Maranda sobbed into her pillow. She wished she never crossed boundaries and opened James’ stupid laptop. She wished he cheated -— it’d be easier. Maranda sat up and wiped tears and snot off her pimpled face. She’d been married to a monster for all these years and didn’t know. A green hurricane tore through her as gravel crunched beneath James’ Prius.
I realised it is a very British expression for Police with their sirens and lights on but I just thought it worked well here. Hope everyone got that it was Police :)
Her voice was calm and clear. A cloud of vapour condensed from her breath as she broke off another icicle for emphasis, though, given the look on her face, none was needed.
“NO!”
Her eyes widened, matching perfectly the beginnings of her gleeful grin.
“She DOES like the snow!” called her proud father, holding the reins tightly.
The axe flew across the room as he felt the cold air brushing his ear. It landed loudly on the wall behind him. He sat still behind his desk; any miscalculated movement could be deadly.
She appeared on his doorstep.
‘Do not pick him up without telling me!’
His ex was dead serious about their son’s agreed school pickup time.
The fence had broken down ages ago, its remnants now tangled in a mass of weeds and dead brush. Twenty years' absence had rendered the once clear boundaries nonexistent.
"What's on the other side, Dad?" asked Jake.
"Lots of brambles and poison ivy, and not a whole lot else."
I glanced at him surreptitiously, praying that he'd believe the lie.
Year 4035. Intergalactic Annual Contractual Meeting: Agenda, Inter-stellar Contract VI Renewal. Zcron of Tarsus, my key negotiator is out sick. So I agreed to take Earthman to the meeting. We did not get the contract. We were tossed--not literally--from the building. You just can take a homosapien anywhere these days. They don’t understand boundaries or good manners.
I’m a very naughty girl. You should’ve known that by now…
Well. Truth is, I’m a good girl. But there’s this other one, you know, who never got a chance to play. So when I get drunk, she takes advantage.
And I don’t mind, really. Except then there’s the obedient one who starts having a go at us incessantly in the morning. And I mean incessantly. You’re going to get us into trouble! Some days the only cure is to get drunk again and shut him up.
The definition of a dystopia, amongst other things, is that fairness doesn’t come into it.
So no, I will still be having a go at Evelyn tomorrow morning because she’s got us into trouble again. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell her. She just keeps on doing it and it hurts. Because we’re going to be punished again. She keeps saying it’s me who is doing the punishing now and they can’t hurt us but I don’t believe her.
If you can tell her not to be such a stupid thing, then that might help. She likes you a lot and respects your opinion.
I’m going to get her to post her first chapter of this story she’s got for tomorrow, but then she is definitely going to bed.
Kareva heard the horn as well, saw the wall of men in front of him start to recede, and kept pressing forward to speed them on their way.
He reached the beginning of the gap before any of his men, still attacking any enemy soldier that got close enough to him to become a target, then picked up a discarded enemy shield, turned it around on his arm, and slammed it down into the ground as he knelt behind it.
Another shield came down right next to it, and another on the other side. This was the front line, now. No enemy would pass it.
The "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has a bit to say about cricket... I don't understand golf at all, but I am greatly enjoying these stories about golfers in the afterlife. I think mashie-niblick might be my new favorite word! 😂
Yeah - cricket is a quintessentially English thing, so half the people reading probably might not get the jokes.
Mashie-niblick - hehe. I have also discovered there is, believe it or not, a Wikipedia page for old names of golf clubs. People still used words like mashie-niblick up until the 50s. Apparently the current thing about just having numbers only got going after some golf club-making company in the 1940s started doing it. Killjoys!
Definitely. I've got that wiki page so it's definitely about time Larry got a new - or old, rather - set of clubs. I mean he can't just keep playing with only one club.
Ah - given his mashie-niblick seems to be malfunctioning... to be continued...
Yeah - I do often have trouble with the 50s and 60s. I prefer the 100s. Although on the positive note it's because I get inspired by the prompts. And especially when I'm having fun.
Cause sometimes, ya gotta listen instead of just spouting off a bunch of bullshit rhetoric...
“You have to know where y’all stand,” she said. “Y’all gots to unnerstand what this is all about. Y’all ain’t lis’lin’ to what I gots to say.”
“You’re not really making any sense,” he said. “You have to have an idea of what it is you want to say. You need to understand what they mean when they say boundaries.”
