MULTIPLY Wordsmiths Challenge #19: Thanksgiving

If you ask me this thanksgiving thing is a crime, something I could really do without. As I said to Mavis, the wife, a couple of weeks ago, it is time again for us to go on a diet.

“On a diet” she said with an annoyed voice. “You mean all that nice gobbly stuff the farmer is bringing us to eat, we have to leave alone. What about the children? They will starve.”

You know women just do not seem to understand the importance of the situation. I told her that we turkeys are an endangered species at this time of the year. Of course we get more food, we have to be fattened up for thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, what a word! Are we turkeys thankful for this feast, definitely not. I remember Uncle Fred last year, gobbling all the extra food and getting nice and fat. The last I saw of him was when the farmer’s wife carried him away under her arm. Just a few feathers floating in the air were all that was left as a memory. Sometimes there are even trucks arriving at the farm, and one after the other we birds of a feather are piled in, never to return.

Anyhow, as I say, a turkey should be very careful at this time of the year. Refuse to eat the extra rations. It is difficult, but then you are not one of the chosen few to arrive on a family table. I have heard those humans are even asked if they prefer white meat or dark. What an insult to be reduced to a discussion over my departed remains. Excuse me, but that takes it too far. Anyhow, this year I have managed to find a nice quiet corner in the barn. After making it clear to the wife what this thanksgiving is all about, she has seen the light and has decided follow my advice and stay away from the humans and their extra rations at the moment. We have managed to find enough straw to hide in until this time of the year has gone.

Some of the turkeys are laughing at us. Cousin James started making fun of me. “If you carry on like that, you will be only skin and bone, you are a disgrace to the turkey nation” he said. May cousin James now rest in peace, he stuffed himself so full with those extra rations, he was one of the first to go. I suppose at least he went fully fed. I now go for jogging exercises every morning to make sure that I do not put on one gram of extra fat. If I could fly I can tell you I would hop over the fence and find a nice forest to hide in until it is all over.

“Mavis, quick under the straw the farmer’s wife is coming and that truck has pulled up again at the farm gate. Take the kids with you, I am coming. Sometimes I wish I was a vulture.”

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MULTIPLY Wordsmiths Challenge #18: Death on a sunny Afternoon

Superintendent Jack Matthews hated crime scenes, especially when they were messy, and this was a messy one; unbelievable that a husband could stab his wife on a Sunday afternoon for no apparent reason and then shoot himself in the head.

“Jim, any clues as to what happened” he asked one of the medical staff.

“No idea Jack, probably just another marital conflict situation. It’s beyond my understanding. Seems that they were spending a quiet Sunday afternoon in the garden and then something must have lit the spark to start things off.”

Jack had a quick look around; nothing really suspicious, although it seemed strange. Outside in the garden there was a cup of coffee with a biscuit, not even touched, next to a camera poised on the narrow bricks of the garden wall. Jack had an idea and pulled on his thin white rubber gloves, before taking the camera in his hand. It was a digital camera, and perhaps there might be a photo or something to show what happened. He switched it on, but no photo, just a small video, one of those movie videos that you could take with a camera.

“Let’s see what we have here” he said and called his assistant. “Seems we have a small film taken this afternoon, probably the last of the deceased couple.”

Arthur his assistant came over. “That could be the solution to the murder” he said. The two men then watched the film. Although a small camera it was good quality and it even had sound.

First of all they saw the wife

“No, not now, I don’t want you film me” and she put her hands in front of her face.

“Come on” a voice could be heard, probably from the husband “you look so good in this light, and I really want something to remember you by.”

“Don’t be silly Frank” the wife said “I am leaving and that is all there is to say. You do not need anything to remember me by. You should have thought of that some time ago. Now it is too late.”

The film then became quite slurred as if someone was moving the camera around. Then the man’s voice could be heard again.

“I told you I am not sharing you with anyone and if I cannot have you then no-one else will.” It seemed that the camera was getting nearer and a full close up of the wife's face was on the picture.

