Old man with palm on boy’s lap,
Tired retired with child banging at the gate,
Couple waiting for an anniversary to make love,
Young adults measuring future on a faulty #balance,
Babies forgetting to feign innocence,
A jungle where prey turns predator.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/11/weird-jungle.html
“Thanks for letting me copy. The #Akita one was tricky.”
“Modern surveillance: access, knowledge, intercept, target, annihilate.”
“Mnemonic?”
“What did you write?”
“Cats used as spies.”
“Cats?”
“Isn’t it a cat?”
“What about the UN: with the mnemonic Balls?”
“Ohmigawd!”
#vss365
It was a reunion for the 'achievers', their bosom heavy with imaginary emblazoned #crest.
But, when she chose to dance with the lone non-achiever we witnessed a revolution.
The capitalists promised sanctions, the socialists cried for equality, the religious sulked.
#vss365
If I write a 'pome'
With #fungus and you my love
Will you hate me less?
#haiku ??
#vss365
The receptionist looked up, with her lovely smile.
I raised my hand. That hit a vase. A long jagged splinter pierced the receptionist’s jugular.
A witness added some #garnish and said I stabbed with that splinter. The receptionist died leaving me in a real pickle.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-sensible-case.html
I have had to #migrate
To many a school;
Here a boy bit me,
For breaking his catapult;
I was king in the Borneo jungle,
Others saw an idiot;
Homeless I occupied,
Till I was chased away;
In camouflage,
Refusing local lingo;
A Spartacus defeated
Before first fight.
#vss365
Our heads tilted to the right.
‘65% of people do that.’
'Not 100%?'
Other thoughts: whether we were plagiarizing Rodin; or the act in 'Notorious'; if love would have made it different.
Some men think it is tastier if the woman has cooked a #succulent roast for him.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-kiss.html
‘Aren’t you Comrade Lonappan? I am Woman Rajamma.’
Their meetings were brief and quick to the point of #discord.
‘These idiots who carry their religion on their sleeves, they are actually happy with each other.’
‘And you think that is being secular? You are an idiot.’
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2015/08/comrade-lonappan-and-writers-corner.html
The first speaker listed six #tropes each of detective, erotic and romance fiction. Told us to write a sentence that will sell.
“The dead billionaire with red bottoms made her come instantly without waiting for coffee to remind her that she is a detective.”
I got a F.
#vss365
After an argument about our religions, I muttered, "Wear a burqa. From within that, your views about #unity will sound ok."
Got a message, after 3 days of separation, "Come to my place."
A person wearing black abaya and niqab opened the door, the smiling eyes familiar.
#vss365
Borrowed from my short story, 'Love Jihad':
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/06/love-jihad_46.html
She waited for his reply.
His mind dredged up the remains of a dream.
In that, near two parallel #rail tracks, he was reciting Emily Bronte’s poem ‘Remembrance’.
He was lying across one. Train after train went past him on the other.
"Do you love me?" she repeated.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/12/4-deal.html
At a party, met a guy like me in the smoking room.
-What do you miss the most?
-Old me who would #rail about all. You?
-Last friend. 35 years this May.
-Really?
-Buried.
(Silence till third ciggie.)
-Married?
-Buried.
-She too?
-No, me.
-Yeah, that stopped my cribbing.
#vss365
Last month, our son got us summoned with:
"You might know your mother
But never be too sure
About your father."
This time, we were facing the Principal because of our daughter's essay:
"My traditional parents think matrimony is one one-night #stand after another."
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2019/11/another-rotten-day.html
Woke up in a world:
Time's meaningless,
Arrow flips
Randomly/chaotically;
Space isn't space,
Gravity's twisted
By mirthless defects;
Duality's old school,
With waves, particles,
Hidden functions;
Love's still love,
Fiction till experience ends,
Schrödinger's cat's gamble.
I held her around her waist.
‘Let me lead this dance, ok?’
‘Remember Titanic?’
‘Don’t worry. If I fall, I will #take you down with me.’
‘Of all the shitholes, in all the towns, in all the world, he had to wade into mine.’
‘We will always have this flood?’
She nodded.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2013/09/reading-diaries.html
‘Why didn’t you meet her?’