“Boundary”
Maranda sobbed into her pillow. She wished she never crossed boundaries and opened James’ stupid laptop. She wished he cheated -— it’d be easier. Maranda sat up and wiped tears and snot off her pimpled face. She’d been married to a monster for all these years and didn’t know. A green hurricane tore through her as gravel crunched beneath James’ Prius.
“Ever heard of the word ‘Boundaries’? she asked testily.
“No idea what you’re talking about?”, he replied as he reached over to snatch the pickle off her plate.
She instinctively pulled away. “Look it up!”, she snapped as she grabbed her bag and headed toward the door.
“Hey! Where ya going? I didn’t even get your name!”
sacred!
Boundaries – 60mg
“Put your foot down,” he yelled at the sign came into place.
Blues and twos were on our tail snaking to overtake as I floored the truck hearing the merchandise in the back slam against the sides.
As we flew over the state boundary I eased off the gas slightly hoping that those laws about boundaries still applied.
"Blues and twos." What a cool expression!
I realised it is a very British expression for Police with their sirens and lights on but I just thought it worked well here. Hope everyone got that it was Police :)
I'm from NY and I did.
Good. I'm really pleased I used it now :)
I figured it out - it's a cool expression. I don't worry about unfamiliar terminology, that's what Google is for. 😉
It is a great expression. :)
Boundaries
“No,” she said.
Her voice was calm and clear. A cloud of vapour condensed from her breath as she broke off another icicle for emphasis, though, given the look on her face, none was needed.
“NO!”
Her eyes widened, matching perfectly the beginnings of her gleeful grin.
“She DOES like the snow!” called her proud father, holding the reins tightly.
Microdosing Fiction - 60mg of Boundaries
===
The axe flew across the room as he felt the cold air brushing his ear. It landed loudly on the wall behind him. He sat still behind his desk; any miscalculated movement could be deadly.
She appeared on his doorstep.
‘Do not pick him up without telling me!’
His ex was dead serious about their son’s agreed school pickup time.
PROMPT: BOUNDARIES
THE BOUNDARY
We’d arrived late at the hotel.
There was one room left, which my boss and I would have to share.
We weren’t thrilled.
Especially when we saw what the sleeping arrangements would be.
We looked at the double bed, then at each other, before we both said in unison, “Pillow wall?”
And we quickly commenced work constructing a padded boundary… 🛏️😎🛏️
The fence had broken down ages ago, its remnants now tangled in a mass of weeds and dead brush. Twenty years' absence had rendered the once clear boundaries nonexistent.
"What's on the other side, Dad?" asked Jake.
"Lots of brambles and poison ivy, and not a whole lot else."
I glanced at him surreptitiously, praying that he'd believe the lie.
59 Words
Year 4035. Intergalactic Annual Contractual Meeting: Agenda, Inter-stellar Contract VI Renewal. Zcron of Tarsus, my key negotiator is out sick. So I agreed to take Earthman to the meeting. We did not get the contract. We were tossed--not literally--from the building. You just can take a homosapien anywhere these days. They don’t understand boundaries or good manners.
Once a brute always a brute haha.
A 60 mg dose of Boundaries
“Aww, come on… give us a hug” he leaned closer, whiskey breath making me shrink.
“Uh, uh, nope” I said softly, not wanting to make him mad, while hoping I didn’t get smacked for sass.
“Really girl, you oughta learn some manners!” He was staggering now, closer.
“If she says NO, it means No.” My Mama ferociously stood between us
Go, Mama! 👍
Ok, so here's the kinky one.
---
THWACK!
Ooh!
THWACK!!!
Ooh!
Like that huh? THWACK!!! THWACK!!!
mmm mmm
THWACK!!! THWACK!!! THWACK!!!
AHMM MMM!
That's not the safe word! THWACK!!!
AHMM MMM MMM!
THWACK!!! What's the safe word!!!
MMM MMM MMM!
Oh, sorry.
She quickly removed the ball gag.
"BANANAS!!!" Shrieks the Congressman. "Bananas!"
so naughty Evelyn!
I’m a very naughty girl. You should’ve known that by now…
Well. Truth is, I’m a good girl. But there’s this other one, you know, who never got a chance to play. So when I get drunk, she takes advantage.
And I don’t mind, really. Except then there’s the obedient one who starts having a go at us incessantly in the morning. And I mean incessantly. You’re going to get us into trouble! Some days the only cure is to get drunk again and shut him up.
It’s just not fair. It’s just not fucking fair.
one day do you think it will all average out in the great big scales of fairness? or are some scales always tipped one way or the other.
You should be in bed by now Nicholas. You are a naughty person.
i was actually in bed... but yes i am a hollow wreck now and barely able to work. substack is like crack.
