Are you wearing green today? If not, beware pinching fingers! ;) For this #OAFlash fiction contest, write 300 words using the prompt four leaf clover. Your entry doesn't have to be centered around it, but does need to have a reference to the lucky little thing in there somewhere. Have your entry in by noon on Sunday, EST. Winner will be announced later that evening. Rules here.
Good luck!
12 comments:
This sounds like a fun contest. Sadly, I don't have time to write an entry, but I'll be interested in reading the winner's entry. Meanwhile, thanks for the reminder to wear green today! Have a great day and week-end.
"I want that clover" he growled as he searched the garden viciously.
"I must tell you" the small gardener said as he tried to stop the monster.
The flowers and dirt flew all over the place as the monster attacked the plants,
the spit dripping from its mouth landed on the ground.
"It's mine" he growled again.
"But sir please" the little gardener tried again but was shoved to the side. The
little gardener sighed and started to pick up the plants telling each of them
it would all be okay.
"Where are they?" the beast growled "I know you planted them, I watched you" the
little gardener couldn't help the smile which crossed his weathered face.
"What are you smiling about you little toad?" the monster roared.
"I have been trying to tell you something important" the monster stormed off.
With a giggle the little man picked up the tarp which the monster threw over some
small plants when he first stormed into the garden.
"Well my little friends I guess you are safe now" he leaned down and removed a weed
from the 4 leaf clovers. "Glad he wasn't too bright. Now we just have to mend our
friends and our party will be complete."
He adjusted his tie and with a tip of his hat he was gone.
Moral: Never under estimate your opponent for you never know where
your four leaf clover will hide.
You came to the patch of dirt with encouragement from the weeds, where stray dandelions puffed their heads of seeds and you sent wishes to the sky. You came for the bark and sticks, the wind and the blue above. But you really came to escape the insides of your house. The yelling and crying. The mother who wouldn’t leave. The father who knew she’d stay. You came because it was the only stance you could take, the only way to be free in the middle of their storms.
“Nothing much here grows,” they said.
But you knew that wasn’t true. For here in the garden grew you. A little girl. Poetry and ideas. Things bigger than the little girl herself. With water from a glass jar you mixed mud soup. Fairy guests fluttered in your mind and you fed them on stories and make believe, on four leaf clovers and gum nuts.
Until the days you didn’t come. The garden left behind. You grew older with the passing days. No more stories. Too much lost and hurt within you for dreams to grow.
Then one day it happens.
Your own little boy and his own little garden. Rocks, mud pies, and sand cakes sprinkled with grass. And of course four leaf clovers.
“Play with me, Mamma? Feed the fairies?”
You stammer. “I can’t. I don’t remember how.”
His face. It falls like a star from the worlds above. And he turns away.
But you do remember. You remember all too well.
“Wait. Fairies?”
He nods. Eyes hopeful. “Let me see. Yes, they like sand cakes, but also mud soup. Do you know how to make mud soup?”
And the afternoon grows longer, the skies the color of pink lemonade. Once more you send wishes to the skies.
Love and Luck Needed
3. Toss. 3. Toss. 3 Toss. Lisa paused and closed her eyes. Would she ever find one? She rolled her shoulders and got back to work. 3. Toss. 3 Toss. 4 T… Wait. Yes! It was a 4 leaf clover. She jumped up and twirled around in the field.
Finally. She could finally make the wish. Her luck had returned. Love was in sight. She already had faith and hope. Danny wouldn’t be able to hold out any longer. Gran had told her so often about how she had gotten Grandpa with her own 4 leaf clover.
She put it carefully in her shoe and made her way to the garage where Danny was working. She could feel the power of the charm working on her. She was ready to face Danny and demand he choose.
As she walked toward Danny, he looked up from the counter and stared. She walked around the counter, put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him. His arms went around her and she was pulled against him. Yes. This was what she wanted. To be held, to be loved. Danny lifted his head and smiled.
“What brings you here Lisa?”
“I love you Danny and it’s time you know. What are you going to do about it?”
Danny chuckled. “It’s about time. I thought you’d never see the light. I love you too darlin’. “
Lisa flung herself into his arms once again. The charm had done its work. She had her man. Life was good.
"You don't have to do this, Lucky. You really don't, lad," the man bound to the chair said.
Lenny bent to pick up the man's cane, pushing aside the hat that was on top of it. "Name's Lenny, I told you that!" he sneered.
He was doing this for Ma, he reminded himself, ignoring the certain knowledge that she'd beat him bloody if she knew what he was up to.
Lenny walked a full circuit around the small man, running the cane in the dirt and ignoring the man’s pleas. He paused to inspect his work. It maybe wasn't a perfect four leaf clover, but it’d do.
"Listen, I'll follow another one, and that one can be yours, lad. You don't need -"
"Shut up," Lenny spit out. He didn't really want to do this. He looked at the floor, pretending to check the line. He was torn. He needed the gold to help Ma, to get her a good doctor. He couldn't watch her in another day of pain. Not one more day.
But he also didn't want to kill the leprechaun.
He didn't have time to wait for a rainbow. He had to do this. He steeled himself.
The leprechaun sighed. "Aye, laddie. Do what you have to. But ye be warned, luck is a fickle thing."
Lenny lunged forward and stabbed the leprechaun in the chest with the cane. He must’ve hit his heart, as the clover shape drawn in the dirt started to glow green.
"I did it!" Lenny glanced wildly around, looking for the pot of gold that would appear upon the leprechaun's death. "I did it for you, Ma, I di--"
Lenny was cut short as a massive pot full of shiny gold coins crushed him.
Sorry for the delay in announcing the winner, it will happen later today. Thanks for your patience!!
What a neat conclusion! I can only bet their cases are quite sparse.
Beautiful!
So lovely. =)
Nice twist!! And as a mom myself, I really feel for Lenny's mom. I know she'd much rather remain sick than her child go before she does. =(
Aw, poor guy & his plants. =)
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