‘I love her. I can’t #take another goodbye.’
‘You two could be together.’
He shook his head.
‘My world is shrinking. It’s time to go.’
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/05/time-to-go.html
When did I stop fighting?
In that rat race
For status and money;
For love and affection,
Respect and high priority;
To lead, to convince others,
To shout what I think is right;
To cut another notch,
For another trophy;
Was it the day
I was fine alone?
In our school game '#go' (not Chinese one), one was locked up with a 'disagreeable' person.
I played with: A thought I was after her, B thought I threw the duster at her, C called Pygalgia, D thought I was after his love.
Gone: breath, front tooth, appetite, senses.
#vss365
The day I died:
Poets had a field day,
Sky blue, birds chirping,
Flowers and flies flirting;
A new-born love kissed
In front of the hospital,
The rickshaw driver sang;
The sun did not set,
The moon remained,
You became immortal;
Did I leave a note
Admitting I killed you?
Anil gets lashes of the whip from his jail #warden. Rohit’s sulks; Shekar’s is still bemused; Philip’s is a sympathetic male. My wife’s gang had the same joke about matrimony. We lock each other in one cell, shower together and crib about freedom lost and love found.
#vss365
I met a stranger.
His anecdotes
Thro' sepia filter
I can't place.
Alone on a cliff
of Trieste/Cargèse,
Staring at the sea
Before/after she left;
Punch-drunk,
Unsteady
Rising for next round
For bloody fight's sake.
"I was there
With you."
"Get lost!
Those eyes ain't mine."
My wife and a man were in Fidalgo coffee shop. In Hotel Shalimar, his wife and I watched them.
He saw us, raced across, angrily grabbed her hand. They walked away.
"That rascal didn't pay the bill," my wife said.
"She too, even finished off my #slice of apple pie."
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2017/07/coffee-with-another.html
After my wife and her boyfriend died, we got together for 'therapy'.
“If they come back, I will let them be together.”
“Same here.”
“Will we be so charitable?”
“We won't have a choice in that matter either.”
“Damn them!”
We waited for a #sentence that would help.
#vss365
from
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/05/in-between.html
When young and now old:
He believes in others,
Cares and expects.
But, he's low priority.
There was another phase
With no care no expectations.
She came into his life then.
With love, trust, yes, trust.
Is it strange
he now tries
The fickle phase
Not that gave him life?
They learned the tricks of the trade, the matrimonial barter a coy exchange for mutual satisfaction. He got the cooking and cleaning, she the washing and ironing. The #division of labour was roughly equal. He was allowed his teddy. At times, she fought for that company.
#vss365
From
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/01/an-inequality-between-equals.html
Stop the #racket!
Ha! My brain replied.
Just past six. Lights not on.
Light shower and setting sun flirted.
Shadows stretched towards her.
Myriad hues in those eyes.
Lashes, smile, tears mine/hers.
Can't bear the silence of memories? Miss her? Not yet brain dead?
#vss365
During the lockdown, I went to arrange my nephew's marriage, well-masked, with social distancing.
A lovely young voice and I discussed food and TV shows.
My nephew wooed another, "#Hail to thee, blithe spirit."
We had talked to the girl and her mother, respectively.
#vss365
Last year, in lockdown-induced delirium, I recorded the short story 'The Match' (8 minutes) from which this has been borrowed.
https://soundcloud.com/user-189288629/the-match/s-jd2giXwxzyw
Something light-hearted for morbid times.
A comedy of errors.
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-match.html
#fiction
#WritingCommunity
How tough it is
To write a love poem
With scientific terms?
Romance has to deal with truth.
With such speed
We made love.
At the end
We wondered
If it was all
For nought.
Such are the ways
Of oscillatory motion,
cycle of life,
yin-yang
and the arrow
Of #velocity.
#vss365
Her #glasses came off first. The only constant in our lovemaking.
I had to see her eyes.
I was never sure I was good enough for her. In those eyes, I found comfort and belief.
Her eyes remained closed that last day, me here she somewhere, the day we joined the dead.
#vss365
If only I could swallow the disgust
Disgust I can't keep within me,
Each time a creep who has never
Never stood alone, fought and lost,
Talks big, loud and with a gang
Gang up on a person with principles.