“No, Frank, what are you doing. Put that knife down.”

It was then that the film came to an end.

“Looks like a closed case sir” said Arthur. “We even have it on film.

“Certainly does Arthur” said the superintendent.

If they had seen more, they would have known that the wife, although bleeding quite heavily from her injuries, managed to stumble into the living room and take a gun out of the cabinet. She pointed it at her husband.

“Now it is your turn Frank”

Frank was quite shocked, not expecting that his wife, Christine, would recover from her injury, and struggled for the gun. He wrestled it away from his wife and made a decision.

In the meanwhile his wife fell, and Frank saw she was dead. He loved her so much. He saw the cup of coffee and chocolate biscuit outside on the garden wall, through the open garden window. He walked over to the cup and looked at it one last time, heart shaped with the words “I love you” on it thinking those were the best days of our life together. He put the camera on the wall next to the cup and walked back to the living room.

“I love you too” he said “more than you will ever know. If I cannot have you, neither will he” and he shot himself in the head. He no longer wanted to live.

Superintendent Jack Mathews decided that this was a clear case in agreement with his assistant. It would disappear in the records as any other marital drama. When he got home that evening, he opened his desk and removed the two flight tickets to Hawaii, tore them up and threw them away. He was sad, he quite liked Christine, Frank’s wife, and was sure they would have had a future together, but she became just another death statistic in marital warfare.

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MULTIPLY United Friends Challenge #199: A rainy Disaster

Sumax's Challenge

You wake up from a nightmare.
You have had a vision of a disaster that you know will happen that very day.
You know you have to inform the relevant authorities, but will they believe you?
Using 1,000 words or more, in both narrative and dialogue, describe the scene as you try to convince the powers-that-be of what is going to happen.

The day dawned and I could hear the birds singing outside the bedroom window, but that did not help. After the night I had behind me, nothing more could help.

“That was weird” was the first thought that passed through my head. “It is as if nothing has happened, but it could” and the dream did not leave me any rest throughout the morning. This was not a dream I was sure. “This will become reality, but who is going to believe me?”

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained”, was my first thought. “They will either ignore me or laugh, but no-one is going to believe me; I am sure” and so I checked on the computer for the telephone number. It was a big organisation and I knew this was not going to be easy.

I heard the telephone ringing on the other side and a voice said “European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Geneva; can I help you?”

“Er, yes, well, can you give me the department for this atom splitting machine that you have built.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand. You mean the Hadron Collider? This is not just a department, but an organisation, and the gentlemen are busy at the moment organising the final tests.”

“That is why I am calling, to put a stop to these final tests. They are dangerous beyond imagination.”

“I am sorry madam, I do not quite understand. Are you an expert for technical research on this level?”

It was then that I had to think quickly and tell a few untruths. No problem, they could not see me when I start going red through shame, but this was really a matter of life and death, well almost.”

“Listen I am Dr. Jeanette Renault, and was one of the designers of this system, but a mistake has been made. You must not, repeat, must not switch the collider on. Please give me the chief of the department.”

“Just a moment please doctor, I will see what I can do.”

“Hello, hello”

“Public relations, Hadron collider here. Can I help you.?”

“No, I am trying to help you. Do not switch this machine on.”

“Who is speaking?”

“Professor Dr. Jeanette Renault, I helped to develop this machine. Please switch it off.”

“Just a moment, are you asking me to switch a billion franc machine off, just at your request. What is the reason? Another one of these suspicions that the town of Geneva will fall into a black hole, or perhaps the world? I don’t remember you name from our staff.”

Now this is where the problems are going to start. How do I say it was because of a dream? They are never going to believe it. It was then that I saw the daily newspaper. Admittedly I had already spilt some strawberry jam on it in my excitement, but I could still see the picture of a man laughing happily standing in front of this machine, telling the world of its advantages.

“Please connect me with director Peter Schmitt.”

“Mr. Schmitt is busy.”

