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#JusJoJan prompt the 28th – “Beach”

(FICTION) (Thanks to Anita http://anitashope.wordpress.com/, Kim http://inkonapage.com/, and Cath http://cathdeancom.wordpress.com/ for their prompts. I’m running out of time, so I’m combining the suggestions.)

Dr. Caroline Sams, while walking down the beach, trying to formulate her diabolical plan to create a Covid anti-vaccine for her ex-boyfriend, looked down to find her doggo, Buster, holding something muddy yet shiny in his mouth.

“Good boy,” she said, bending to retrieve the treasure. But as fast as she grabbed it, she dropped it. For it seemed to be screaming, “Help me!” in a tiny voice.

Caroline crouched down to peer at the bottle-shaped object. She reached out cautiously and rubbed off some of the mud, and there, standing on the bow of a ship was a man, waving frantically.

“Help me!” he cried.

“How did you get in there?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” said the tiny man. I was caught in a storm, and the next thing I knew, I was being bounced around in this container. All I could see was a tongue and two rows of teeth. I thought I was a goner!”

“Do you think you’re a genie?”

“No! I’m Brayden, captain of this fine crab ship!”

Caroline tried rubbing the glass container just in case, but when she looked inside again, Brayden was standing with his hands on his hips and an I-told-you-so expression on his face.

“Would you like to try three wishes?” Brayden asked sarcastically.

Not to be made fun of (and just in case it worked), Caroline said, “I wish Covid didn’t exist.”

Brayden cocked his head. “What’s a Covid?”

“It’s a disease.” But that was a bit of a stupid thing to try to wish on, because how could she know it worked? “Never mind,” she said. “Okay, how about this: I wish for a million dollars.”

And poof! a million dollars appeared, luckily in bound stacks so it didn’t fly into the sea.

“Ahhh!” Caroline exclaimed. “It works! So theoretically, if I make one more wish, you’ll be out of there.”

“Especially if you wish me out of here. AND,” he added hastily, “my regular size, please.”

“Hmm,” Caroline said. What to do? The diabolical plan to allow her ex, Jim, to get Covid wasn’t going to happen if Covid was no longer infecting the world. Should she find another way to get rid of him? Or should she rescue this little man who, despite is sarcasm, probably deserved to be rescued?

“Come on, I haven’t got all day,” Brayden said.

Caroline frowned. “What do you think, Buster?” she asked her doggo. “Should we rescue the little fisherman or should we do away with Jim?”

“Woof!” said Buster.

“Or, should I wish for a pickup truck to carry all this money home?”

“I’ll help you carry it!” said Brayden.

“Okay, fine. I wish Brayden and his ship could get out of the container they’re in and be regular sized again.”

And that’s how diabolical Dr. Caroline Sams got crushed by a crab boat on dry land while walking her dog and thinking up a plan to kill her ex.

And everyone else lived happily ever after, Covid-free.

THE END

(The prompts were; Anita’s: How about Dr. Sams or nurse Sams where they have finally got a vaccine for Covid at their hospital but they don’t want anyone getting well so they contaminate it; Cath’s: Caroline is walking her doggo in the woods as usual when doggo trots back to her with something muddy but glittering in her mouth. What if it’s a lost treasure?; and Kim’s: How about Brayden for the name, on a crab ship as the setting, and what if a freak storm sent them into another dimension?)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!


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One-Liner Wednesday/JusJoJan the 27th, 2021 – Vampires

Photo: Screenshot of a Facebook question in a Paranormal Romance authors’ group: Is there an official term given to women who vampires feed from?

My expert answer: Lunch.

Disclaimer: I might be wrong.

If you would like to participate in this prompt, feel free to use the “One-Liner Wednesday” title in your post, and if you do, you can ping back here to help your blog get more exposure.

Here are the simple JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

2 a) The rules that I’ve made for myself (but don’t always follow) for “One-Liner Wednesday” are:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

Badge by Laura @ riddlefromthemiddle.com

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!


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#JusJoJan prompt the 26th – “Shutter”

(FICTION) (Thanks to Judy Hendrickson, awesome newsletter subscriber, for the idea for the story. This is Part 5 of the story. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here and Part 4 is here.)

It took Lavender two days to brew the right potion to correct Trigger’s eyesight. In that time, she’d discovered that his real name was Tehtholonli Smith, and that his mates had nicknamed him Trigger because of his proficiency with a gun. That certainly wouldn’t do.

