SPF 07-29-18 – Treasure Hunt

/ BarbCT / 4 Comments

“Stop! I’ve got to sit down for a minute.”

“Oh, come on, Will! We’ve got to keep on going. We don’t want anybody else to find the treasure.”

Will cast a sardonic look up at his buddy as he took a swig of water. “I’m beginning to believe this treasure hunt of yours is a bunch of hooey. We’ve been out here for hours and found nothing.”

“But Kara swears if we can find the rock that looks like the skull of a giant ape we’ll find a treasure in jewels and gold.”

“If she’s is so sure it’s out here, then why doesn’t she look for it?”

“Seriously?! She’s a tiny woman, she wouldn’t be able to carry it out once she found it. That’s why I agreed we would split it with her.”

Will took another swig of water, stood up and said, “Screw it! I’m done with this treasure hunt.”

Whining all the way, his buddy climbed down from the rock they had just climbed and they began the long trek back to their Jeep.

As the sun began to set, the light glinted off something shiny at the base of the rock they had just left.

Sunday Photo Fiction 07-29-2018

Photo Credit: Joy Pixley

Word count: 200

Thank you, Joy Pixley, for this week’s photo prompt.

SoCS – The Last Door

/ BarbCT / 3 Comments

After many months, the day was finally here,  the culmination of a two-year battle.

We exited our respective vehicles, shook hands and started up the sidewalk, him explaining to me what to expect inside. What he didn’t tell me, but I should have realized since it was a federal building, was that when we entered the first door we would be greeted by a security guard at a desk. The guard asked if I had anything like mace or any sharp objects in my purse. I said no, but then I remembered the pocket knife I always carry. I had to take that back to the car. When I returned, the security guard told me to face the wall with my legs spread and my arms out. Then he wanded me, had me turn around, and repeated the process. I realized then a little of what people experience when they fly nowadays. (I haven’t flown since 1992, long before all the extreme airport security was put in place here in the US.)

We then had about 30 minutes to go over my case, to clarify any details, and review the results of the medical and psychological reports ordered by Social Security.

Finally, the hearing assistant called us to the hearing room – the last door, literally and figuratively, I had to enter in hopes of finally winning my case.

The next 45 minutes were the reason I had taken half of a Xanax before I left the house. I was appearing before a judge, via videoconferencing, who would decide if I would get approved for disability. This was an adjudication hearing, which is what one has to go through in the US when their claim is rejected twice. Given my druthers, I would never have applied for disability, but my health problems no longer gave me a choice.

As we left the hearing room, the lawyer looked at me with a grin and said, “You won!”  He said he could tell by the questions the judge asked (he had handled such hearings in front of her before), especially near the end. From his lips to God’s ears!

FFfAW #152 – The Last World

/ BarbCT / 8 Comments

We shouldn’t have gone through that last door, James thought. But we had to make a choice. The beasts were getting closer every minute.

How long had it been since he and Amy went through that door in an abandoned warehouse and found an endless corridor of doors.? However, when they turned around to go back, the original door had disappeared. They began opening random doors hoping to find their way back. But when some terrifying beasts came through one of the doors before they could shut it, they ran until they couldn’t run anymore.

Now they were stranded on a frozen world with the beasts trying to break in. Suddenly, all went quiet.

“Hey, I think they’re gone. Let’s make a break for it. Amy? Amy?”

“NOOOO!”

As he howled at the heavens in pain and fury, James noticed an ever-brightening  light melting a hole in the ice.  Too late, he thought, as he reached towards the light with the last of his strength

.

Word Count = 167

This story was inspired a bit by the book Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

Thank you Goroyboy for the photo prompt.

If you would like to join in the fun of writing for this week’s flash fiction challenge, visit Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers #152

 

 

JusJoJan – 1/18/18 – How Revolting!

/ BarbCT / 2 Comments

You know that old joke about being on a seafood diet: I see food and I eat it? That is not the case for everything for me. I am particularly partial to lasagna and chicken ‘n’ dumplings. But the following foods are so revolting to me that I cannot abide even attempting them.