There were three thick-set young men, two with machetes. Lips in a #snarl, eyes wild and red.
"How much did he pay you?”
They mentioned the sum. I couldn't outbid that.
"Shall we have a drink first?"
We cracked jokes, sang dirty songs, danced.
Then they said it's time.
#vss365
borrowed from:
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/10/bumpkin.html
Stop the #racket!
Ha! My brain replied.
Just past six. Lights not on.
Light shower and setting sun flirted.
Shadows stretched towards her.
Myriad hues in those eyes.
Lashes, smile, tears mine/hers.
Can't bear the silence of memories? Miss her? Not yet brain dead?
#vss365
From
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/06/love-jihad_46.html
For me, it's a psychopathic struggle to communicate using modern means with/without single/double meaning.
How should I react to random letters, say, LOL BFF LHSX?
I like to read a sentence without emojis and guess if it has subtle #irony or slapstick humour or love.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/06/ill-have-double.html
It must be true
everyone has such a moment:
a parting with a train's #whistle,
arms-stretched tableau at the airport,
lingering handshake at the bus terminus
with someone grumbling, “Get on the bus, will you?”.
I have mine.
She has hers.
Never the twain
Shall meet.
#vss365
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-cliche.html
Those eyes cry no more.
Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
-Remembering Wilfred Owen always
"I don't who to talk to."
"What's he up to...this time?"
"Was he an alcoholic before marriage?"
"No."
"He shouts in his sleep...#gin to the left...gin to the right..."
"Oh."
"Please..."
"In school, we used this code."
"Yes?"
"Girl I Notice."
"Oh! Who else is in our bed?"
#vss365
The past isn’t what it used to be.
Comrades' company:
I walked, they did not.
The future will be what it won’t be.
In slow #blaze or craze,
After strife and penury.
The present isn’t what it is, is it?
The blank space in the triptych—
Without a shadow or murmur.
#vss365
It was love at first sight. They proposed to each other at the same time, celebrated at a fine place, rushed home, made love. Before the adrenalin rush wore off, to avoid the unavoidable #mess, they discussed open relationship, career, kids.
They disagreed about
#vss365
Life was really dull in my village. Just the usual #mess. A father killed his son's family of five, another son his mother. A 103 year old molested a 10 year old. Dozen political murders. A strange lady turned up at the temple and disappeared there. That's when...
#vss365
18 and wild, life a #fruit to be plucked, discarded.
At 9 pm, we (and a man) were on a beach.
"Let's have fun." Took out my switchblade, approached the man. "Don’t move."
He moved closer. I felt his blood. "Don't worry, son." He walked into the sea.
We walked away.
#vss365
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-gang.html
In the first year of marriage, she met what he called his '#pack': 'first crush', 'old girlfriends’, ‘my women’...
She sulked.
One of those ladies gave her a pitying look. She observed them from then on.
He did not seem to matter to them at all.
She sulked a lot.
#vss365
On my W-day, 50 couples queued up at G.
Marriage is made in heaven. Here, we hope to wrongly marry the right one.
I was 14th in the men's queue. My to-be inspected 13th (with purple velvet underwear) and 15th (used rum as mouthwash).
She grudgingly picked the #joker.
#vss365
23/5
She got in at Nagercoil. Her eyes, smile! Silent. Changed bus at Chidambaram. I carried the bags. She held a handle. Silent. Reached Neyveli. She waved to a man.
15/7
She came to my table at ICH along with the #whiff of coffee.
(no other entries in that diary)
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/06/after-assassination.html
I didn't believe in superstitions.
Now, I do.
Whenever I have a particular thought, disaster follows.
At first, like slipping on #mud.
Then, sinking in a quagmire.
Each time, a bit of life buried.
I'm not supposed to think about her.
I've lost all.
The thought too.
#vss365
from
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/11/path-of-no-return.html
A little boy who never got to enjoy boyhood, at his mother's grave, "Why weren't there photos of me with my dog during our war? Who was it who invaded us? Why were you in the bunker that they bombed?"
Say NO to ALL wars, not just the ones you can't ignore.
I tried to fit in #switcheroo
In a love poem.
My love scooted like a kangaroo
Before line one.
#vss365
Truth
Is a lot like
God.
