Category: Flash Fiction

Posted in Flash Fiction, Non-fiction

Gun Control: Guns vs. Our Children

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
Gun control
44 Magnum hand gun with copy space

Often, I write fiction on this blog, but occasionally, I will write what is essentially an op-ed piece about an important issue, gun control in this case. Gun control, and any laws we might pass concerning gun control, is controlled by the U.S. Congress. The shame of it all is that the U.S. Congress is controlled by the gun lobby. In other words, money from the National Rifle Association (NRA). We don’t have effective gun control laws in the U.S. due to the inaction of Congress who think more about lining their pockets than about the children affected by the gun control laws. Children like those destroyed at Sandy Hook and just yesterday, in Texas.

What are we thinking? Why do we elect Senators and Representatives who won’t support or vote for serious gun control legislation in the U.S.? What if it were one of your children in the schools that have experienced mass shootings? Don’t give me a rant about the Second Amendment or your so-called liberties. Those are excuses. Why do you have an issue with strict laws aimed at illegal guns on the streets if you are a licensed gun owner and don’t plan to use your guns in the wrong way? Why do you have that AR-15 in your garage? Do you need it to hunt food? Even those among you who are hunters know the answer to that. It doesn’t take an AR-15 to kill a deer.

There have been over 200 mass shootings in the U.S. since the beginning of 2022. Two hundred days haven’t even passed yet. Is it any wonder that home schooling is on the rise? Our society in the U.S. is fracturing and even though gun control isn’t the only issue, it is surely one of the bigger issues. Do you want to be part of the solution or part of the problem?

Posted in Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers

Absconded

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
Photo prompt by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

See that picture on the wall of the girl with the flaming hair? She’s my sister. She was my roommate, but now she’s gone. She left without warning me that she was going to bolt.

Look at the mess she’s left in my apartment. It’s appalling that she left me with this mess without telling me. How could she do this to me? How could she just abandon me? One day she just didn’t come home. I waited, but all I got was that terrible phone call. I can visit her, but I don’t like to go to the cemetery.

For Friday Fictioneers, May 22, 2022

Posted in Flash Fiction

Back in the Blogging Saddle

Posted on by R.M. Carlson
“A nice, shiny, brown leather english saddle on horseback. Canon Eos 1D Mark III.”

What a ride the last few years have been! After retiring early from a career as a college professor, I decided to try an encore career – writing. Freelance and contract writing in my field of finance. I’d been blogging here at WordPress for several years before I embarked on this encore career and really enjoyed it. Writing for challenges. Writing about several of my fav topics and themes. Writing for the fun of it. Then, I decided to turn professional and my world certainly changed. No more blogging here for fun. There weren’t enough hours in the day. I’ve missed it.

I retired from writing professionally a couple of months ago. I expect I’ll tackle a book or two or three. No, not in my field of finance but perhaps fiction. Maybe some non-fiction stuff about some of my interests. I’m taking my time though since I retired to just STOP in my life and give myself some years to smell the roses. I enjoyed blogging here so much in the past that I’d like to try it again. I hope to see some of my old friends here and make new friends along the way.

I’m interested in finding some writing challenges as I enjoyed them in the past. Is there still a #weekendcoffeeshare? If so, where can I find it? I know my friend, Sue Vincent, is gone and I’m so sad about that. Did anyone take over her writing challenge? Do you know of any other interesting writing challenges you could point me to? I would really appreciate it!

I hope to be seeing old friends and meeting new ones soon. I’m so happy to be back!

#writingchallenges, #weekendcoffeeshare

Posted in Flash Fiction

Lucid

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

They keep pulling her away from her piano.

She isn’t yet lucid, but trying to fight her way out of the nightmare.

The strangers.

Why don’t they want her to play?

She tries to reach her mother, her father.

They keep drifting away.

Thanks to Rochelle!

