went to lift the crying baby into her arms so she could comfort her. The baby was only a few hours old, and Sarah was still nervous about holding her. Her husband held out his arms, ready to take his turn at holding his daughter. Sarah hesitated, not comfortable with her husband holding Mia yet. The nurse persuaded her to let the father spend time with his daughter. Sarah gently laid Mia into his waiting arms.
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
As Tonya looked over the side of the car on the Ferris Wheel, she noticed her husband arrive at the carnival. She felt her heart rate accelerate as she realized she might run into him before she and Tom could exit the carnival. She hoped he would head to the children’s rides section first, away from them.
He probably assumed that she and the kids were here for the night. He must have left work early tonight and decided to surprise them since they weren’t home right now. She hadn’t told him that she left the kids with her sister.
**********100 words**********
Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Today the aide informed me that I would only get one shower per week which prompted me to go to the facility director and ask if it was a new policy or not and she informed me that I am still to get two showers per week and she would take care of it.
Follow up:
I went to the head nurse to ask about my shower since it was determined at the monthly resident coucil meeting that we were to get 2 showers per week, so I have the second shower, but will there be an aide to give me one is now the question.
If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure. To execute a pingback, just copy the URL in the address bar on this post, and paste it somewhere in the body of your post. Your link will show up in the comments below. Please ensure that the One-Liner Wednesday you’re pinging back to is this week’s! Otherwise, no one will likely see it but me.
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As with Stream of Consciousness Saturday (SoCS), if you see a pingback from someone else in my comment section, click and have a read. It’s bound to be short and sweet.
Unlike SoCS, this is not a prompt so there’s no need to stick to the same “theme.”
The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:
1. Make it one sentence.
2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.
3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.
4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!
5. Have fun!
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Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.). Today’s word is FRAIL.
The residents range from people who can walk freely to those using canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. Most of the residents in wheelchairs are frail and can’t maneuver themselves around. They need help. That makes dinnertime complicated as everyone tries to find a seat. As the seats fill up, walkers and wheelchairs block the aisles, creating total chaos.
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Tessa–
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
“Mom, you’re going to be a grandmother,” Daisy told me excitedly. I don’t know what she is so happy about, as she is in her senior year of high school and is only 17 years old. She is a child herself. I immediately think of her father and his reaction. He will be livid about this as he tried to make sure she was on birth control before something like this happened. I guess that was a bust.
“Daisy, tell me that you’re teasing me. I am too young to be a grandmother, and you are way too young to be a mother.” I burst out, turning to face my only daughter.
“I am sorry, Mom, but it’s not a joke. I didn’t plan it this way as I planned to graduate and go to college, but all that has changed now.”
“Oh no, you are still going to graduate from high school, and perhaps we can work it out for you to go to college as well. You need your education. You know your father isn’t going to take this well at all.”
“I didn’t plan it this way, Mom, believe me, but I am so excited about it. Surely, you can talk Dad into accepting the news, too. I don’t know how I can go to school in this condition.”
While waiting for my husband to come home from work, I called the school guidance counselor and talked about my daughter’s condition and the fact that we wanted her to graduate with her class in June. I was told about the school’s program for pregnant teenagers and that Daisy would be eligible.
“Daisy, I talked to your guidance counselor and he told me about the school’s program for pregnant teenagers to get home tutors so they can still graduate with their class. You are now enrolled in that program and I expect your father would agree with the program as well, although I am sure he will not be happy about this situation you have found yourself in.”
Just then, her father entered the house. I called him into Daisy’s bedroom and told him that Daisy had some news.
“Dad, I am two months pregnant, and I didn’t mean for it to happen, but I guess the condoms didn’t work. I want this baby, and Mom found out I can still graduate from high school with my class.”
“What?” Roger Clement shouted at Daisy and then slid a look over to me. “I thought you put her on birth control. We talked about this.”
“I did, Roger, but the first appointment I could get her was in 3 months. I can’t help it if she couldn’t wait. At least she can still graduate high school, although I don’t know what this will do to her college plans.”
“No!” Roger yelled at the two of us. “This is not acceptable. She is too young to have a child, and my colleagues at work will give me grief about this situation. You will have to get rid of the baby. Either by adoption or an abortion. I don’t care which, but you are not having a baby out of wedlock.”
“I will not give up my baby,” Daisy shouted, tears streaming down her face. I am excited about this even though I hadn’t planned on having a baby so young. I really did want to go to college first before I had a child, but I am already in love with this baby and will not give it up, do you hear me?”
Roger looked at me and told me that I had better fix this situation. He was not happy with things as they were.
“I am sorry, Roger, but she is going on the school’s teenage pregnancy program and will have a home tutor so she can graduate high school with her class. They also told me that once she was released to return to school, there would be a program so that all the new mothers can tell their peers just how hard it is being a teenage mother and go to school. I don’t agree with you about the adoption or abortion if that is not what Daisy wants. We will have our first grandchild in 7 months, and I don’t know how you can be so hard-hearted. That’s our flesh and blood.”
“Fine,” Roger shouted at the two of them. “But don’t expect me to help support this child.”
I turned to Daisy. “He’ll come around eventually. Don’t worry about it, but you will have to go to work to bring in an income once the child is born. The baby’s father can care for the child when he is not working. If you both are working, I will fill in when needed, but I expect the two of you to bring in an income for this baby’s needs, and once you graduate high school, you will either have to pay rent or find your own place. You can only stay here free while you finish school. I hope you understand the seriousness of this matter. Having a baby is no joke and will require you to take responsibility for its care.”
Tessa
Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses
Tessa Dean - Author 
