The Bucket #writephoto

21 Replies
Photo by KL Caley

I’m not the type to relax on the beach, and I would never think of sleeping.  I might sit for a minute and people watch.  I might even read for a few.  But relax?  No, relaxing is walking or swimming, or exploring or, well, just about anything in the world other than just sitting.  Sitting on a hot beach was my personal idea of Hell on Earth.  The idea of sleeping on a beach was repugnant.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up.

Of course it took me a moment to establish were I was, and then another moment to recall sitting down to dry after a quick swim.  How had I fallen asleep?

I have no idea why it took me so long to realize that the beach was completely empty.  

There wasn’t a person, no towels, no trash, no seashells, no seagulls, no nothing.

Well, not quite empty.

There was a toy bucket and spade very close to me.

I took my time, studying the situation.  By the sun I could tell that I had been asleep for only a few minutes, maybe seconds.  And it wasn’t just the beach.  There were no boats on the ocean, no airplanes in the sky and no cars on the road.  There wasn’t a breeze.  Nothing.

Except the bucket.

I finally stood and took the three steps over to the incongruous object. 

I looked inside.

I immediately knew that I hadn’t fallen asleep.

Oh no.

Not asleep.

I screamed and kicked the bucket out of frustration.

No, definitely not awake, and not asleep either.

I fell on the hot sand sobbing, wondering if this would be for eternity.

***

heeeheeehee… Yeah, when I saw the photo I knew I had to get that little joke about kicking the bucket in there some how. And I did give a clue in the first paragraph.

Anyway, if you thought the little joke funny or not, this was written for the writephoto challenge that is held by KL Caley. She provided the photo at the top and the key word, “Bucket”.

I hope you enjoyed.

21 thoughts on “The Bucket #writephoto”

  1. KL Caley

    This is so clever, Trent! Sorry for the late response but just wanted to leave a message to say I loved it. Great little hint at the start with the idea of hell too. KL <3

    Like

    Reply ↓
  2. Marsha

    So now we need to be watching for a picture of curtains and see if Willowdot’s poetry takes a curtain call! LOL I loved your story, sorry your protagonist kicked the bucket, though. I wonder what he saw when he stared into the bucket. :)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Waiting for those curtains… lol. The second I saw that bucket and how empty the beach seemed, I knew I had to get that little pun in there. Whatever your imagination puts in the bucket is far worse than anything I could have said was there ;)

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓

  3. Pingback: #Writephoto Round-Up – Bucket – New2Writing

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. Even though I have a “home by the sea” and enjoy spending a lot of time on the beach, I hate just lying there – I have to be doing something. So, yes, I am like the protagonist, except that I am still alive. I think….

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Marilyn. In ways it could be a shaggy dog story since it is in first person and leads to the final pun, though typically the “I” in such a story doesn’t die. Being dead makes telling a story out loud a little inconvenient…

      Like

      Reply ↓
    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks, Willow. I don’t think there is any escape: maybe it is just an American phrase, but once you kick the bucket, it’s too late, there is nothing more you can do ;)

      Like

      Reply ↓
        1. trentpmcd Post author

          Yep, it’s curtains, no escape, no coming back… Oh well, I guess there are worst things than eternity on an empty beach, just don’t ask me what!

          Like

          Reply ↓

Express Yourself

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s