“You must tell him to come to the phone. I was witness to a car accident this morning involving his son. I took his son to the hospital.”

“Oh, I see, in that case, just a moment please.”

Well let’s hope that Mr. Schmitt will now have time for me.

“Schmitt, my son is injured? What has happened?”

“Mr. Schmitt, everything is ok. I just have to talk to you about something important to do with the experiment you are starting today.”

“Oh no, not another one of those end of the world people. My time is too precious to talk about black holes, death and destruction. Or do you have another idea?”

“Well, yes I do actually. No, no, please do not hang up. This is important. I had a dream last night and it was so realistic. Please listen.”

“Young lady, my scientific work is not built on dreams, it is reality. There will be no black holes and no-one will disappear; goodbye.”

“No, no, please wait. No black holes, but a hole that will let something in.”

“Will let something in? Now I must say that is a new angle. Perhaps we will have some little green men arriving climbing out of the collider. How stupid do you think we are?”

“No, in my dream it happened that the collider started splitting the atoms and then it started raining; pink rain for a week.”

“Well, I must say, this is an interesting theory. We will have pink rain, and the world comes to an end.”

“No, no end of the world, the pink rain contains seeds.”

“Tell me young lady, what was the name of the book you read. I would like to borrow it. Sounds really good.”

“I am not joking. The seeds land on the earth and start to germinate. That is where the problem begins.”

“Oh, I see, they grow into pink beanstalks and reach to the sky. If you climb one you meet a giant sitting on a pot of gold.”

“Mr. Schmitt, I don’t think you are taking me seriously. Everyone knows that is the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. No, they grow and when fully grown they begin to walk and…”

“Yes, yes, yes, a very good story, but quite a bit of fantasy. Just a moment Miss I have work to do. “What did you say Fritz, oh yes I am coming, you are ready for the switch on.” Please excuse me Miss, but I have other important work to do and the progress of science cannot be stopped by a dream that someone had concerning pink men.”

Well I did what I could, but no-one believed me. I decided to go into action, climbed into my car and drove to Geneva. It was a lovely day for a drive, not a cloud in the sky, one of those days it made you happy to be alive. Eventually I reached the centre of nuclear operations, but I could see this was not going to be easy; a barrier was stopping my entry with the car. I then parked the car behind a near bye building and walked the rest. I noticed some men walking into the building so I just joined them, pretending to belong to the group. Luckily I had dressed in a white overall before I left home as I was sure it would help. Everyone at this place was walking around in a white overall, so it just suited the scene. Once inside the building I had to find the right office. I decided to go downwards as I had heard that this monster machine was somewhere deep in the bowels of the earth.

I again saw a group of very intelligent looking elderly men and followed them. We descended in the lift, so far down I had a funny feeling I might meet someone with horns shovelling coal. However, this was not the case, and I soon found myself standing next to a large steel tube. At the side of the tube was a nicely covered table with a crisp white tablecloth and there was plenty of goodies to eat, scallops, shrimps, beef tartar, naturally with enough champagne to keep everyone happy. I decided to join in, the food was good and no-one seemed to notice that I did not belong. Then the speech begun. I decided it was time to stop eating, although I was enjoying it, to see if this was what I had to stop. It was. The man giving the speech was Mr. Schmitt, it seems, and so I called out in a loud clear voice “Stop”. He dropped his glass of champagne through the shock of my voice and asked what the **** was going on.

“I called you Mr. Schmitt, about the collider. I warned that it was dangerous.”

“How did you get here, and are you the woman with the pink rain?”

“Yes Mr. Schmitt, this experiment must stop. It is a danger to civilisation.”

“Sorry Miss, but we have already switched on. You see there is no danger. We are all at home down here.”

It was then that I felt quite faint. Well I did faint. You would as well if you suddenly saw that the so-called scientists were changing into pink men with four arms drinking champagne and toasting on the future. It was just too much for me. I came to my senses lying on my back in one of the green fields surrounding the nuclear centre. And pink rain was falling from the sky.

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