It was a song my grandmother used to sing to me when I was a child.  She said her grandmother had sung it to her and had told her that her grandmother had said she had lived in that mythical birthplace of our people.

The auroch had been thinning.  The land was changing.  I was old.  I wanted to see the ancestral homeland far to the east, the one in the songs that I knew so well.

My journey had only started when I was on a cliff.  I could see the shadow of the homeland across a new sea.

***

The British Isles used to be part of the continent. The most famous part is Doggerland, which remained an Island until around 5000 BC. There is an idea that a tsunami doomed the island. This may have been the same tsunami of around 6000 BC that cut the connection between England and France, making England an island. In the story, the MC’s great-great grandmother crossed from France on dry land, but the MC now discovers that they are separated from the mainland.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Sandra Crook . If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

“It’s a ski boot.”

“That’d be awfully cold if it’s a ski boot!”

“Water ski boot?”

“They don’t wear boots while water skiing, and people do that stupid tube thing instead of skiing these days any way.  No skill needed.”

The weird boot next to the sidewalk was an enigma.  What was it and why was it there?

After a while they just shrugged their shoulders and walked on, soon forgetting the boot.

Soon after they were out of sight the boot walked off on its own.

“I’ll be so glad when this broken foot heals,” grumbled the Invisible Man.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Starsinclayjars . If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

The sign said “Antiques”, but Andy had developed an eye to be able to tell if “Antiques” meant “Queen Anne and Money” or “Cheap Junk”.  This store was the latter.

Andy had also developed an eye for finding those hidden gems.  Josh had joked that it was in his genes.

It was also necessity. 

Furnishing and decorating an apartment on $7.50 an hour was tough.  And it had to be nice so Josh would continue to stop by.

He did need Josh to stop by. 

Andy fingered a lamp.

Finding out about Josh was why Andy’s parents kicked him out.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Rochelle Wisoff-Fields . If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

It was odd walking down the empty streets.  The playground, usually a place of laughter, was silent.

The damned virus was keeping everyone indoors.  I had to get out, stretch my legs, have some fresh air.

I cop car pulled up.

“Return to your dwelling immediately,” a voice boomed from the speaker on the car.

Suppressing the urge to flip the car off, I nodded and said, “I am.”

Flatten the curve, flatten the curve.  Right.

Covid took a million Americans and tens of millions around the world.

This new yet unnamed disease has taken that many in a month.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Roger Bultot . If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

I watched the palm trees do their calisthenics as the rain lashed the restaurant window. 

The flight was obviously cancelled again and so here I was, stuck in a stupid hotel as Ralph or Romeo or whatever the Hell they call him grinds up central Florida.

I gulp the whiskey instead of sip it.

Damn, it was just my luck, wasn’t it?

One thing after another.  Would I ever get a break?

My phone vibrated.

Next launch window in two weeks.

Come Hell or high water, or both at once, as now, I’d be the first man on Mars yet.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ David Stewart . If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

What was he doing at the garden center?

It had been a long day, perhaps something deep in his subconscious told him to do this to relax.  Plants were calming, weren’t they?

Five minutes later he was leaving with a live plant.  There was something irresistible about those flowers.

It was funny what the checkout clerk said.  These plants had been selling like hotcakes since they arrived and yet the stock hadn’t been depleted.

Perhaps he’d do better with these than most plants he’d tried.

In the huge silver spaceship, the beings were happy.  Their invasion was going as planned.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Trish Nankeville . If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

I remember Pastor Jim using the captain’s console as a pulpit and the choir sitting up front. We’d all watch from shore.  After a spot on national TV, he was a star.  Took all the money and built the church of his dreams.

That place?  Really?

We’re a small town, you know.

And now that he’s made the big time, he’s selling the boat?

Well, sort of. 

Sort of?

He was awful, people only came for the spectacle of his being on the water.  Pastor Jim is selling the boat to raise funds to convert the church into a restaurant.

***

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ Lisa Fox. If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

I’d just passed into the backyard through the breezeway between the barn and
house and froze.

Light!

I stared straight ahead and thought, “Straight ahead.”

The light that appeared without a sound had straight edges and the shadows
of my legs were parallel with those edges.

Impossible.

I turned towards the glare in the breezeway, using a hand to shield my eyes
from the UFO.

“Hi!  Come here.”

The alien sounded just like John Brewer.

Stepping onto the drive I only half noticed that the light,
which spread everywhere, was channeled by the breezeway.

“Check out my new electric car!”

***

OK, the first thing I noticed about the photo was the crisp lines… For some reason my first thought was “Arriving UFO”

word count = 100

Friday Fictioneers is hosted by  Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo by @ David Stewart. If you want to join or see other stories, go to the inlinkz linkup.

*

I’ve been away from about a month and may not be 100% back… I will try to read everyone’s stories, but might not have time to catch all. (edit – maybe not so hard if this few people join this week!)