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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Magpie Tales 74: done all by herself

She arranged her newfound treasures on a piece of old leather she found in the barn. There were brass buttons and cowrie shells, shards of broken pottery and a piece of bone: nothing valuable, but the things meant something to her because she had found them without any help from the older children.
Then she sighed, realizing what would happen when they found her in the barn with her precious items. First they'd laugh, then they'd tell her what a silly little girl she was for playing with bits of nothing when she had perfectly good toys in the house. Maybe they'd mess up the arrangement she'd made with her oddments of this and that. Maybe they'd throw it all away.
She heard them coming then, and raised a hand as if to ward them off.
"Don't touch..." she began, and was interrupted by screams from the boys.
"Look out, Tom!" shouted Dan.
"Help! Get me out of here," cried Tom. "It's a mask of the living dead. It's gonna get us."
As they ran away, she shook her head, and once again began arranging her bits and pieces into another pattern. Boys could be so funny, she thought.


Posted for Magpie Tales, hosted by Willow.
Each week, Willow posts a picture or a photo for us to use as inspiration. We are free to write about it, in poetry or prose, a little or a lot, as our muse allows.
To see what other writer-bloggers saw in this picture, please click HERE!

20 comments:

Sioux Roslawski said...

I so totally agree with the character's fondness for bits of nothing. Great vignette.

Reflections said...

Wonderful piece... loved those childhood days of creating a world unto ourselves.

FilipBlog said...

Nice mask, it must be difficult to make it.

Rinkly Rimes said...

Were the boys really scared or scaring themselves deliberately, I wonder!

Jinksy said...

Yep, it would make me run...

Chronicles of Illusions said...

What a great take on this - really clever.

Jinksy said...

Either my comment didn't work, or you have that dratted comment moderation in action, instead of simply asking for all comments to go to your email inbox...??? :)

kaykuala said...

A twist to what we expect. A DIY effort that drove off the wild ones? How nice!

Laurie Kolp said...

Great take on the prompt... love the hidden treasures and active imagination plus the fact she won't let those boys phase her!

chiccoreal said...

Dear Kay: How nasty boys are some boys! Very well written piece with much build-up and terrific suspense!

Helena said...

Heh heh.....boys ain't so tough when it comes to bits and pieces....?! Great read!

Ann Grenier said...

Wonderful, sounds so real and she didn't realize what she'd made!

Stafford Ray said...

You describe the thoughts or the small child and how they naturally create worlds of their own. You also hint at the dumbing down effect of ready made toys. Excellent.

Maggie said...

I still collect odd little bits. : )

Hope she scared those boys real good. : )

Dave King said...

This is a fine take on the prompt. Highly oroginal and entertaining.

Arian Tejano said...

you write good, especially when it comes to human gestures. Nice!

Tumblewords: said...

I love this - the imagery is super!

Anonymous said...

I like this! Kids can have very vivid imaginations... :) Takes me back to my childhood days...

Tess Kincaid said...

I collect little treasures like this.

Lucy Westenra said...

Boys will be scaredypants!