Friday, September 3, 2010


Winner of the "Sunset 5-Word Sentence" Word Challenge is...a tie! There were some great submissions but my favorites are: Stephanie Theban's "Sunset's color hid the blood." and buglady5's "Hell's tendrils gripped the horizon." I never would have conceived the dark images both writers saw but they were outstanding. Kudos to you both.

Here is the next challenge for this new picture that was taken at one of my favorite places on earth in Southeast Oklahoma at The Reserve on Eagle Creek. There are no restrictions on the number of words but it must contain a simile or metaphor. Good Luck!

4 comments:

  1. Wow! A tie for winner. Thanks, Helen. Shorter seems to be easier than longer for me, but here's a try anyway.

    David considered whether to ride his bike over to McKayla's for the party. The first party of the summer. Riding back after an evening of floating on the warm breeze of freedom felt like admitting that he was tethered to the resort for the summer. Cleaning cabins and checking out canoes while the others played all summer. Especially the summer kids. The ones whose summer homes sat out the winter boarded up and lonely, waiting like a teenage girl without a date to the winter dance. But oh, in the summer, the girl hosted her own dances, and her golden highlights glittered in the sun. Maybe the tether wasn't strong enough to hold David.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The end of summer is upon her and, as usual, the last weekend before school starts tends to bring out the melancholy. Jordan loves it here, but she knows she can’t stay much longer. Her lazy, fun filled days at the lake will soon be replaced with alarm clocks, class bells and chaos, and she’s not exactly sure she’s ready for it – not this year anyway. A new school and she won’t know a soul. Just the thought of it makes her stomach knot up.

    “You’ll do just fine,” her grandmother had said, when asking Jordan to come live with her. “They’ll take to you like bees to honey.”

    Jordan, however, isn’t convinced. Visualizing swarms of kids all around her, each with their own way to sting her, isn’t as comforting as grams meant her comments to be.

    But she agrees a fresh start is what’s needed. No one will ever forget what had happened, and if she wants to move on, she has to move out.

    Heading back toward the cabin to finish packing, she stops. Looking down the tree-lined road just one more time, she wonders where her new path will lead.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello Helen, long time no talk. Well here is a shot at making up for lost time. And man, the things I wish I had known as a kid. You Write!

    And once again, this path my feet will trod
    Crunch, Pat, Spat, Scritch
    Familiar calls of ghosts past,
    Of expectant breaths breathing, and
    Hands yet to be filled.

    Into the Morning Twilight
    My own self pluming and reaching into the day
    I step into the unknown abyss of expectation
    and exhilaration.

    Once again, this path my feet have trod
    Crunch, Pat, Spat, Scritch
    As a child no more
    I approach the bend
    to another somewhere new

    ReplyDelete
  4. "That was Dorrie!" Simon shouted.

    The car went dead quiet as Dad steered around the bend, then Mom goes to Dad, “I think the bathroom will need another coat of paint.” And Dad nods, even though I heard him telling Mom that the bathroom doesn’t need another coat of paint, he’s already painted it three times.

    Then Simon goes, “She waved!” He’s rocking back and forth in his seat, all excited and he can’t figure out why no one’s answering him.

    Mom's sigh is as quiet as a whisper. She and Dad talk about bathroom tiles, and what to cook for dinner. Mom’s still talking when all of a sudden Simon goes, “She was wearing that top you got at K-Mart.”

    Mom lets out a gasp and Dad seems to hunch over the wheel. But neither of them says anything, so Simon says, "She waved at us!" They still don’t answer him.

    That top and matching head-band were what started the big fight between Mom and Dorrie. Mom bought them for Dorrie’s last birthday. Dorrie freaked out. She said that if Mom wanted to get her a present, she could have saved up the money and bought something she liked instead, something that she actually might want to wear. Mom said Dorrie didn’t seem to realize that we weren’t made of money and some kids would be grateful for what they got, just like she was when she was Dorrie’s age. Dorrie said her friends got things from their parents like cars and iPods and even if Mom and Dad couldn’t afford something like that, they could have given her the money instead of a stupid dress and head-band that she’d just give away if she could find someone lame enough to want them. She said that if Mom had given her the money instead, she could start saving for a car that was better than the piece of crap she had to drive. She said that maybe Mom had noticed she only wore black and Mom said duh, of course I’ve noticed and what’s wrong with a little color sometimes, why do you have to go around dressed like Morticia Adams all the time anyway? She said if Dorrie was so keen on saving for a new car, she could have waited to have her tongue pierced. After that I lost track of who said what. I went into my room and shut the door. Simon went into his room too: I heard his door slam. He hates fights. When Mom and Dad fight, he always covers his ears with his hands and rocks back and forth.

    Simon's mental, that's for sure. But I know he saw Carrie. They haven't even told him about the accident.

    ReplyDelete