Inspire Me Shorts 92923

 More stories based on the Inspire Me app, constructed around three randomly selected words -

1 job, wouldn't, press

There is no job I wouldn't do for you. You don't need to press for me to impress you.

So, relax. They'll never find the body.

2 written, different, up

So it is written. Thus, it will be. Every word is infallible. The entire book is true.

I know. Different faiths have come to different conclusions; the same book that condemns slavery is used to defend slavery.

But, ultimately, there is only one true, literal interpretation of our good book.

And that, of course, is the one we possess, Brother Dan.

You can take that to the heavenly bank. There is only one way up to the pearly gates.

And that way is exclusively for us, we true believers. We keepers of the one true light.

3 flag, think, way

The original pledge of allegiance did not have under God in it. Even though it was written by a Baptist minister, he did not include it. It was a civic pledge, not a religious one.  

This is what minister Francis Bellamy wrote in 1892 -

"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Over time, other changes were made. It wasn't until 1954 that the phrase "under God" was added.

As someone who does think that this should only be a civic pledge, in what way should I handle saying it?

Here is my compromise - I stand to say the pledge, put my hand on my heart, and say the pledge out loud, except I do not vocalize the phrase "under God."

A weak compromise, I know. But it works for me.

4 tall, lucky, last

I am not tall. I reached my maximum height of 5' 8" in 7th grade. But, at that time, it made me one of the taller boys in my class, about the third tallest. When we picked basketball teams, I would be the center. About eighth string center, but center nonetheless.

I didn't like being so tall. I thought the short kids were lucky because they could sneak ahead in school lines without people noticing. And it was awkward to be so much taller than the girls. I wished I wasn't so tall.

By the time I got to high school, I was suddenly one of the shortest kids, as everyone around me grew rapidly, and I stayed the same. I would always be picked last when the gym class selected basketball teams or volleyball.

Sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for.

5 modern, Roman, tightly

Titus held me tightly. I could barely breathe.

"Oh, my dear Jocela! I am so fond of you! I must have you as my wife!"

I struggled to push him away. I could only tilt back a few inches. Enough to look up at him and tell him, "Titus, you must give me space! I need time to think on this."

"I have done this properly, my dear. The Roman way. I have secured the blessing of your father. Goods have already been exchanged to seal the deal. My asking you would only be a courtesy."  Titus clutched Jocala firmly again. 

Jocala pleaded, "But don't you see? Times have changed. Women have more respect than ever. The Senate has recently recognized women's marital rights to property in the event of marital dissolution. We are increasing our family participation and marital decisions. I'm just asking you to be more up-to-date, more modern, in your attitudes."

Titus laughed in a braying, cruel manner. "You silly creature! The Roman Way IS the Modern Way! Your father sides with me. Learn to love me. That is your only choice."

Times were not changing fast enough to save Jocala.

Friday Writing Randomizer

 It's a struggle.

I have to get back into fiction writing.

But it's a hard habit to rebuild.

I think I've got my time reorganized, but I'll have to re-review to get back into the novels I've started.

Meanwhile, I'll try to re-inspire myself by trying one of my favorite exercises - constructing a few sentences from the InspireMe app that generates three words at random and see what kind of story starts I can get.

gulf, must, victory

I can't keep going like this.  I must have some hint of victory, some small hope that the gulf between us has been at least partially bridged.

I see her at the restaurant.  She is drinking coffee, alone, reading from a book.  I bring her flowers.  She takes them.  She looks directly at me, smells the flowers, and dumps them on the floor. "It's going to take a lot more than flowers to make up for what you did," she says and then returns to her book, shutting me out of her life.

stream, depend, view

He loved to stream.  I would call him a streamaholic.  It was my view that streaming was ruining his life.  The bingeing took him away from us for hours.  It became impossible to pull him away from it.  He went from Bridgerton to The Queen's Gambit to The Underground Railroad. One led to another and then another.  He rarely slept.  I could not depend on him for anything.