We know
What it might be.
We also know
What it can't be.
The loudest voice
#Exacerbates
Such confusion
With
Certainty.
It's never
Absolute.
It's never
One for all
All for one.
It's
Relative.
It's
One for one.
Playing dice
The only answer?
#vss365
Every morn,
I wonder
If I should be
Cynical
Or
should I #extol
the stuff
I have
No more.
Like
Your love.
I could
Talk
About
A Sunday morn
Like this
When
You
Came
To my room
And...
No,
The other
Is
Easier.
Ye fools!
Such love
Exists
No more.
#vss365
(Swapna's scream woke up Arjun.)
"What is it, Swap? You're shaking."
"Someone at the window, Arj."
(Arjun inspects.)
"Nothing but rain, wind and trees."
"I saw the Monster of #Exurb-ia!"
"Your mom? Ha! Wait, what's that? Oh god!"
(Swapna snores.)
"Swa..Plz..No..AarghhH!"
#vss365
Rules of The #Exurb-an Community
1. Thou shalt not refer to thyself as Exurban/God.
2. Thou shalt not think of others.
3. If thou shalt not refer to thyself as Exurban/God, thou shalt be excommunicated.
4. Thou shalt impose sanctions on others without thought.
#vss365
No #examination scares me more than that of my love.
"Am I THE ONE in your life?"
"Tenth type in one's life is THE ONE. Older person, pen-pal, childhood friend, first crush, first love, first wife, other one, THE ONE's friend."
"That's eight."
"Ninth is kept empty."
#vss365
"I've realized a great truth."
"About?"
"Friendship."
"What's the great truth?"
"I wouldn't want my sister to marry any of my male friends. And, I do not want to marry any of my female friends."
"How did you become such an #expert on that topic?"
"By having no friends."
#vss365
When I am awake and when I dream,
I stare at the walls and the barred #exit,
Every minute ticks long by rote.
But I have learned to be with shackles,
And with my head on Memory’s lap,
She feeds new-born stories, a shared fantasy.
#vss365
Love only should #exist.
Love at first sight
Is best for that.
With one look:
Colour, savings,
Vital stats (of organic kids too),
Ideology, sanity;
Tick the list well-known.
Some take years,
Or elders,
for the same.
Cheapest will survive,
Darwin said,
didn't he?
#vss365
She was in a little black dress, he in a good suit. All eyes in the chic restaurant were on them.
Elegant. Talking softly. Subtle touches, kisses. The food they had equally exquisite.
They danced to a slow number!
Real close. Lovely!
Romance personified.
Back in their car:
"Fast, faster," they urged the other.
In jeans, T-shirt and sneakers, they raced to the nearest road-side dhaba.
Seated cross-legged on unsteady charpoy, they had a full meal of aloo paratha, butter chicken, scrambled eggs, curd, pickle, onion, chilly.
Someone tried karaoke: "...'Cause for twenty four years I've been living next door to Alice..."
The couple joined the crowd with the well-known chorus.
They high-fived each other.
"No more of that romance show."
"You look wunderrfulll tonite..."
"With tummy full..."
"We'll publish your stories after editing."
"Great!"
"Remove religion, caste, class, politics, any community."
"Oh!"
"The kickass lady who dislikes kids, pets, love will be villain."
"Bit #exacting, no?"
"Focus on the mother balancing work & home, the serial bobbitiser."
#vss365
My Uncle Hosappan is an #example of a hero.
He did not fight when his wife chose another for better opportunity, when his relatives stole his wealth, when society and career left him loony.
“What for?” he said.
When that’s a rhetorical question, a true hero speaks.
#vss365
“Never #exhume an old love.”
“Yupp, no postmortem on that.”
“Not the same.”
“It is.”
“Calling an old love to remind oneself why it’s in the past is different from wondering why it went wrong.”
“Is that why you called me?”
“No. You owe me a grand.”
“You liked that gift!”
#vss365
The ex-#expatriates
In my Mumbai office
Talked a lot
About their days
In the Wall St. office.
In Mumbai,
They are royals.
Their driver
Carries
Their tiffin
Till the security gate.
The poor royals
With so many tales to tell
Of a world
Where they were not royals.
