Xander Michael

Foolishly, I thought I’d have time on my nightshift to absorb the stories and choose a winner. Ha! The salt mine overlords had other ideas.

I promise it’ll be done today…

Okay Sea, that ‘honesty snagged my conscience:

The  last time I cried was as I attempted to sleep,  having earlier been admitted to hospital after my husband Steve correctly diagnosed the oddness of my being unable to control my fingers, while doing the Saturday General Knowledge as potentially a stroke. Quoting ‘FAST’, he did everything right…[Read more]

As you know, Sandra, this prompt came about following the loss of one of our cardiologists and my subsequent inability to write anything meaningful in his Book of Condolences. Faced with Imposter Syndrome because I didn’t know him as well as some of the other nurses, I simply invalidated my feelings and wrote a stiff little sentence that had n…[Read more]

<p style=”text-align: right;”>Sorry Sea, I’ve been racking my brain (while fighting off Ken Dodd and attempting to pack for some days in the  Hebrides) but am totally bereft of  words about tears.</p>

The Last Sense

Curse my tears, dissolving my bold exterior to expose the raw feeling beneath. How dare they come at a time when I needed to show courage? To offer a united support when Mum’s strength had finally crumbled?

And see how the foundations of mine gave way, leaving the sturdier ones to put on the brave faces; carry the weak link of…[Read more]

I won’t lie, I logged in last night to find out what the prompt for this month’s comp was going to be, little expecting – in the face of the other entries – that I would be setting it 😂

So thanks, Ath, for the comp and for that WTH!? moment when I got home from work 😃 and thanks to everyone else for inspiring me to try in the first place. I’l…[Read more]

Well, that’s an unexpected turn of events!

Oh, hooray, and congratulations @ Seagreen, but similarly to all for a varied and thought-provoking selection of ‘last times’. Thank you too Ath  for the prompt – a subject which I ponder increasingly  frequently.

UNTITLED (149 WORDS)

Contains an obscenity

Today is the last day I will beat myself up over this.

It’s the last day I’ll say sorry for hurting you, as if I haven’t said sorry a million times already.

It’s the last time I’ll try to make amends for something you will never forgive me for.

It’s the last time I’ll go to bed and wonder how di…[Read more]

The First Steps and the Last

‘Come on, Mum, two more steps and you’re there. I’ve got you …’

Why was she raising her voice? I wasn’t deaf.

My mind wasn’t the disabled part of me. And what was the rush?

Hold your tongue, old lass. It’s all said through care, not to mention a familiar tone of worry that she might slip or let go.

It took me…[Read more]

Congratulations, Ath. Delightfully creative tale!
Thanks to Janette for the prompt and to Sandra, Libby and Terrie for a selection of wonderful stories x

Ps, yes, thank you all for your brilliant entries, I meant to say- sorry if this didn’t come across in my summary.

Congratulations Athelstone, and thanks to Terrie, Sea and Libby for their responses to Janette’s  May challenge – all so entertaining – and for the summing up.

Five great stories this month, making my decision oh-so difficult and changeable.

Sandra – Lyrical Determination (thin on legend)
Smartly-penned descriptives throughout, giving vivid imagery of Fran lying prose on the attic bed, having decided to give her virginity to Ivo (having been inspired by the words of John Martyn).  Love that she bathes…[Read more]

Princes Street, Edinburgh, in early May. The morning is bright, the sky opaque with a promise of blue, and there’s enough chill in the air to warrant the cardigan I left on the back of the chair in the kitchen. I’m walking on the sunny side of the street – the side across from the gardens – with measured, purposeful steps as I head to a train…[Read more]