Posted in #weekendcoffeeshare, Flash Fiction

#weekendcoffeeshare – Labor Day 2020

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

#weekendcoffeeshare

Good morning! I’m so sorry that I wasn’t able to invite all of you for coffee until today, the last day of Labor Day weekend, 2020. I’m so glad you could stop by. Grab a cup of Blue Mountain coffee or a cup of tea and I will fill you in on the past week.

Life is so busy in semi-retirement! I find myself wondering how in the world I ever had time to work. My career as a college professor was long and required long hours of work doing research and preparing materials for teaching, not to mention the time I had to devote to committee meetings. Life isn’t that busy now, but I still work part-time. This second career is that of a professional writer. I’ve been lucky that I have been able to find freelance, paying gigs for over 20 years now.

At this time, I’m trying to slow my life down a bit. I’m working freelance and part-time. A lot of my writing is for a company I’ve been associated with for over 12 years. Isn’t it funny that life seems so busy and complicated? Sometimes, I think the advances in technology have made life more difficult and complex instead of simpler.

It’s a beautiful fall here in Kentucky in the U.S. Cool nights, but hot days with bright blue skies. It will start cooling off here soon, although September and even October can be hot during the day. I find myself looking forward to fall. Summer is not my favorite season. I prefer cooler temperatures and rainy days!

The pandemic, despite all the deaths and illness, has forced my husband and I to take life a bit easier. We have been hiding at home, for the most part. We live in the country, or what used to be the country. Civilization is encroaching. My neighbors, even though we are all an acre apart, seem too close. When I moved here 22 years ago, mine was the only house on this road. Now, there are a number of homes on my road and I’m not particularly happy about that, even though we have good neighbors.

I spent this past week on a number of varied things. I’m putting together a book of flash fiction to independently publish on Amazon. I have several books that I’m working on, both fiction and non-fiction. I try to write 4 – 6 hours per day. Of course, I also have my job and I have three articles due soon. 

Besides writing, I spend a good amount of time on food preparation, particularly since the start of the pandemic. We try to buy local, so I go to various vegetable markets and country stores to get the freshest food. We buy meat from a local farm and chicken from the Amish. I buy seafood and fish from a company on the west coast. Almost everything we eat, I make from scratch. All of this takes time, thought, and preparation. We’ve had a lot of wonderful fresh vegetables this summer.

I don’t have tales of travel this summer due to the pandemic.We have been homebodies, but in two weeks we’re taking a week long RV trip to a lake that isn’t too far away. It seems that RV travel is the way to go this summer since you don’t have to be around people because you are self-sufficient. I’ll be sure and report in during and after the trip.

Can you name on thing you particularly enjoyed during the past week? I’ll start. I heard from two old friends, both live far away. I hadn’t talked to either of them in many years, so I enjoyed our conversations a great deal. It’s interesting. The pandemic has made me appreciate the simple things in life. 

Thanks for coming! See you next week.

Rosemary

Posted in Flash Fiction

The Tokens – #writephoto

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

Walking through the woods on the day of the autumn equinox, she found them. Tokens lying at the foot of a tree. Arranged in a precise manner. A fall leaf signifying the season. The season when the harvest is over and it’s time to rest and renew. There was a grey feather. A sign that balance will be achieved in the universe. A sign of the season of neutrality and hope. Last, she saw the two red tokens. Red for boldness, passion, and creativity. She sat at the foot of the tree and let the magic of the tokens overtake her.

 

Thanks to Sue Vincent #writephoto

Posted in Flash Fiction

The Old Home Place

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

I look in the old hand-held mirror that I’ve stuck up on the wall. I glance quickly behind me, wondering if my mother is behind me and it’s her image that I see.

I come to the old homeplace sometimes. I can feel the ghosts here so no wonder I think my mother has crept up on me. I sneak in the back door so no one will see me.

My childhood is here. I can hear it. My parents are talking softly in the kitchen. I sit down in the old rocking chair and wish for days gone by.

