July | 2013 | Stutley Tales

Archive for July, 2013

Writing Wednesday week # 31/13

Posted in Writing Wednesdays, tagged best man, blindfold, bucks night, climb, party, prompt on 07/31/2013| 6 Comments »

This is my first attempt at the prompt provided by VisDare 30. You only need 150 words, so hop on over to VisDare to add your take on this one. My story is below.

I began to relax. I had no idea where I was, having been driven here by my best man. The bucks party had been in full swing when they told me it was time to leave. Once the blindfold had been secured, I was bundled into a car by Brad and Thomas and driven for what seemed like hours.

Eventually the car pulled over and I promised that I would not take the blindfold off until I was told to. It had been a tricky climb to where ever I was, but I trusted my two buddies with my life, so it hadn’t been hard to let them guide my hands and feet.

‘Now, you can take the blindfold off, but don’t open your eyes,’ instructed Brad. ‘Count to 100 backwards, then open your eyes.’

I heard him scrambling away. My mind had wandered – surely it must be time now…

150 words

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Magnificent Monday week # 31/13

Posted in Magnificent Mondays, tagged angry, decision, happy, Monday, never, promise, sad on 07/29/2013| 3 Comments »

Good Monday morning to you, one and all. Some very wise words for you this week :)

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Writing Wednesday week # 30/13

Posted in Writing Wednesdays, tagged dead, hitch-hiker, knife, mistake, road, speed, writing prompt on 07/24/2013| 1 Comment »

I came across a list of Writing Prompts and this one caught my fancy: Write a scene and include a conversation between you and a hitch-hiker…

It had been almost two hours since we’d left Carnarvon. The road ahead was hardly visible through the shimmering heat mirage. I rested the back of my hand against the windshield for a moment, wondering just how hot it was out there.

Tony, who I’d picked up just outside Carnarvon, had stopped making polite conversation and I wondered if I’d made a mistake in picking him up. That thought had hardly crossed my mind, when he spoke – his words making my heart lurch.

‘What would you do if I pulled a knife on you and told you to get out?’

Paying him no attention, and making sure my speed was slowly increasing over the speed limit, it was a good minute before I replied. ‘We’d both be dead.’

From the corner of my eye I saw his head turn towards me. But I kept my eyes on the road and the speedometer.

‘What do you mean?’

I looked at him for as long as it was safe to do so. By now we were going noticeably faster. Once my attention was on the road again, I said, ‘If you pulled a knife on me, I guarantee that within 5 minutes we’d both be dead. And seconds after that, I would be in humble adoration on bended knee before my Lord and Saviour. Where would you be?’

I could see that he was watching me.

‘What do you mean, “We’ll both be dead”‘?

‘If you pulled a knife on me, I’d plant my foot on the accelerator, take my hands off the wheel and we’d both be dead.’

After a moment, Tony turned his attention to the road ahead and shifted ever so slightly in his seat. Nothing more was said for more than an hour, until I pulled into the Overlander Roadhouse to fill the car.

Without looking at me, Tony opened his door, and picked up the small backpack between his feet. ‘Thanks for the lift. Think I’ll stay here for a bit and catch another ride in the morning.’

Now, I wonder what was in that backpack?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a Family Friday story here that was stranger than fiction and this story is another one of those. This hitch-hiker story actually happened to my dad’s friend.

Please let me know if any of you write something using this prompt so that I can see what you’ve written :)

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Magnificent Monday week # 30/13

Posted in Magnificent Mondays, tagged encouraging, healing, Monday morning, quote on 07/22/2013| 4 Comments »

Good Monday Morning to you all. Inspirational/Encouragement Quote-of-the-week…

Looking back, some of my cracks were pretty big. But over time they have closed over to become small. Healing… That’s what I find so encouraging about this saying :)

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Family Fridays week # 29/13

Posted in Family Fridays, tagged anxiety, coffee, price, sidewalk on 07/19/2013| 2 Comments »

Another Dr Lee story for you today.

Well, here I was doing something I never thought I would do… Again! My ‘safe’ and predictable way of life was becoming a distant memory the more I worked with Dr Lee.

I don’t remember how we got onto the subject, but we were talking about going out for coffee when he asked, ‘Where do you usually sit?’

‘At the back, against the wall.’

‘Why?’

I shrugged. ‘It’s the safest place. I can see everyone and if there’s any trouble, I’ll know about it.’

‘Have you ever sat at a table out on the sidewalk?’

‘No,’ I said, surprised. ‘Why would I do that?’

He was silent for a moment. ‘Do you know that in some European countries the price of coffee depends on where you sit? To have coffee on the sidewalk is more expensive than sitting inside at the back of the cafe. The sidewalk is actually highly sought after.’ He reached for an appointment card and started filling it in. Suddenly he stopped and looked at me with a smile. ‘I’ve just had a great idea. Why don’t we have our next session at a coffee shop in Cottesloe? We can sit out on the sidewalk and have coffee.’ I thought it was a terrible idea!

A week later, there I was sitting at a table out on the sidewalk with Dr Lee and our coffees. My heart was hammering as I looked around nervously. I felt utterly exposed and so vulnerable.

‘What are you thinking?’ he asked.

‘I don’t understand why people would want to put themselves on display like this.’

A smile tugged at the edges of his mouth and he asked what my anxiety level was. I told him it was about 8 out of 10, and I handed over my diary and homework. I still couldn’t believe that we were actually going to do this session sitting out on the footpath in full public view!

While he read through everything, occasionally going back to one page or another, I began to look further afield. There was a bakery across the road. The longer we sat there, the more curious I became about my surroundings. During the next half hour, we discussed my homework and every once in a while he would ask what my anxiety level was. To my amazement, it was coming down. On the way home, he asked what I thought of the morning and I told him that I didn’t think I would do it again.