So she began calling him Smithy. He didn’t like it. Then she tried Tehth, but he asked her why she kept spitting on him. Finally she attempted to call him Lonli, but he corrected her, pointing out that he had Grant to keep him company. All the while, Grant laughed at her, even as she rubbed a salve on his sore foot so he could walk comfortably. Ungrateful beast.

At a loss for anything to address him by other than “hey you,” she added a little something to the potion.

Finally, after two full days of picking up broken vases that had fallen from tables her visitor had stumbled into and one awkward moment when he’d changed into Lavender’s britches, thinking they were his own, she sat Tehtholoni Smith down at her kitchen table and handed him a steaming cup of potion.

“Drink this,” she said.

“Are you quite sure it will work?” the man previously known as Trigger asked.

“I am,” Lavender replied.

So he did. He drunk it all the way down and sat with his eyes clamped shut. When Lavender asked him why he didn’t open them, he said, “Because I’m deathly afraid of disappointment.”

“But if you don’t open your eyes, you’ll never know that it worked and that you can see perfectly.”

“Perfectly? Do you really think …”

He opened his eyes, blinked a couple of times, and shouted “Eureka!”

And then he saw Lavender’s face and his jaw dropped. “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve even seen!” he cried.

“Well then,” she said with a smile, “being that you’re the best shot in the land, maybe you should take my picture, Sh—Sh—Shutter.” Yes, that will do for a name, she thought as she handed him a camera.

And lo and behold, he was and excellent photographer. He took crisp, focused, unblurry photos of Lavender, and pictures of Grant, and the trees, and the rich, lush mountainside.

And Lavender and Shutter the sharpshooter and Grant lived happily ever after in their quiet, cozy cabin.

THE END

(Judy’s prompt was “Lavender Quill, a solitary witch that is into crystals, candles, herbs and crochet (hidden spells she weaves for friends and family), is alone at the cabin after her parents both died three years ago.  She finds a man out on a trail, hurt and unconscious.  Grant is a marine sharpshooter who saw too much and wants to find solace in the quiet mountain, but someone is after him and he managed to get away after a desperate chase.  She uses her skills to patch up his wounds and he slowly comes around.  With her visions and other gifts, she assists him in getting to the truth and forms a bond with him, as he gets under her skin and awakens her soul.  Together, they get the bad guys and help each other heal on the mountain.”

This would make an awesome novel! Me being me, and keeping it a short story, I turned the idea on its head a bit. Hope you don’t mind, Judy! *waves to Judy*)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!


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#JusJoJan prompt the 25th – “Specs”

(FICTION) (Thanks to Judy Hendrickson, awesome newsletter subscriber, for the idea for the story. This is Part 3 of the story. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here .)

On the way back to Lavender’s cabin, Grant the horse explained to her that Trigger (not Mr. Trigger) normally wore eyeglasses, and thus, he couldn’t see where he was going. Since the man was carrying the horse (much to Grant’s delight), Lavender devised a way for Grant to guide Trigger, using his back leg to nudge the man when he wandered too far to the left, and his front leg to nudge him when he strayed to the right of the path. In this way, they made good time. Trigger himself didn’t speak—he was likely too winded from carrying a horse across his shoulders.

By the time they arrived at the cabin, night was beginning to fall. Lavender left horse and man outside and went in to tidy up a bit while Trigger caught his breath. She made coffee and brought a cup out for the man and a bucket of water for the horse.

“Are you badly injured,” she asked Trigger.

“No, not really. I have a bit of a bad back—”

At that, Grant rolled his eyes.

“—but the only thing that’s actually wrong with me is that I can’t see. I seem to have broken my spectacles in the fall.” He pulled a pair of bent and cracked eyeglasses from his pocket. They were, indeed, broken badly. “I don’t suppose you can fix them, young lady?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she replied. “But I might have a potion that can fix your eyesight, so you won’t need them.”

“Jolly good!” Trigger cried. “Then I shall be able to go back to my work!”

“And what is that?” Lavender asked.

“Why, I’m a sharpshooter.”

Lavender stared, her heart suddenly in the pit of her stomach. A sharpshooter. “That means … you kill people?”

“Well of course!”

Rather than say what she was thinking—that killing people, or animals, or insects was against everything she believed in–she clamped her mouth shut and went back into the cabin to think about what she was going to do.

(To be continued.)

(Judy’s prompt was “Lavender Quill, a solitary witch that is into crystals, candles, herbs and crochet (hidden spells she weaves for friends and family), is alone at the cabin after her parents both died three years ago.  She finds a man out on a trail, hurt and unconscious.  Grant is a marine sharpshooter who saw too much and wants to find solace in the quiet mountain, but someone is after him and he managed to get away after a desperate chase.  She uses her skills to patch up his wounds and he slowly comes around.  With her visions and other gifts, she assists him in getting to the truth and forms a bond with him, as he gets under her skin and awakens her soul.  Together, they get the bad guys and help each other heal on the mountain.”