Trying to cut the internet or stop the streaming services would just fly him into a rage.  None of my attempts to pull him away worked. 

I did not have to wait for the Matrix to take him away.  He was already lost.

adjective, fear, sugar

The sweet sugar melted in my mouth and then exploded in my pancreas. Maybe the adjective to describe sugar is not sweet but deadly.  Deadly sugar.  I love it, but now I must fear it.  Why does something I love so much have to hurt me so badly?

adventure, plenty, rubber

Do you want adventure in your life?  Then it's time for the rubber to hit the road! Take the plunge!  Buy the GeoForce Tracker today!  It's the car of the future, and its powerful 7,000 horsepower engine and off-road capabilities will allow you to have plenty of fun!

surface, radio, thus

I didn't know it could go that low.  I had thought 550 was as low as the AM radio could go.  But in fiddling with the dial, I slipped lower before I knew what I was doing.  It pulled in 490 - impossible!  And stranger yet, there was something there! A signal, repeating a weird message - 

We are here.  We will conquer.  You have 48 hours to escape the surface of your planet, or you will be annihilated. Go underground or die.  This is your final warning.

What is this?  An update on Orson Welle's War of the Worlds scare?  I called my friend Bennie, and he jetted over.

The message remained the same, except it was now saying 47 hours instead of 48.

We debated what to do.  I tried to tell more people, but most wouldn't even listen to it.  The one exception was my girlfriend, Iris, who took it even more seriously than we did.

As the time approached, Iris convinced us to go to the high school and get in the fallout shelter constructed in the mid-fifties.

And thus, the three of us were part of the few to survive the alien apocalypse.

What happened next made us think we might have been better off not surviving.

Inspire Me #2: Flash Fiction

Well, let's take a break from the COVID-19 madness we are all surrounded by.


I'll try a game based on the Inspire Me app.  It selects three words at random, and then you try to construct a very short story using those three words.  There are no real length rules, but I try to stick to 100 words or less.

Maybe.  I'm not really counting.

I challenge all OHC Writer's Guild members to do the same, and post either on the group site or in the comments below.

LET THE RANDOMNESS...BEGIN!

#1

ranch, thirty, fought


George:  How many ranch dressing packets are you gonna put on that salad?

Melinda:  It's not a salad.  It's a zalad.

George:  Way to give in to the corporate monolith, Mel. 

Melinda:  I fought the salad, and the zalad won.

George:  OMG, Mel!  Another packet of ranch!  Your Zalad-O is swimming in a lake of Ranch-O!

Mel:  Lake Rancho.  I love it.  I'm taking a picture.  Remember, Instagram is Instafun.

George:  For you, maybe.

George starts to count the packets.  Thirty seconds later...

George:  Hokey smokes!  That's...twenty-nine packets! (What?  I already used thirty.  You expect me to use it twice?)

#2

hidden, walk, rapidly

Fluffly loved his daily walk.  He pulled his servant with him, using all the power of his eleven pound Shih Tzu body.  "Slow down, Fluffly!" complained the one the humans called Anita.  "How rapidly do you think I can go?"

Fluffy came to a screeching halt, but not because of his servant.  He smelled something just off the path, hidden behind the azalea bushes.

Fluffly growled.  The hair on the back of his neck stood up.  He had found his nemesis.  It snarled and hissed.

Today, there would be victory.

#3

merely, money, tonight

Tonight.

Tonight won't be just any night.

Tonight there will be no morning star.

Well. At least not for a few hours.

He waited in the gazebo.  He waited for Maria.  It had seemed like he had just met her.  The electricity had never left his body, and the lightning charges inflamed him whenever she was near.

This was different.  This was not merely another fling, a temporary infatuation.  It was a love that would light up the rest of his life.

Nothing meant more.  Not material things, not money, not the gang, not the family, not the church.  Nothing.

Tony has met Maria.  And nothing would ever be the same.