OMG, The Gorilla in the Room

May 9, 2016May 9, 2016 / Penny L Howe / 4 Comments

I’m an American. Just one person, but I feel as if the “gorilla in the room” has not only grown to gigantic proportions but has taken over intelligent rational minds, many of whom I never would have expected to belittle themselves by spreading fear and hate (or passively going along) with the use of vularity and bullying tactics.

I am proud to be an American, but am very worried about the direction we Americans are allowing ourselves to be herded towards.

Whether it is apathy, indifference or some other thing it is horrifying and more than a little scary.

I, for one, am hopeful more Americans wake up from this sick unreal “reality show” that so many are currently living with their guidance (dependence) for how to behave directly related to the deceptive and artificial media and social media world.

Just so scary … I mean really!!!!

Penny L Howe, 2016

Sunday Photo Fiction – “Fair is fair, after all” – Scawwy Story!

October 26, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 11 Comments

Jack-O-Lantern photograph © Alastair Forbes

A Very Scawwy Halloween Story

It didn’t seem like such a big deal when they first moved in next door. Okay so they were different looking, but who am I to judge? And they were friendly, always with the helping hand. So I ignored what other people said and hung out with them. Exchanging stories over an occasion cup of coffee. That kind of thing.

As Halloween approached I asked them what their plans were. Jack Sr. became very excited and said, “Well, I reckon thas’ about my favorite time of the year.”

Jack Jr.’s head bobbed as he agreed with his dad. “Yeah, we all love Halloween. Trick or Treating and all that cool stuff.” John Jr.’s smile grew even bigger as he spoke.

Martha, Jack Sr.’s wife stuck her head out the back door. “My favorite time too. I cook up the best tasting Halloween vittles you ever had. You all come on by, we like to share with all our friendly neighbors.”

Looking back on that day, just a few days before Halloween night I hadn’t noticed anything untoward about the conversation. Now though … But I get ahead of myself.

For reasons that will soon be obvious, I decided that this year our family would not have any jack-o-lanterns. Although we saw them lining the porches of many of our other neighbors on the street. We were content with scarecrows and other types of Halloween decor.

On Halloween, with our children dressed in their chosen costumes, we headed down the drive to begin trick or treating. There came a blood curdling sound from one of the houses and the children jumped. My wife and I laughed thinking how realistic the sound was. We walked a few more feet and there was another scream and then another. It was spooky and very real sounding.

Looking around nervously we saw our next door neighbors approaching us carrying large trick or treat bags already filled.

“Wow, aren’t you guys the early birds,” I said smiling back at their huge smiling faces.

“Yeah!” Jack Jr. replied. “Gotta get these home to mama so she can cook up those vittles she was telling you about the other day.” He proudly reached in and pulled out the bloody severed head of one of my neighbors.

“We figure those who cut up our kin and put their heads on their porches are fair game on Halloween.” Jack Sr. said holding up another neighbor’s head. “Fairs fair after all. Well, gotta go, mama’s waiting on us. See you later for vittles, you won’t believe how great tasting everything is … especially on Halloween night!”

Meet the Pumpkin family. Great neighbors except on Halloween night!

To write your own scary Halloween story just check in here at Sunday Photo Fiction. Alastair will fill you in on all the gory (not really) details. To read the other scary stories click on the little smiling blue “linky” guy.

Hope it was scawwy for you too!

~ Penny

3:30 a.m.- Love, light and technology…

July 14, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 21 Comments

…to chase away the fears.

Two years ago – to the day, I wrote the following blog post! It is still one of my favorites (and a true story), for all the obvious “feel good” type feelings. Hope it works for you too!

It is the middle of the night. Very, very stormy outside. Thunder and lightning in all it’s majestic power. Asleep in my bed, I discover myself waking up, the sounds from the summer storm rousing me.

A small hand touches my arm …

“G.P.?” A small quiet voice in the dark questions.

“Yes, Emma?” I respond softly. I live in a household that consists of several children, two adults, and assorted animals. As a reference point I am called ‘G.P.’ (a nickname) by all.

The youngest has woken from the loud thunder and bright flashes of lightning raging outside.

“The thunder woke me up”. She said.

“It did me too.” I say.

In very short order Emma is in bed next to me, wide awake. I get up, turning on the bed lamp before I leave to make coffee. A short while later I’m back, bringing a cupful of nice hot “wake me up” brew along with my laptop, a cup of hot chocolate for Emma and her DSI (Hand-held game/system). Since both are wireless, we can use them safely during the storm.