This would make an awesome novel! Me being me, and keeping it a short story, I plan to turn the idea on its head a bit. Hope you don’t mind, Judy! *waves to Judy*)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!


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#JusJoJan 23 & #SoCS – From

(NOT FICTION)

“From.” A word that assumes you’ve been somewhere.

“Oh, I just came from …”

The kitchen. That’s about as far as I go these days.

I just bought a treadmill today, so I have no excuse not to walk even when it’s cold enough to freeze the nuts off a squirrel, or hot enough to melt, … um … the nuts off a squirrel? I wouldn’t know. Squirrels tend to bury their nuts, so I don’t keep track of them.

Hopefully the squirrels do.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah. So I might not even be coming in from a walk unless it’s nice outside. I might be coming from the treadmill. I hope it fits in the living room.

My “point and write” word came from the manuscript I’m working on. A really original word, isn’t it? I’ve used it 37 times in the 8032 words in the first four chapters. I’m sure you wanted to know that valuable nugget of information.

What is the book, you ask? Well, let me tell you. (Because I’m sure you want to know.)

It’s The Magician’s Soul, the third and final book in my paranormal romance series, The Great Dagmaru. And it’s coming out in 19 days!!

You can preorder it by clicking on the picture of the cover. (It’s an Amazon affiliate link.)

Ahhhh!!!

Isn’t the cover great? It’s a lovely cover by the even lovelier Belinda Borradaile.  Or should I say “from” Belinda…?

Nah, apparently I’ve used that word enough.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This shameless promo post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot It January! Find the prompt here and join in! https://lindaghill.com/2021/01/22/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2021-daily-prompt-jan-23rd/


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#JusJoJan 16 & #SoCS – The first thing

(NOT FICTION)

The first thing I should do in the morning when I sit at my computer with coffee in hand is open up whatever I’m working on. Supposed to be working on. Because if I don’t and I end up on social media instead, I get lost. And the next thing I know, I’ve finished coffee, breakfast, and it’s half way to lunch time and I’ve got nothing done.

Why? Why is social media so damned addictive? Is it really the whole FOMO (fear of missing out) thing? Or is there a secret ingredient on those pages somewhere that they’re not telling us about?

Salt. Probably salt. Or chocolate.

If I’m lucky during the day, I get out for a walk. I got a picture of the snowmen again … they’re a little worse for wear. You can see what they looked like last week here.

And now? It seems Mrs. Smith Sr. has lost her head as has little Bobby Smith, and Mrs. Smith and little Susie are nowhere to be found.

Things do not bode well, at first glance.

Last thing I do at night before I go to sleep? Read a book. Necessary to get out of my own head. It’s very crowded in here. Especially with the FOMO.

 

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This potentially disturbing post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot It January! Find the prompt here and join in! https://lindaghill.com/2021/01/15/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2021-daily-prompt-jan-16th/


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#JusJoJan prompt the 10th – “Cheese”

(FICTION) (Thanks to Jill at http://jilywily.wordpress.com/  and Cheryl at https://rugby843.blog/ for the prompts)

Order. Order. The meeting will please come to order.

*ahem*

We won’t bother with the minutes of the last meeting; the matter of Skippy’s garbage being pilfered by his ex-wife is trivial compared to what we have going on today.

Voice from the back of the room: Well if Skippy would just pay his child support!

Voice from the right of the room: Damn Skippy! Let’s listen to Exalted Leader!

*ahem*

As I was saying. It has come to the attention of the board members that the Tall Ones can no longer be trusted. So we believe it is time. Puddles, bring out the rocket.

Puddles: Yesth, exthalted leader.

*ahem*

The board has decided we will, forthwith, enter the rocket and go to the moon.

Voice from the back: I’m not getting on that thing with Skippy!

Skippy: I’m going! You can have my garbage! Woohoo! Sucker!

*ahem*

As I was saying …

Voice from the front: Why the moon?

Puddles: Becauth itsth made of cheethe, of courth.

Voice from front: Beg pardon?

*ahem”

Puddles is a brilliant scientist, but he lost his front teeth in an unfortunate accident with a fishing pole and a peanut.

Puddles: Don’t asthk.

*ahem*

As Puddles was saying, the moon is made of cheese, and … Wait! Stop! Order! Order! I am your Exalted Leader! We must board the rocket in an orderly fashion! I call the Royal Order of Rats to order!!!

