For Random Learning Comes: Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew
For Random Learning Comes
For Random Learning Comes: Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew
{This is a response to the Friday Fictioneer’s prompt this week. As a Floridian, I could hardly resist a prompt about citrus! Though it may cause confusion to non-Americans, I use the word “hood” in describing a part of the car. Around here, that means the front metal cover over the engine compartment. The …
{This beautiful photo is the prompt this week for Friday Fictioneers. To a Floridian like me, it looked like a scene from Disney, and with Disney World just recently announcing its re-opening later in the summer, a surge of nostalgia ensued. Hope you enjoy! Thanks for the prompt and for coming by to read! …
{I had to think about this Friday Fictioneers photo prompt for a while before deciding how to approach it. Thus the somewhat late entry. For those of you who don’t already know, “camel case” is the name for the typographical use of capitals, to differentiate the important, meaningful parts of a single (usually compound) …
This is my response to the photo prompt of the week for Friday Fictioneers. Thanks for the prompt and for coming by to read! When Matilda and Lars, ten years married, arrived at the bed-and-breakfast, the road seemed rocky and bare. The falling mercury, snow’s harbinger, tantalized and tingled their flesh. White Christmas lights beckoned, …
Amaranth set the damp, curling poster upright, next to the over-flowing garbage cans. Too full, for memories. She wiped her brow. In the mid-morning heat, the stench of mildew rose from every crack and crevice. Hard to believe, but the river had been this high, this time yesterday. Now, content within its banks, it …
As we all make our way through this awful, dreary, lonely, scary time, it is nice to feel some semblance of normalcy. We do just that, when we join our family, friends and colleagues, in virtual communities, such as Friday Fictioneers. Stay safe and stay well, and do your best, to see beyond this …
{This fountain, viewed in the context of our own scary times, reminds me, as I suspect our fearless leader intended, of the Broad Street water pump. This pump, on what is now called Broadwick Street in London, was the source of the London Broad Street cholera epidemic of 1854 This outbreak took place during the …
This is in response to a Friday Fictioneers photo prompt above. It reminded me of my daughter’s work in organic gardening, and the freedom that comes with being outdoors in Nature. Enjoy! Thanks for the prompt and for coming by to read! The spry old woman bent down, behind the makeshift counter …
Angels, drifting toward Armageddon. Greenfield Prep’s eighth-grade choir anxiously rose up the escalator. White smocks billowed. Sensible shoes shuffled. After a noisy scramble up the half-moon of holiday risers, they stood stock still. White candles on a layer cake. Lucy’s pale, delicate hand cupped the satisfying bluntness of her new Dorothy Hamill. Shimmering in …
This is a story inspired by Friday Fictioneer’s photo prompt of of a glass greenhouse, specifically a palm room, where full-size palm trees grow, under a dome of glass triangles. Thanks for the prompt and for coming by to read! Wimsley Botanical’s Phillip Osman sped across the blinking city to the Great Glass …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers , timed perfectly with a rare cold front coming to Florida. Thanks for coming by to read and thanks for the prompt!} The air caught in Augustus’ throat. Well below zero. He looked over his shoulder. No one. He smiled. Under his boots, the snow crackled, a skin …
At the threshold, Damian realized something was amiss. He rushed to his numerology table. All was, as it should be. Except the calendar… 12.19.19. Raising his hooded head, Damian rested his chin on penitent fingertips. And pondered. Surely, an omen. The young century would never again emerge, with a number “1” in First Place. …
{This a reply to Friday Fictioneers a weekly photo-inspired 100-word writing challenge. Thanks for the prompt and for stopping by to read!} Eddie stretched out his manicured hands. Not easy, in this cramped minibus, whose passengers could ill afford the luxury of space. His shallow mouth-breaths filtered the stench emanating from a gangly …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers. This picture tickled me, partially because my husband is a traffic engineer, and our conversations often drift toward traffic circles. I was also struck by how the bushes looked like crouching figures. Happy Thanksgiving and bon appetit, everyone!} They huddled round the campfire, careful not to …
This is an entry for Friday Fictioneers, a 100-word challenge based on a photo. Hope you enjoy! Lewis rubbed his hands together. Getting cold. And Major was only getting worse. It’d been years, since the old man had let Lewis call him Father. Gradually, their homestead came to resemble boot camp. From Major’s …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers. It is a 100-word prompt challenge, and this picture reminded me of my grandmother, from whom I have borrowed some mundane biographical details such as her work, her marriage, and the number of kids she had. These details are mightily embellished by my imagination, to create this …
{This is a response to a prompt from Friday Fictioneers. I was drawn by the mysterious light in this picture and the confusion I felt, trying to decipher what time of day it was. This has been a dreary week or two for me, having recently lost a parent, and under such troublesome conditions, one …
This is a response to a Friday Fictioneers 100-word photo challenge. These people standing together in single file, in the rain, brought to mind a protest I attended in Heilbronn, West Germany, in 1985. It took place outside the American military base, where nuclear armaments were located. There were many peace activists there, and lots …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw, a 150-word challenge based on a place on the globe. This time it’s Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Thanks for the prompt and for stopping by to read!} Only the second pet we’d ever had, Charcoal jumped straight from the pound, into my lap. He was …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a 100-word challenge to write about a selected photograph. In this one, I immediately fixed upon the beer stein, which now that I look at it, may well be a sifter. Oh well. This story is loosely based on the atmosphere of Stammtisch, a weekly event of the …
{This is a response to Friday Fictioneers, a 100-word prompt. This week the photo contained a very interesting plant, which led to this story. The “spell” is actually the botanical Latin name for a dragon tree. The name Drago is the common name of the same plant. Enjoy and thanks for the prompt and for …
{This is a response to What Pegman Saw. This week we are in Laos in SE Asia. I took a little detour from Vientiane to a place called Phonsavan in central Laos. This area is known for the Plain of Jars, which consists of 90 sites, with collections of large ancient multi-ton jars of unknown …
{The prompt picture, from Friday Fictioneers, makes me think of a corporate retreat, and what might happen there. Thank you for the prompt and for coming to read!} Sally’s SUV glided to a halt. Her manicured fingertip cut the engine. The smell of new leather hit her nostrils. New company car. New job. New opportunities …
White cat’s whisker bloom. Copyright Andrea LeDew {This is a response to What Pegman Saw an international story collection focussed on a different part of the world each week. This week we are in Riga, Latvia, in Northern Europe. The name of the monk, Dievmilis, means God-loving in Latvian. Hope you enjoy my somewhat less …
