Thanks to dear Rochelle for hosting Friday Fictioneers and to Sandra for the photo.
The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
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In the Bleak Mid-Winter
They used Lizzie’s smock for the scarecrow, so soon afterwards. Hearts of stone the villagers, grubbing for scraps of gossip like pigs. I didn’t believe the talk of ‘dark arts’.
She could see the future. Stick thin, hair like straw, her dark eyes went cloudy when she looked inwards at the visions only she could see.
Lizzie said that the soil was starved, that the crops would fail. Stupid people, scared of the message, they turned on her. That autumn, the crops rotted and there was a famine.
December 23, 2020 at 5:52 am
Takeaway: don’t taunt the witch!
December 18, 2020 at 4:23 pm
She’ll be back to haunt them I fear. Nice one.
My story!
December 20, 2020 at 11:07 am
Thanks for your comment – she might well haunt them !
December 18, 2020 at 1:10 pm
That’ll teach ’em 🙂
December 20, 2020 at 11:12 am
Thanks Ali, great comment. Just deserts indeed.
December 18, 2020 at 10:30 am
Fear of others makes people do strange things.
December 20, 2020 at 11:18 am
Thanks James,, I think you are right, well observed.
December 18, 2020 at 8:05 am
Excellent description of Lizzie, and of the way things too often were.
December 20, 2020 at 12:52 am
The way things too often WERE? Sadly, it’s the way things too often still ARE. The doctor in Wuhan who sounded the first alarm about COVID-19 was punished for “spreading rumors” and later died of the disease.
December 20, 2020 at 2:23 pm
Guess that fiction writing with reference to the past tends to also reflect on the present.
December 20, 2020 at 7:43 pm
Indeed it does, and that is good. I like Faulkner’s remark: «The past is never dead. It isn’t even past.»
December 20, 2020 at 11:25 am
Thank you Ceayr, glad that you liked the description of Lizzie. and the superstitious mind set.
December 20, 2020 at 2:15 pm
Thank you ceayr, glad you liked the description of Lizzie and the superstitious mind set.
December 17, 2020 at 11:17 pm
If only they had listened. Good one.
December 20, 2020 at 2:24 pm
Thanks Iain, glad you liked the story.
December 17, 2020 at 9:02 pm
Lizzie got her own back
December 20, 2020 at 2:32 pm
Thank you Neil, she certainly did.
December 17, 2020 at 7:49 pm
Don’t mess with Lizzie
December 20, 2020 at 2:38 pm
Thanks Larry. Do you think she’s up there looking down at the villagers ?
December 20, 2020 at 3:20 pm
I can most certainly believe that about her. She seems to be quite good at having access to inside scoops
December 17, 2020 at 7:29 pm
Dear Francine,
Some people just don’t listen. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
December 20, 2020 at 2:41 pm
Thanks for your comment Rochelle. Glad you liked the story.