(Jill’s prompt was “What if the moon was made of cheese? ” and Cheryl’s was “Damn Skippy.”)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!


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#JusJoJan 9 & #SoCS – Limitless

(NOT FICTION)

Let’s start with unlimited bread sticks, shall we?

They call them limitless, but what happens when the kitchen runs out of them? Do you go to another restaurant? Do you get your meal for free for false advertising? That would be a disaster of a night for the establishment.

We call things countless the same way we often use the word “literal.” Given enough time and patience, most things on earth can be counted. Literally.

I’m talking about physical things, though. What about dreams? What about ideas? What about love?

What about that moment you look into the eyes of someone you love? It may only be a moment, but it can last forever in memory. Does that memory die when we do? I don’t think so.

BUT! Can bread sticks be limitless if you love them enough?

Now there’s a question.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/

This dusty post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot It January! Find the prompt here and join in! https://lindaghill.com/2021/01/08/the-friday-reminder-for-socs-jusjojan-2021-daily-prompt-jan-9th/


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#JusJoJan prompt the 8th – “Twisted”

(FICTION) (Thanks to Di at http://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/ for the idea for the story.)

PART 4 – (FIND PART 1 HERE, PART 2 HERE, AND PART 3 HERE, IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THEM YET.)

Petra gasped. “You can’t fire me!” she said to the old broomstick of a butler. “Who will serve the guests?

“What guests?” Geeves asked with a smirk.

She listened. The house was silent. It felt empty, for that matter. Just to be sure, she stepped over to the door and opened it. They’d all left.

“Well, then, who’s going to help you clean up?” But that was a stupid question. She’d been one of a dozen servants working tonight. As though to punctuate the point, three of them pushed past her with loaded trays for the dishwasher.

Geeves continued to smirk.

“Where am I going to live?” Petra asked, for she had a room in the upstairs back of the house with everything she owned in it.

“We’ll have your room cleared out in the morning.” He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out an envelope. “Here’s your severance pay. I suggest you find a hotel to stay in tonight. Goodnight, Petra.”

With that he turned up his nose and left the kitchen.

Defeated, Petra hung up her apron, changed her shoes for boots, and stepped out into the snowy back yard with no idea what she was going to do or where she’d go.

“Fired you, eh?” The deep voice of the guy from the cellar came from the corner of the house.

“You! This is all your fault!” she said, stalking toward the shadowy stranger.

“It didn’t matter. Watch.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later the servants began leaving the same way Petra had. They all had envelopes in their hands.

“What … What happened?”

“They do this every five years on January first. When did they hire you?”

Petra thought about it for only a second. “January second, five years ago.” She turned to the stranger. “But how did you work here for twenty years then?”

“I was the head butler. Before Geeves. Little does he know, his time is up tomorrow, after he cleans out all the rooms.”

Petra giggled. “Serves him right.”

“Would you like a ride into town to get a room?” the man asked. Petra looked at him sharply. “A room for you. I have my own place. And I’ve got a snow mobile. All these poor suckers have to walk.”

It was true—no one had cars.

“Thank you,” Petra said. “I’ll take you up on that offer.”

When they got to town, the stranger let Petra off and reached into the bag strapped on the back of the snow mobile. He pulled out a bottle of “Mother’s” wine and handed it to her.

“What’s this for?”

“It’s a key,” the stranger said. “There’s a secret door in the back of the cellar, and the indent on the bottom of the bottle”—he turned it over to show her—“fits into a device on the wall outside. Every year at New Year’s Eve I go in and stock up on wine. You’re the first to notice.”

Petra blinked at the stranger, who was starting to grow on her more by the minute. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“Because I hope you’ll be back next year for a drink with me, to celebrate the New Year.”

“Thank you,” Petra said. “I just might.” She got off the snow mobile and he drove away into the night.

“But … what’s your name?” she called out to him, but he didn’t hear her. Petra turned around and trudged through the deepening snow, happy to have shelter in her sights.

The next day, Petra called a taxi and made her way back to the mansion to collect her things.

Geeves was there, his nose turned toward the heavens as he handed her a suitcase which, she assumed, had all her clothes in it, as well as a box with her pictures and all her other worldly belongings.

She was about to leave when a thought came to her. She turned back and asked Geeves, “Who was the butler that worked here before you did?”

“Henry,” he said simply. “He died the night before I was hired. Twenty years ago almost to the day.”