Franky, one of my two cats is also afraid of the storm, so at 3:30 a.m. we snuggle, occupy ourselves with our electronics, sip on warm beverages, and weather the storm with love, light and the technology of the day.

“G.P.?” Emma says as she settles in to play videos on her DSI.

“Yes, Emma?” I answer.

“I love you.” She replies quietly.

“Me too.” I reply in an equally soft voice.

And all is well in the middle of the night.

Have a great week everyone, stay as cool as you can in this summer heat, and stay safe from stormy weather!

~Penny

No Safe Side to Midnight – Scarier Sequel to earlier Scary Story!

October 31, 2013October 31, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 26 Comments

I wrote (for me) a scary story a few months ago. The Safer Side of Midnight. Being Halloween I was persuaded to write a sequel to this story. We left our heroine in a rather precarious situation, happily she manages to get away (that’s another story though). But for this story it’s Midnight and our heroine is …

Scary story, part 2

No Safe Side to Midnight

Was this hell? She couldn’t tell! Things were so unclear, she opened her eyes, only to be horrified by what she saw staring back at her.

“Do you see what I see, my pretty one?” He leans in towards her, his words smooth, a sinuous whisper.

She shudders, struggling in a futile attempt to move, trying to look away even as his hands and arms hold her securely. Staring deeply into her lovely green eyes he notices the gathering cloudiness as they fill with fear, dread … and … something more.

“Ah, yes” He thinks. He feels both her fear and her growing desire. He pulls her closer, sighing deeply. His hot breath flays her flesh, while his lips rest gently against her ear.

“I can feel it, you know” he whispers. “The evil without. The boundaries of your immaculate being contain an evil. Not inside your soul, mind you.” He pauses to laugh. “Not yet anyway!”

He laughs harder. A harsh sound, resonating like echoes from bat wings, flapping in a cave, wakening for a midnight feast. She closes her eyes, he continues to whisper, assaulting her other senses.

“The evil you wear without is of the finest veneer. A covering so paper thin as to have almost no existence.” His tongue savors her taste as he lazily laps an earlobe, pausing once again in contemplation. Her body shivers. He laughs. Playing with her emotions is such a delicious sensation.

“Yes, hardly there at all. This evil laid upon you in a previous life. You were so innocent, more easily tempted then, but it’s still there, your weakness. I feel this exquisite coating, layered upon the exterior of your soul. This ‘oh so slender veneer’ of evil calls you to me as does your purity.”

“Such a heady mixture of both, I can barely contain myself now that I have you, my ‘oh so’ pretty one.” His voice rich, sultry, seductive, playing with the nuance of each whispered word, hypnotic in its intensity of purpose.

She feels him staring at her again! Compelling! She opens her eyes. His look, piercing. She tries again to turn away. Her fear, the captured prey of a wild beast. A beast as surely he is, and yet there is a longing – growing deep inside her – a craving, a desire! The fear is real, yet so is the growing need. How to resist? She senses him, can smell his heat and her own, a dampness to her skin, she shakes with the intensity of need, panting …

Waking suddenly, she sits straight up in her bed! Another nightmare. They were becoming more frequent and certainly more realistic.

More than a year since her escape from the cemetery. A lucky thing. The ‘being’ that had first spoken to her had whisked her away from the others. She still wasn’t sure how he’d accomplished this feat. Her body and spirit still badly bruised from the ordeal. He had left her in another part of the woods. His final words were, “I’m saving you for myself, I’ll find you later, after I take care of Him”. She wasn’t sure what sort of creature he was, but grateful for her life, she had made her way home.

And then she moved, far away. Changed her name, did everything she could to leave no trail. Created a new life. The past had stayed in the past until recently – when the dreams began.

What was she going to do now? During daylight hours she had begun to recall previous lives. She remembered the constant running but knew there was something else. But what? She needed to remember in order to protect herself; and even more to the point – why?

Why were they searching for her? Who were they? If it came to that, who was she and what is so special that she can’t remember? And in the meantime – Dear God! She covered her face with her hands. A nightmare when asleep, a nightmare when awake. Too much for any mortal to take, and now she’s beginning to wonder – is she mortal? She doesn’t know anymore.

Looking through her bedside window she could see it was still dark outside. Did she even dare try to get more sleep? She had been safe during the day, since she moved. But now, he could find her in her dreams. And there were two of them chasing her, the creature from the cemetery and the demon he had summoned. It was all too much. Her memories of the past, her recent memories and now her fear.

