Wednesday's Words on a Friday



On Wednesdays, assorted people have been taking monthly turns at putting up a selection of words which is called “Words for Wednesday”.

This month the meme continues here, at Elephant’s Child’s blog, with words supplied by Elephant’s Child in place of Jacqui, who is sadly unable to be with us.

Essentially the aim is to encourage us to write.   

Each week we are given a choice of prompts: which can be words, phrases, music or images.   What we do with those prompts is up to us:  a short story, prose, a song, a poem, or treating them with ignore...

Some of us put our creation in comments on the post, and others post on their own blog.  We would really like it if as many people as possible joined in with this fun meme.
If you are posting on your own blog - let us know so that we can come along and read your masterpiece.

It’s a fun challenge…why not join in?

This week's words are:

1. prank
2. arms
3. regret
4. light
5. hostility 
6. crime

and/or:

1. astronaut
2. wolf
3. prophesy
4. guillotine
5. bootlegger
6. adorable

Here is my story:

It had been more than a year now since Flash Jack and Hound Dog had been tried and sent to prison, each for fifteen years with a non-parole period of twelve years.


The hostility between gangs and the crime rate in the small city had fallen dramatically with their incarceration, a few months later, the gangs themselves had dispersed. Made of mostly younger boys held in thrall by the swaggering confidence of their 'leaders' and the gifts bestowed by them, it was relatively easy to send them home to the welcoming arms of their families.


There were, however, a couple of older boys who still spoke with admiration of Flash Jack and Hound Dog and continued to play pranks within the community. These pranks weren't anything illegal so far, but the possibility of the boys' behaviour escalating with each prank they got away with was high. 

They seemed to have no regrets at all, even in light of new evidence showing the two older criminals had been consorting with small arms dealers and had been planning a series of robberies. It appeared they'd wanted to recreate the era of the Bootleggers of the 1920s, with all the monetary gain they'd heard about.

The break room at the Police Station was buzzing with conversations on how to stop these youngsters before they got out of control. Phil and Greg were only fourteen, still young enough to change their ways, but another year or so would see them entrenched in bad behaviour, possibly eventually following Flash Jack and Hound Dog to prison. Nobody wanted that, except maybe Phil and Greg who were still enchanted by being the "bad boys".


Sergeant Harrison's idea was to hold a city funded Halloween party, with a costume competition for children under ten, 'spooky' foods, jack'o'lanterns, "The whole works!" he so happily expounded.


There would be "trick or treat" doors staged around the city square, for children to knock at and be showered with treats.
Sergeant Harrison's extra idea was to have Phil and Greg each in charge of a small band of younger children for the trick or treating circuit. Perhaps a sense of responsibility would help them realise that good was better than bad.


It was also decided that possibly a "Big Brother" program could be started with Phil and Greg coming under the wing of an older officer, then learning to help out with younger children.
"Anything to keep them occupied enough to not think up fresh trouble," said Constable James.


It was decided the party should begin at dusk, with the trick or treat segment first, then inside the square on the grass other attractions would be held. 


Miss Tranmore was in favour of a gypsy tent where children could hear their personal prophesy. Her mother still had all the necessary equipment from her career as a party planner. The idea was well received and Miss Tranmore went to her computer to begin designing the flyers to be placed in letterboxes and shop windows all over town.
The old guillotine was dusted off and used to cut the flyers into interesting shapes that would attract attention.




Six weeks later, the square was alight with spooky orange lanterns throwing shadows as the children finished the trick or treat doors and lined up for the costume judging. 


"Look at them," gushed Miss Tranmore. "They're so adorable. There's an astronaut,  a pirate, a princess and a Big Bad Wolf holding hands with a tiny Red Riding Hood. I'm so glad I'm not a judge, I could never decide a winner."

Comments

  1. Love it River. And hope those boys do see the light...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elephant's Child; I'm sure they will with so many good examples before them.

      Delete
  2. And no rampaging clowns running around like clowns!

    Good tale, River...you utilised the words well. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lee; no clowns for sure. Do you have those in your city too? We've had them on the news here in Adelaide, some have been robbing stores and elderly people.

      Delete
  3. Using all the words, very good.
    Merle..........

    ReplyDelete
  4. Exceptional my friend. Loved every bit!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Granny Annie; thank you, I loved your poem too.

      Delete
  5. Your talent for using words randomly is amazing. Love this story as I loved all the others. Good job. hug B

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Buttons Thoughts; Thank you. I find it much easier to write something when I have words to use. Similar to being given a topic for an essay at school I suppose.

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. only slightly confused; thank you, I liked your piece too.

      Delete
  7. Good job! I love how you managed to weave Halloween into your story, too.

    For a change, I wrote a short piece with this month's words, and posted it on Sue's blog. The words were simply too difficult for me to resist. :)

    Have a super weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Susan; thank you. I'll nip on over to Sue's and read what you wrote. I'm sure it's excellent.

      Delete
  8. Great story river.
    Traditionally the male of the species has until recent years been the hunter gatherer of our species, providing for themselves and family. In desperate times necessity becomes the link to crime and other underhanded methods for providing. unfortunately it is the male who pays the penalty in the majority of these crimes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vest; thank you. there is more crime in desperate times, but there's always a few who can't seem to resist that road even when there is no need.

      Delete
  9. 1800, AD. Man steals loaf of Bread gets caught. is hanged. Family starve to death.

    ReplyDelete
  10. .. hello River.... sorry I haven't visited for a while... I'm catching up Tonight.. xxxx

    I like this story... hope they 'boys' keep out of trouble... the party souned great ...

    Sorry your garden is giving you a bit of trouble ... hope you sort it out soon...

    I'm not a big John Stewart fan xxx


    I did like the park and the ducks... always like the ducks.. xxx

    Nice to hear you had a lovely night out with your friends...

    ... and .. so pleased with Chapter nine of the Tom Feather story.. Rick is having a bad time.. lol.. xxxx

    have a great weekend.... Barb xxxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barbara; I know you've been busy, glad you dropped in. I'm pleased you like this story and chapter 9 of the other one. I've yet to find a title for that one, it's based around so many people.

      Delete
    2. .. thanks River.... I always think of this story as 'Feathers Revenge'... xxxxx

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

kitchen tip #?????

being unaccustomed to public speaking,

I've been trying to contact Haagen-Dazs