The definition of a dystopia, amongst other things, is that fairness doesn’t come into it.
So no, I will still be having a go at Evelyn tomorrow morning because she’s got us into trouble again. It doesn’t matter how many times I tell her. She just keeps on doing it and it hurts. Because we’re going to be punished again. She keeps saying it’s me who is doing the punishing now and they can’t hurt us but I don’t believe her.
If you can tell her not to be such a stupid thing, then that might help. She likes you a lot and respects your opinion.
I’m going to get her to post her first chapter of this story she’s got for tomorrow, but then she is definitely going to bed.
Class!
Did she use the mashie-niblick? 😉
I shall leave that one to the imagination of the reader!
That's probably for the best...
😂😂😂
Kareva heard the horn as well, saw the wall of men in front of him start to recede, and kept pressing forward to speed them on their way.
He reached the beginning of the gap before any of his men, still attacking any enemy soldier that got close enough to him to become a target, then picked up a discarded enemy shield, turned it around on his arm, and slammed it down into the ground as he knelt behind it.
Another shield came down right next to it, and another on the other side. This was the front line, now. No enemy would pass it.
https://shieldbreakersaga.substack.com/p/the-last-of-the-etela-chapter-9
Boundaries / 60 Words
It was the end times. Last holdouts, slaughtered one by one.
New MechX-1’s patrolled constantly. Impervious, perfect killers. Relentless, cold, emotionless.
Unlimited by boundaries or borders. No level of decency, no rules and guidelines to obey.
Bound only to serve their creators.
The world had never seen anything like it. Wouldn’t again, for the world as it were, was gone.
THWACK!!!
"Ooh!"
"Don't look at me like that, Felson. Just hand me another Penfold, wouldya."
Felson snorts derisively and chucks it over. Larry tees it up.
THWACK!!!
Another derisive snigger. "I have never, in all my days, seen a slice like that, Larry. Want another Penfold?"
"Nah. Let's hit the bar. Then I'll get this mashie-niblick seen to. Clearly malfunctioning."
Felson shrugs. "I'll just go retrieve them Penfolds."
AGHAST!!! "NOOO! Don't cross the boundaries Felson!"
"Uh? Why not, Larry?"
"Because this is the Afterlife, you dummy. An' outside that there boundary, it's a helluva long way down..."
#
With a prompt like Boundary, you really couldn't expect me to pass this one by, eh!
Now all I need to do is think of something involving cricket...
It also strikes me now that starting off with 'thwack' and then 'ooh' could've led to something really rather kinky...
The "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" has a bit to say about cricket... I don't understand golf at all, but I am greatly enjoying these stories about golfers in the afterlife. I think mashie-niblick might be my new favorite word! 😂
Yeah - cricket is a quintessentially English thing, so half the people reading probably might not get the jokes.
Mashie-niblick - hehe. I have also discovered there is, believe it or not, a Wikipedia page for old names of golf clubs. People still used words like mashie-niblick up until the 50s. Apparently the current thing about just having numbers only got going after some golf club-making company in the 1940s started doing it. Killjoys!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsolete_golf_clubs
Maybe you can bring the cool old terminology back. Everything old is new again? Besides, numbers are boring....
Definitely. I've got that wiki page so it's definitely about time Larry got a new - or old, rather - set of clubs. I mean he can't just keep playing with only one club.
Ah - given his mashie-niblick seems to be malfunctioning... to be continued...
🏌️♂️😁
That was 36 over par, by the way...
Who's counting? I'm too busy laughing!
I would probably not notice if you didn't mention it... 60 words is so few haha.
Yeah - I do often have trouble with the 50s and 60s. I prefer the 100s. Although on the positive note it's because I get inspired by the prompts. And especially when I'm having fun.
So it's all your fault! 🤯
I'll take that!
Cause sometimes, ya gotta listen instead of just spouting off a bunch of bullshit rhetoric...
“You have to know where y’all stand,” she said. “Y’all gots to unnerstand what this is all about. Y’all ain’t lis’lin’ to what I gots to say.”
“You’re not really making any sense,” he said. “You have to have an idea of what it is you want to say. You need to understand what they mean when they say boundaries.”
You could've stopped at "cause sometimes, ya gotta listen..." that's a skill many people lack
Yeah, but I was counting words, dude. 🤣
😂
Jasmine is wise.
She's! Wait... she's a fragment of my imagination, does that mean I'm wise?
Your characters are all living in your head, so I guess that would be "yes." 😉