Shortcomings
Idol Wheel Of Chaos | Week 2 | 1738 words
If It's Any Consolation

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Derg was a dwarf, one of the last of his kind in the Regent's kingdom. He lived in a damp cave deep inside the Blighted Hills, where he wove moss into clothing and practiced the art of metalworking.

There were no other dwarfs in the Hills or nearby villages, so Derg lived alone, which he did not like. Something else he did not like was being mistaken for a troll. Every week, when Derg went to market, he watched the kingdom's other residents back away as he passed by, every one of them leery of being forced to solve riddles. I'm nothing like a troll! he thought. Do they even look past the beard?

Little did they know that Derg also hated riddles. Riddles were tricksy, and they made him feel stupid. And short. Somehow, they always made him feel short.

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The E Train
Idol Wheel Of Chaos | Week 1 | 7 x 100 words
Quality

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Queenie
"Can't carry the world, can't bury the world," her mama used to say, but somehow Queenie was still trying.

With her daughter going to prison, there'd be two more mouths to feed. Queenie was headed to Brooklyn, where the food pantries were supposed to be better. She'd never used them before, but a secretary's salary only stretched so far.

Where would her grandbabies sleep? Her own kids already used the sofa. Guess she'd have to put them in her bed, at least for now. Anything but foster care.

Queenie couldn't protect her daughter anymore, but she'd keep her children safe.


Umesh
Umesh wasn't nervous yet. He was on his way to the airport, to fly home and begin the process of choosing a bride.

He wasn't sure he was ready, but he was twenty-eight and he'd already outlasted his mother's patience. He'd hoped he might meet someone on his own, but it hadn't happened. And his parents wanted him to marry a traditional girl, even though Umesh was a modern man.

He wanted someone pretty and accomplished, but who knew what women his mother had selected? Would the beautiful Anjali be among them?

Umesh shivered. No, he wasn't nervous at all.


Anthony
Quit yer bellyachin', he thought, his father's voice still in his head after all these years. So what if he hated his job? The pay was good. Not everyone got to live their dream. His dream was drinking beer and watching baseball, so no chance of making a living there.

If he had a car, he wouldn't have to ride this goddamn train. And if you was a surgeon, you wouldn't be going to Mrs. Sepka's to fix her toilet.

But there was a game on tonight, and Billy was coming over with a six-pack. Suddenly, things were looking up.


Lainie
It was just after eight o'clock, but Lainie was already drunk. She sat in the back left corner, her usual spot, and watched the other passengers' eyes slide past her. She used to be just like them.

Losing John had destroyed her. Five months she'd known it was coming, but that hadn't prepared her for the crushing grief that followed. Two years later now, she didn't want to die, but she couldn't figure out how to live.

Better to numb the pain and hope it would someday leave her.

Someday, she thought.

But today would not be when that happened.


Isabella
Isabella fingered the acceptance letter inside her purse. Medical school! It was everything she'd ever wanted.

She knew she had a hard road ahead of her. The studying would be intense, and then the years of internship and residency, and after that she still had to pass the boards. But it'll be worth it.

She was dressed in her most businesslike clothes now, on the way to interview for a loan. She hoped she looked grown-up, instead of like a kid going with her grandmother to the ballet.

And Illinois… She'd never been. But she couldn't wait to get started.


Teo
Abuela smelled like cinnamon, the most delicious smell there was. Teo's stomach growled as he thought about churros, but those were a Saturday treat, so he played with his toy car instead.

Down his leg and over the back of the empty seat in front of him it went. He imagined being a race-car driver, though "pirate" and Futbolista were still his favorites.

Abuela touched his cheek and offered him a slice of mango. "Tres paradas," she said. Teo could count to tres.

He watched treetops go by as the train rushed past. This is the world the birds see…


Yuri
Yuri's duffel bag held everything he could carry.

He'd hoped for acceptance, but he hadn't been surprised. There was no room in his parents' culture for boys like him.

"When did this happen?" his mother had asked, but Yuri always knew. He was just tired of hiding, and Andrei's smile had made him brave. Even if his parents never forgave him, he was still running to something instead of away from it. Andrei's house was just a few miles down the track, now.

Down below, sunlight glinted off car windows, a stream of stars pointing the way toward Yuri's future.


--/--

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Our yard has been spared this year, thank goodness. But there's a spot where I frequently rest out on the bike path, and somewhere nearby is a nest of baby birds screaming their heads off. Have I mentioned how much I hate that sound? It's high-pitched and torturous, a sound akin to squeaking styrofoam, or basketball shoes screeching on a wooden floor, or dry-erase markers shrieking on a whiteboard. Ughhhh. Part of me wonders if cats hunt out birds' nests just to make that noise stop.

OTOH, I do love seeing fuzzy babies out and about this time of year. I have yet to see ducklings on the parkway, but I've already seen turklets, baby quail the approximate size of chicken eggs, and some adolescent Canadian geese. The geese were too far along to be cute, but the other chicks were fun.

The rest of life has been work-work-work and despairing of how many boxes still aren't unpacked. The whole thing exhausts me. I got my office filing cabinet assembled (god, EVERYTHING is DIY these days), and put the returned files away after sorting through them and discarding a ton of stuff. But framed pictures? There are two hanging up in the entire house, plus 1 mirror. Other wall decorations? Ahahahahaha! On the plus side, I used the Neighborhood app to advertise free moving boxes, so I have now gotten rid of anything that would be useful for other people (apart from the tons of packing paper). That means we can have someone come and cart all the remaining stuff off to the recycling center. That will free up room in the garage for one of the cars, and also allow us to try to sell the furniture we decided not to put back in the house.

Bookwise, I finished This Is How You Lose The Time War (lovely, and reminiscent of Catherynne M. Valente), A Drink Before The War (currently reading the sequel), and The Staircase In The Woods. I'm reading much slower than before we moved back home, though. I used to get through a book in about 6-7 days, and now it takes me twice that long. :(

In viewing, we have seen The Accountant 2 and The Ballerina in the theater. That last movie is everything I could have hoped for in a John Wick-adjacent universe, and it also has flame-throwers. Whoo! On TV, I finished The Hidden (good series overall), Agatha Raisin, and My Life is Murder, all on Acorn. I sprang for Apple-TV short-term so I could watch Severance S2. That was good, though I think it wallowed a little too much in minor character backstory in the middle episodes. We also watched Slow Horses, which we've really enjoyed. And similarly, I'm paying for BritBox for a few months, so we've watched The City And The City, we're watching Thorne, and we're rewatching Shetland with our son. I will also watch The Pembrokeshire Murders, some other version of S1 of The Hidden, and Criminal Record, before we cancel the service.

Our son is staying here while he studies for the California Bar, which is great for us! I would like to plan a family vacation for after he takes the Bar and before he starts his new job. But first, I have to figure out what our options are for our ridiculously high-maintenance scarf-and-barf cat. \o?