#vss365
How do wars start
In the civilized world?
Is greed or insecurity
Or glory or empire-building
Or maniacs or idiots
Or the fake news
Or the pogroms
On both sides
The main cause?
Will that help
The dead kids?
How do wars start
In the uncivilized world?
It's the same story.
I need a laugh.
A horror flick will do.
I need a smile.
Wipe those eyes sans tears.
I need a love.
Hug loneliness not solitude.
Don't tell me
I have got it all wrong.
I am a jester
In a tragic world.
A #rainbow isn't great;
One under the white flag
Of peace and unity;
Thro' any soul-shredding prism:
Religion, race, caste,
Money, power, ideology;
How we show true colour;
How we weep
When some kids are killed,
How we sleep
When some kids are mere numbers.
#vss365
At 6 am: Poirot, Holmes, Miss Marple and I were seen leaving the resort in a four-seater #paddle boat.
At 7 am: only three were in that boat.
I chose to sit with the driver of the tow truck after an hour with those three begging for a mystery.
#vss365
Now,
They say
The yellow towels
Came first;
Which came next,
The black or the saffron?
The blue and the white?
There will only be red
Before the gory end.
Once upon a time,
That space
Was for new ideas.
Now,
a battlefield
Of old texts
In filthy towel.
(Dark bedroom.)
"I need a lullaby, Swapna."
"Sleep well, my love,
tonight you and I
are safe together.
Let me watch you,
in child-like..."
(Swapna gave something a #swat with the anti-mosquito racket.)
"Oww!"
"Mosquito!"
"My nose! It's bleeding!"
"Arjun, sleep!"
#vss365
"What's that wrapped in plastic, on the conveyor #belt?"
"Arjun."
"Swapna, why did you?"
"It was his idea. Cheaper than flight ticket, he said."
"But..."
"I never argue about an ideal situation."
#vss365
My college gang formed the Dead Words Society.
Stuprate, #larrup, love...
If the others were alive, I could have told you the rules.
Our end started with love.
The girl's folks used those words. The whole village.
Lynch, was that there?
Sneak, for the one alive?
#vss365
"Class, give me a sentence with #larrup?"
(Dead silence.)
"Arjun?"
"The danger society faces now is secu larrup ture."
"Keep standing. Swapna?"
"The teacher larruped Arjun properly."
"Good."
"Teacher's pet...larrup...sluurppp...butter..."
"Loserrr..."
"You two get out."
#vss365
'Bangalore Days', a 2014 Malayalam movie, reveals the #naked truth about my life. In that movie:
a bumpkin, literally & figuratively, 'falls' in love;
a rebel with no cause finds meaning in life via social media;
a guy with lost love marries a girl with lost dreams.
#vss365
My soul I lay #bare,
That's a common barter.
Just a selfish matter,
Secrets are tough to bear.
That's the problem
With most good deeds.
Just ask if it needs
One to pawn freedom.
#vss365
To understand how I became the leader of a #sorority, during the Covid lockdown, my resume should suffice.
Under 'Education', the main accomplishment is 'Monitor in Girls' Convent'.
'Extracurricular activities' too must have helped. 'Lady character in all school plays' and 'Poetry award for the best woman writer'. What could I do if the judge of the online contest thought I was a woman and fell in love with me?!
My DP too must have helped. Especially the long lashes.
#vss365
I had
A cloistered life.
In school
No one
Dared
To ask
Religion
Or
Caste.
My young one
In primary two
Asked me
If she's a Thiyya,
A Sunni, a Nadar
Or Amethyst
(Atheist?).
I don't know,
I replied.
But I have to
show
I have freedom
to show
I have no freedom,
she said.
In the fifth wave,
The kids fell.
Demon virus
Had waited,
Perfected
Its last act.
Even the parents
Were fine with that.
People have to live!
With the stock markets
Booming,
The singles and couples
Holidaying
At Machu Picchu.
Lovely photos
They had.
None
Of small coffins.
The V-Day Pledge:
"I will not be cynical
Till midnight of 14th.
I shall #thrust err trust my love.
To "I love you", no "What do you want?".
No "Jealousy is Love's soul-mate".
No "Love is great for the rich".
No curses on the 15th.
No request for refund/replacement.