A shiver ran through Petra’s body. She thought about the bottle of wine that she’d left back at the hotel. But no, that couldn’t be. He couldn’t have been a ghost.

“Weird,” she mumbled as she walked away. She turned the corner to go back to the taxi that she’d asked to wait for her, but instead she found a fire truck with half a dozen firemen standing around it.

As she approached, she heard one of them say, “Butler got out, but they don’t know if he’ll make it.”

The fireman beside him shrugged. “They’ll rebuild, then we’ll be back again in five years.”

She started to ask what the man was on about, but instead she followed their gaze back to the house.

It was smouldering, collapsed, burnt to a crisp. In the flowerbed sat a bottle of  “Mother’s” wine.

THE END

(Di’s prompt was “Petra as a name, wine cellar as a setting, and ‘getting caught’ as your what if. “)

(This story came off the top of my head. I had no idea how it was going to end. Don’t judge my storytelling skills by it. Haha!)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!


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#JusJoJan prompt the 7th – “Caught”

(FICTION) (Thanks to Di at http://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/ for the idea for the story.)

PART 3 (FIND PART 1 HERE AND PART 2 HERE IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THEM YET.)

Icy fingers of fear skittered up Petra’s spine as she turned toward the sound in the dark corner of the wine cellar. The gurgle was followed by a quiet laugh. Definitely not a mouse.

“This wine is crappy,” came a deep voice from the direction of the far corner.

Petra turned slowly to find a bearded man in a dirty gray-green raincoat and pants to match. He was drinking “Mother’s” wine. “Don’t hurt me,” Petra squeaked.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Just came in here to get outta the cold.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but you have to get out of here,” Petra said, sounding braver than she felt. She started edging back in the direction of the stairs.

“Nonsense,” the man said. “Why don’t you come and join me. You look like you could use a drink.” He held the bottle at arm’s length.

“No,” Petra said. “Get out of here or I’ll … “I’ll …”

“Tell ‘Mother’?”

Petra’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know ‘Mother’?”

“Pfft. I worked here years ago.” He hoisted the bottle again. “Worst twenty years of my life, my employment in this house was.”

“Why do you come back, then?”

The man laughed. “To piss off ‘Mother.’”

“That’s it,” Petra said, balling her fists and turning once again for the stairs. “I’m going to call the police.”

“Good luck with that!” The man called out from behind her. The last thing she heard before she closed the cellar door was gurgling from the back corner of the wine cellar.

She ran into Geeves on the way through the kitchen to find the man of the house.

“Where’s the bottle of wine for ‘Mother’?” he asked.

“It’s all gone! And there’s a man—”

Geeves headed for the stairs before she finished her sentence. She followed him and waited at the top of the staircase, listening for the inevitable scuffle.

And she waited. And waited. A couple of minutes later, Geeves appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

As he climbed them, he said, “There’s no one here. And all the wine is gone.” Geeves looked her right in the eye. “But I did find an empty bottle. And you. are. fired,” he said, poking Petra in the collarbone with every syllable of her dismissal.

(To be continued on Friday.)

(Di’s prompt was “Petra as a name, wine cellar as a setting, and ‘getting caught’ as your what if. “)

Here are the JusJoJan Rules:

1. Just Jot It January starts January 1st, but it’s never too late to join in! Here, we run on the honour system; the “jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post, it can even be a grocery list), counts as a “jot.” If it makes it to your blog that day, great! If it waits a week to get from a sticky note to your screen, no problem!

2. I’ll post prompts at 2am my time (GMT -5). The prompt will be the word in quotation marks in the title of my 2am post. You don’t have to follow the prompt every day, but that will be where you leave your link for others to see. You’ll get a prompt for every day except Wednesday, when the prompt is simply my One-Liner Wednesday and on Saturday, when your prompt will be the Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS, which will appear at about 9:30am Friday. Each prompt post will include the rules.

3. Please ping back or link to the daily prompt. To ping back, just copy the URL from the daily prompt post, and paste it anywhere in your post. Check to make sure your link shows up where you want it to, and go back occasionally to see other bloggers’ entries – the more you visit others, the more they’ll visit you! Note: A) The newest pingbacks will be at the top of the comments section. B) Ping backs only work if you’re blogging on WordPress. Everyone else must paste a link manually.

4. Tag your post JusJoJan and/or #JusJoJan.

5. Write anything! Any length will do! It can even be a photo or a drawing – you’re going to title it, right? There’s your jot!

6. If your post is NSFW, do not ping back. Please leave your link in the comments with a warning.

7. If you’d like to, use the JusJoJan badge so that others can find your post more easily.

8. Have fun!