These are my responses to the Writober prompt post Fear of Loss of a Sense.
OctPoWriMo
Fear of Losing My Senses
If I couldn’t hear his purrs
morning cuddles would be like
mushy-mashed-peas-with-body-
odor after three days
If I couldn’t feel his soft fur
morning cuddles would be like
car-horns-blaring-bitter-
neon-green motor-oil
If I couldn’t see his green eyes and pink nose
morning cuddles would be like
rotten-cilantro-hot-sharp-
whispered-unintelligible voices
If I couldn’t put my nose to his neck
and smell his fur, morning cuddles
would be like blue-speckled-quinoa
in the rice cooker-crunching
But he would still do tricks for treats
and I would still try to type around him
and we would be like cocoa-super-soft warm blankets-
quarter in the vibrating bed delicious
Writober Flash Fiction
Frank Knew What to Do
When Frank said he knew what to do, I never should have trusted him. But with my face splattered all over the news as a wanted terrorist, I couldn’t exactly go to a doctor. I was a victim of that bomb. The heat of it, the force, almost tore my face right off. It’s a miracle I lived long enough for Frank to do this to me. I didn’t make that bomb, or set it off.
But I could imagine why they think it’s me. I like to express my opinions online. And, well, I’ve got some pretty strong opinions, especially about this Barry Castinetta guy who’s buying up the whole city and kickin’ us out of our apartments. He’s a serious piece of work and now he thinks he’s a leader. Running for senate. I bet he thinks he can be president. So, maybe I said some things that people could say were inflammatory, like “I’m gonna come to your rally, and blow you to smithereens.”
I mean, I didn’t mean it. Not literally. I guess there’s not a lot of room for interpretation at this point, but I was just typin’ stuff. I wasn’t gonna do it. Sure, I did go to the rally, but just to make sure the media didn’t show me some deep fake. I wanted to see the pestilence for myself. So many people out there cheering for him. Clapping for every stupid word he said. I was getting hot, like really mad and then BOOM. I was thrown back. Like flying, and Frank was pulling me out of there.
Frank was my cell mate when I got sent up for that B&E that I also did not do. Anyway, we’re like brothers. So I passed out, and when I woke up, we were in this windowless black room with bright lights and all this medical equipment and Frank’s like “Hold still. I know what to do.” And I just sat there, thinkin’ since when does Frank know anything about doctorin’. And what did he do? He stuck a freakin’ cast, one of those hard plaster casts, all over my face. He covered everything. My ears, my hair, my mouth, my nose. The only things not covered in plaster is my eyes and my nostrils.
It’s hell. The itch is torture. I can’t hear nothin’. He’s feeding me through a tube in my arm. Who knows what kind of mangled mess is under there, and Frank won’t tell me if he shaved my head. I punched him a few times, but he still wouldn’t say. He just threatened to stop feedin’ me, so I stopped. I know he threatened me because he wrote it down and held it up for me to see. But I’m gettin’ pretty good at readin’ his lips.
He paces around and talks to himself a lot. I’m startin’ to think I didn’t know Frank as well as I thought I did. He seems to have been holdin’ a grudge for when his girl started bangin’ me, and then disappeared.
Damn this itchin’. When I was a kid, I broke my arm jumpin’ out of a tree on an unsuspecting kid, and I remember that saw they used to cut the cast off. I’m thinkin’ I don’t like the idea of Frankie doin’ that: that saw so close to my ears, my face. And all that dead skin, layers of face sloughin’ off. If I wasn’t hungry for a giant juicy steak and some bourbon, or just a damned beer. If I didn’t need to hear some traffic, or some shouting, anything; I might just keep this cast on. Who knows what’s under there. If he didn’t shave my head, won’t I get scalped when he pulls off the plaster?
Halloween Photography Challenge
For today’s images, I took an earless headshape cut, over an iridescent plastic filter and drew the Xs for sewn-shut eyes and mouth, and the holes for the lost nose. Then I used the blue-only setting in my camera for the fear. I wondered if the blue only setting would work with the blue depth effect and it does, so that’s a new technique to think about during composition.
Tunetober
For this week’s challenge, I put my recorder next to my bed, and recorded kitty scratching at my bedroom window. He doesn’t believe I should sleep at night.
Sewtober
This week for my treat, I finished ten quilt pockets so I have a complete October for my calendar quilt. I’ll use it for November too.
I had no idea what a fun treat this would be until I had all the squares and started arranging them into possible patterns. I had a lot of fun.
My sewing trick is something I think I’ve known for a long time, but never really used. Now, I realize how much thread and time it saves.
Trick: When sewing several pieces at once, as in the ten pockets I made this week, finish off the first piece with a quick back-stitch, then shove the next piece up to the needle and keep sewing.
Make a string of all your pieces one after another. Then, when you’ve back-stitched your final piece, clip your thread close to the machine before pulling the pieces out.
A quick snip separates each of your pieces. I love my small orange Fiskars for quick snips. Depending on how you usually pull your piece from your machine and snip your threads, this could save you about a foot of thread per piece.
Another trick: The cat has taken to napping on my ironing board with his head on the iron (when it’s off 👻😼). It’s adorable, but he leaves a mess of shed, so I was really glad to have my lint roller handy.
Experience Writing 