What was she going to do?

“Perhaps I can help?” A voice said quietly, from the other side of her bedroom. There was someone there. In her room, sitting in the bedroom chair. Shadowy, indistinct but there, none-the-less … and she was awake.

No safe side to midnight!

~ Penny

Alastairs Photo Fiction – Simple is and simple does!

October 13, 2013February 17, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 36 Comments

Each Sunday my good friend Alastair offers up one of his excellent photographs as a prompt for writing a short fictional piece. Be sure to check out this fun activity, click here for more information.

Simple is as Simple does.

“I just want to leave, daddy!” the little girl said. “I’m not having any fun!”

“But honey, you’ve hardly ridden any of the rides.” The dad was concerned to see the unhappy look on his daughter’s face. He had been so sure, when he picked her up at her mother’s house for his “weekend time”, that she’d love to go to the carnival. Didn’t kids like these things any more?

“I don’t care. I just want to leave and go some other place. It’s noisy and all the rides are scary with people screaming. They’re rude and they keep bumping into us on the ground.” His daughter’s small hand held tightly onto his while tugging him in the direction of the exit.

“Well, wait a minute,” Her dad tried again. “Let’s go by the food stands, they have yummy treats to eat there. That’s always fun at carnivals.” He patted his substantial stomach while deciding there was always room for one more corn dog!

“No daddy, my tummy still hurts from the last ride and we can buy treats everywhere. I just want to go.”

The dad looked and felt very frustrated as they slowly maneuvered their way through the noisy throng of indifferent people who, now that he noticed it, all seemed to be running around in hyper mode; looking for the next great thrilling ride, or fat engorged snack or cheap plastic prize to be awarded for winning a “fixed” game.

When they reached the exit the dad turned to his daughter and impatiently asked “So where do you want to go?”

The little girl answered quietly. “Could we go to the park, just the two of us, walk around, feed the squirrels and maybe you could push me on the swing. Doesn’t that sound like fun, Daddy?”

*******

Is there a loss of pleasure in “simple things” today? Are we perhaps so inundated with the never ending media of thriller type videos, movies, TV shows, books and of course real life activities, it has become difficult to go to a simple and happier place!

Scawy…Very Scawy…trust no one!

October 31, 2012 / Penny L Howe / 42 Comments

During one of the first Halloween holidays that a little girl of 5 had been very vocal about, she had an incident that scared her. She put her small hand up to her chest and patting her heart very quickly and with very wide open eyes said “Scawy…very scawy”. Sometimes I agree with the feelings of that little girl.

I do love Halloween for all the fun traditions that it represents, however some of the aspects of this spooky night can be very scawy, as a little girl so eloquently demonstrated. So having said that here is my scawy story for you:

She was alone, she hadn’t meant to be alone. It wasn’t supposed to have worked out that way. It was late, the streets were deserted, she was about 3 blocks from her car and she was alone.

The Moon had disappeared behind dark and gloomy looking clouds, giving the shadows surrounding her an almost eerie life-like appearance.

“No Worries” she said to herself as she walked along, “I can walk these next few blocks by myself, I’m not afraid”.

Just because it was Halloween didn’t mean it was any different from any other night. A sound was heard off to her right behind her. A soft sound, and then another, the sound of footsteps, She turned and looked in the direction of the sound, nothing there. She turned back again walking faster.

The footsteps could be heard to be coming nearer. “Oh crap”, she thought, her heart beginning to beat faster, “I really don’t need this, not tonight”. Suddenly a black cat appeared in front of her and she shrieked without meaning to. She staggered around the cat, her walk now increased to almost a run. The streets seemed even darker than before. The edges of the shadows seemed to be reaching out to touch her.

The now pounding footsteps behind her were running, their pounding keeping beat with her racing heart. She broke into a run.

She could see her car, so near. Her breathing ragged, she was sure she could make it, so near now, so near. In just another few seconds, she reached out to the handle of the door. Locked, “Oh my lord”. She thought, A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, she screamed and turned.

“Lady, I’m sorry, I’ve been trying to catch you for several blocks now. You left your purse at the restaurant when you paid your bill.” The Restaurant manager was breathing as heavy as she as was as he handed her the purse. She smiled a shaky smile and thanked him. He smiled back.

She felt so silly, so very silly, it was Halloween after all the mind plays tricks on one’s imagination, She reached into her purse for her keys and turned to thank him once more. His smile was larger than before, that was when she saw the fangs.