The New Normal After the Oil Fields Dried Up

Folks lined Main Street waiting for the moment the bear zigzagged into view. Every Saturday Fred Hamlin spiked a trough with honey and booze causing the incident. People arrived early to pick their spots, sometimes fought over them. But all was forgiven when the hula music commenced and the bear reared up and sashayed along.

Prompt words: incident, bear, street, normal (in title), moment

A New Beginning

He said the nude pictures were just for us, not to show to his buddies. He promised. We were married. I trusted him.

At first, I cursed my fate. Felt sorry for myself. Considered suicide. Sleeping pills. But why? I was being the wife he wanted. A willing participant. Five years annulled in a few tawdry minutes.

At my interview, the principal asked me why I left my previous job. I told her. I hadn't planned to. The words rushed out, like water in a rapids. Her face softened. She told me how sorry she was.

Now, sitting in my new classroom, in a new city, anonymous, I await the arrival of a new group of students, providing a new focus to my life, one filled with hope and no regrets.

Family

Family

Daddy wore latex under his robe while delivering his rhapsodic sermons to unsuspecting congregants. He preferred Spandex when he and Momma participated in the local circus’ coed mud wrestling league. They were both daft, tromping to their own piper, but we loved them anyway. Wasn’t that how God wanted it?

Prompt words: latex, rhapsodic, daddy, mud, circus

The Visitor

She thought she'd made herself impenetrable, empty of feeling, unwilling (or maybe unable) to love again after James left. The visitor changed that. The blue-streaked hair, the gap-toothed smile, the cartoon shirts made her laugh. She stared at the candle, inhaled, blew the flame of remorse into silence.

Prompt words: candle, visitor, impenetrable, empty, blue