  1. Liver and onions
  2. Mushrooms (texture issue and past food poisoning event)
  3. Oysters (texture issue)
  4. Eggplant
  5. Fried chicken livers
  6. Sucking the meat out of a crawfish head
  7. Fresh Parmesan (I got burned on this when I ordered nachos in a club owned and operated by a Greek; yep, they were made with Parmesan. Soooo gross!)

Of course, there are other things in life I find revolting (i.e. Donald Trump), but if I get started on that list I may never stop. 🙂 I joke, but honestly, I’m an easygoing person who doesn’t offend as easily as I once did – the advantage of years of experience, I guess.

Written as part of Linda G. Hill’s Just Jot It January challenge. Thanks to Sandra  [https://whatsandrathinks.com/] for today’s prompt.

To join in the challenge or read more posts using this prompt, go to JusJoJan – January 18, 2018

JusJoJan – 1/15/18 – Justice For All?

/ BarbCT / 4 Comments

When I chose the word justice as my topic it was just a flash-in-the-pan moment. And when I was given today as the day to use it, I didn’t even think about the significance of the day beyond it being the middle of the month. But today is the MLK Day holiday for federal, state and city employees everywhere in the U.S. So what better day to write on this topic?

The primary definition of justice as found in a legal dictionary is “. . . a scheme or system of law in which every person receives his/her/its due from the system, including all rights, both natural and legal”. However, justice is often denied when attorneys and judges get caught up in procedure rather than in achieving justice for all. The adage “justice delayed is justice denied” applies to the burdensome procedures, lack of sufficient courts, and the use of the courts to settle matters which could/should have been resolved by negotiation. Factor in the disparity between court privileges obtained by attorneys for the wealthy and not for people of modest or no means, the use of delay tactics and veritable blizzards of motions and other unnecessary paper by large law firms, and judges who fail to cut through the underbrush of all the procedures, and justice for all is eroded. In addition, oftentimes, a judge’s personal bias plays a role in the outcome of a trial.

Martin Luther King’s killer was punished by the system and justice was served. In fact. James Earl Ray confessed to the crime to escape a trial, which would have put him at risk of receiving the death penalty. He was given life in prison, of which he served 29 years before dying of Hepatitis C. And while it’s nice to know there was one less person out there to murder or otherwise injure someone else, it does not bring back MLK to his family; it does not mitigate what the world lost by his death.

How often have we seen scenes like this during riots in the last few years that purport to be in the name of justice because of police brutality after the police officers were acquitted by the court system? And not just in the U.S. In February of 2017, riots broke out in Paris in protest of police brutality when the police officers who beat and sodomized a young black man were acquitted, even though it was on video. Just last week, riots broke out in Pakistan when the body of a 7-year-old girl was found in a trash heap after being kidnapped, raped and strangled. Pakistanis felt that the police have not done enough to stop a string of such killings.

Will these riots change anything? Maybe, maybe not. Also on video was the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police in 1995; the police officers were acquitted. Almost 26 years after those riots, the Los Angeles police system hasn’t changed very much. Police brutality there is still rampant, as it is in Baltimore (2015 riots protesting the death of Freddie Gray at the hands of police) and so many other cities around the world.

Riots are not the only way that justice is sought for those harmed or killed by anyone, regardless of race, sex or religion. What do individuals do when justice is not meted out by the system? More often than we will probably ever know, the victim of a crime or the loved ones of a rape or murder victim will take it upon themselves to mete out justice by injury, humiliation or other means of harm, including murder. But that isn’t justice, it’s vengeance.

Sorry I’m posting this so late, it’s been a crazy day and I’m trying to catch up to myself. [And right at this moment I’m cussing myself for trying to do something new here, failing and costing me time.]

Written as part of Just Jot It January, sponsored by Linda G. Hill. Check out more stories at https://lindaghill.com/2018/01/15/jusjojan-daily-prompt-january-15th-2018/.