(randomly generated) Mandatory words: potato, magazine, carrot, day, cough
A balding 49-year old Hoosier with an unquiet mind and a way with words lifts a voice recorder from his shirt pocket and pushes the “record” button.
49 years old and what do I have to show for it? Another rejection from an on-line magazine. A former smoker’s cough. A body that increasingly looks like a potato.
Still, it’s a beautiful day. The road is well-paved before me. I can’t see into the distance, but well-rooted trees line my path.
He clicks the “stop” button. He puts the recorder back in his pocket, sits down on a bench and pulls a carrot out of a brown paper sack. As he puts it to his lips, two squirrels scamper up to his feet.
He smiles, breaks the carrot in half and places a half on the ground next to the squirrels. One squirrel begins to munch on the carrot. The other looks up at him with a pleading expression.
He smiles. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” he says to himself, laying the other half of the carrot next to the second squirrel.
“Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Word Count: 199
A Way With Words 
A quiet and reflective piece. I like it! “I can’t see into the distance but well-rooted trees line my path.”~ a profound implication that there’s certainty anchored within our journey even though we are uncertain as to where we’re going.
Happy birthday, Tony! 🙂
Thank you, Leanne. I really appreciate it.
49 is a perfect square! The digit sum of 49 is 13 and the digit sum of 13 is 4; another perfect square. The omens are good, Tony.
Great! I’m a perfect square!
But wait…. is that a good thing?
Not just good but cool!
Great. I was worried there for a minute.
Happy Birthday, Tony!
How sweet, you got the hint!
Thanks, 🙂
I absolutely love this, Tony. Happy Birthday. You are one talented 49 year old!
That’s very sweet. I really appreciate your kind words.
Why didn’t this post come through in my notifications??? I found it quite by accident. Well, not really, if you know what I mean (it’s a God thing) I would have baked you a cake!
I’m not sure why. You may experience some technical difficulties while I shift my blog address. I plan to post daily at both locations for awhile (as well as my website), so keep checking back.
Thanks, Tony
Oh, I almost forgot…I love this story. Is this your first entry in this flash fiction blog hop?
Glad it spoke to you.
I entered 3 others, “A Backstreet Affair”, “An Indonesian Homecoming” and “The Distant Mountain and the Barren Tree” (which was published in the e-book). But it’s been a while.
Oh yes, now that you mention it, I remember “An Indonesian Homecoming” LOL someone said you pronounced the words incorrectly 😀
I downloaded the e-book, I’ll have to look.
I didn’t just pronounce the words incorrectly, but I relied on Google to translate the English into Indonesian and botched the whole thing. A kind regular reader gently corrected me.
I really like this. What a sweet ending. I’m late, but hope you had a happy birthday!
Thank you and it’s never too late for birthday blessings.
Thanks again, Tony