#vss365
The tango class turned out to be a war of attrition.
First month, I did only exercises.
Second, I was put in a class with only men.
Third, I was made to choose: the curvy buxom one or the silent one.
Life is full of simple choices and disastrous consequences.
#vss365
Borrowed from one of my short stories in the V-day collection 'My Unfunny Valentine':
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2012/02/my-unfunny-valentine.html
"Google says: #Attrition is the proportion of reported sexual violence victimisations that do not progress through the criminal justice system to a conviction."
"Look at the police! When the culprit is unconnected..."
"Pass the eggs."
"One look at Google and you..."
#vss365
Marriage has a certain symmetry, Sheila thought. At the start and at the end, one says, "Yes, I do."
She walked slowly from the Court to the exit.
Sheila felt a hand on her arm. It was Ashok’s daughter. Her father was standing near a car.
‘Aunty, we have been waiting...’
Borrowed from my short story 'The First Lover':
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2011/09/first-lover.html
The climax was #brutal.
"Show some guts!"
That wasn't all.
“You don’t respect boundaries.”
“What boundaries?”
“That I am his and he is mine.”
“You are Anu to me. I don't want you to be mine. I don't want to be yours.”
“That will be the story of your life. Not mine.”
#vss365
From my experimental rather long short story 'Virgin Territory':
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2020/02/virgin-territory.html
Our gang was called 'The 16th Company'. Don't ask me why! We were ten at first (two died).
Eclectic, were we? School dropouts, black sheep of the family, brawn and no brain?
Sons of the landlord, the nouveau riche, the untouchable, the dirt poor, the anything.
One had a Bullet bike. One was religious. The polite softspoken one had the best story. He rarely folded his 'mundu' (dhoti) but when he did, what a fight it used to be!
Our parties were famous. We drank liquor (army grade), smoked beedi (local cheroot), cooked tapioca and fiery meat, brooded, never sang, slept under the sky. We stole the tapioca from our fathers, auld lang syne.
For the rest, we worked on someone's land, not for someone. Bare beasts of burden without master. Seamus Heaney got it right in 'Digging'. Almost. For us it was sex, macha! That tryst with soil. The mutual respect and the unsaid, the untamed and the tamed, the sweat and the tears, tender and rough, selfish and altruistic, the end was the start, edging forever, she laughed cried bled, us too, never sure if it was alright.
Then, we married. Only the religious one invited the gang. A short affair with his parents and hers and us. A vada at a tea-shop along with lime juice.
When we found love, we forgot 'The 16th Company'.
And her.
not really #storytelling
She married at sixteen, went from village to foreign land, too young for #pangs of what-not.
He cooked a dish. She frowned. He threw it out. She frowned at their folks. He gifted a saree. She threw it out.
In my family's drama, my role: wait outside for thrown stuff.
#vss365
‘Are you married?’
‘No.’
‘Will you marry me?’
The first time, we were young and dreamy. It would have worked if we had got past that obstacle.
The second time, I was battle-#weary. Demons within tripped me.
This time, I am sure she would be better off without me.
#vss365
Borrowed from my 'very' short story/note 'This Time':
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2015/06/this-time.html
In college, during a counselling session for the #lovelorn and "how love never dies", the counsellor pointed at someone at the back,
“Interesting question. They ask if there is anyone here who actually believes that love never dies.”
We couldn't see them.
#vss365
Borrowed from my short story 'Love Dies':
https://newnonentities.blogspot.com/2010/09/love-dies.html
A dirty thin girl with no smiles no tears found me in a #godforsaken place. She never talked. She dragged me by my ear. She limped. I kept going up and down because of that limp. We crawled into holes at night. She was scared of everyone. I tried to tell her it’s not all that bad. She was staring at me when we were blown to bits.
#vss365
Borrowed from my 'very' short story 'The Stuffed Toy's Story':
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-stuffed-toys-story.html
He met her for the first time after a late-night #revel. He walked with her to her house.
He returned a week later. A lady in her forties invited him inside.
He saw a photo of the girl.
The lady smiled.
"Twenty years. How time flies. Wish I was that young again."
#vss365
Borrowed from my short story 'The Woman He Saw':
https://justoneavatar.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-woman-he-saw.html