Photo credit @TedStultz

Posted in Flash Fiction

Hope and the Crescent Moon – #writephoto

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

“Maybe the crescent moon is a hopeful sign,” she said to him.

They were sitting on their porch looking off at the crescent moon hanging above the treetops. The quiet of their neighborhood permeated her thoughts. It had been like this most of the time since the pandemic started. Even though the homes were an acre apart, people were afraid of the deadly virus and stayed inside. One in a while, the children came out to play and she welcomed the noise they made.

“It’s been like this for months,” he replied. “When will life ever be normal again or will it?”

John was more restless than she was. He was pulling at the restraints that the pandemic placed upon him. He was a more social person and missed the interactions with his friends and family. She was more of an introvert, but even she was tired. Tired of being afraid. Tired of never feeling free to come and go. They both missed their family and friends.

“It’s so eerily quiet, John,” she said. 

“Even when we drive to the city, the streets are empty. Everyone is either working from home or not working at all.”

“Have you noticed how people that we do see look?” John asked. “We all seem to have a deer in the headlights look of panic and fear on our faces. Everyone is just down and out. We’ve never seen anything like this in our lifetimes.”

“You know the crescent shape of the moon with either end pointing up as they are signifies feminine strength and energy. Women are strong, John. We have to endure a lot. I’m going to look at that moon and gather strength from it. We’re going to make it through this crisis.”

“I’ve been so afraid that you will get sick,” John said. “I know you’re strong and we both have to gather all our strength and not make a mistake.”

“This will pass,” she said. “After the waning crescent moon is the new moon. A time of enlightenment and renewal. Maybe that time will bring good news to all of us.”

Posted in Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Politics

Trump and Voter Suppression

Posted on by R.M. Carlson

american flags and pins on white background
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

After reading a number of news sources, I’m left wondering what the current President of the United States has to do to get thrown out of office. He is trying to shut down one of America’s great institutions – the United State Postal Service. Can you imagine? When he first started talking about it, an optimistic person might have thought that his concern over mail-in voting was an opinion he formed legitimately. After you hear Trump talk about the Post Office and mail-in voting, many of us realize that his concern is not legitimate at all. A number of states have had mail-in voting for years, The incidence of fraud is less than one-half of a percent. What’s more, he’s allowing one state, Florida, his state of residence, to have mail-in voting. This is fair?

It is apparent that Trump is trying to suppress the vote. He knows that many people will not go to a polling place to vote for President in November 2020 due to fears over the pandemic. A pandemic that his administration failed to even try to control until it was too late. Instead, he tried to say that the COVID19 virus would magically disappear and offer solutions which were medically unsubstantiated. Even dangerous. Trump thinks that if he gets rid of the Post Office and any chance of mail-in voting, he will have a better chance of beating Joe Biden in the race for the Presidency.

The unbelievable thing is that Trump is not even trying to hide that he is engaging in voter suppression. He admits it. He is actively trying to cause people not to have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote and he is breaking laws regarding election tampering in the process. What does this man have to do to get thrown out of office? Kill someone?

The latest news is that Trump is having the mail sorting machines removed from post offices around the U.S. Leaving postal workers without any way to sort the mail is such terrible thing that it almost defies believability. Of course, mailed in ballots will swamp the post office and without any way to sort the mail, it will take months to receive and count the ballots.

Trump installed one of his political campaign donors as Postmaster General. He is, of course, complicit in this effort at voter suppression. The Republican Senators that sit by and allow him to do these things are complicit. They are just as responsible as he is. Trump and his Republican cronies in the Senate should all be voted out of office in November and the Postmaster General should be removed as soon as possible.

Any voter that puts their stamp of approval on what Donald J. Trump is doing, from actively breaking the law to morally bankrupting our government deserves what they get if he is elected. The rest of us need to vote, regardless of where or how we have to do it. If we don’t vote him out of office, the future of our country is, indeed, at risk.