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Tuesday 20 October 2009

Portrait Of Words #19...





This writing challenge has changed. Originally Jeff (A Word in Edgewise) started up this monthly challenge, derived from a previous challenge from R.E.H.'s "Picture Fiction Challenge", but Jeff has given it up and Dr. John (Dr. John's Fortress) and Thom (Thom's Place 4 Well Whatever) have taken over. The challenge is now every two weeks and you can get all the details here, where you can also pick up the links to read all the entries. Do pop over and read, you won't be disappointed.


I haven't written one for a while but I felt inspired by these particular photos, so here goes....






Sheila was busy arranging the altar flowers for Sunday morning service, in the church that had stood in the centre of the village for centuries. It was a beautiful village, peaceful and friendly.






The surrounding countryside attracted a lot of visitors such as ramblers and people just out for a Sunday drive or, quite often, people came for a peaceful weekend staying at the local pub which had half a dozen rooms to let. Everyone in the village was friendly and helpful, there was no crime and apart from the occasional ‘too much to drink’ after a family party, which Sheila found acceptable, the village was a veritable paradise, even her husband had loved it.




The flowers had been cut from her garden this morning. She was proud of her garden and her semi-detached cottage not far from the church. Sheila had moved here with her husband when they had retired, as it wasn’t too far away from town where their son lived but was a lot quieter obviously. When her husband had died, only two years into retirement, her son had asked her to move back to town and live with him and his wife but by then Sheila had settled into country life, making many friends in the village. She decided to stay and ten years on was a long established member of the church council, which is how she had been able to arrange for her grandson to be baptised there. She was looking forward to the service tomorrow, it wasn’t to be just a Sunday Service it was the day her first grandchild was to be Baptised, a momentous occasion.


“Poor little Daryl must have colic” she thought, he started screaming as soon as they brought him into the church and hadn’t stopped since. Hopefully he wouldn’t carry on through the baptismal service, how embarrassing would that be? The godparents were called to the font by the vicar as they desperately they tried to calm the yowling baby. Sheila was getting more and more agitated watching her squirming grandson being passed from pillar to post in an effort to placate him. Eventually it was time for the child to be given to the vicar for the blessing, which made the child’s crying even worse. The vicar made the sign of the cross on the baby’s head with the holy water and there was an audible gasp as Daryl projectile vomited green bile all over the vicar’s cassock! Sheila was mortified when she heard a member of the congregation mutter “Maybe they should have called him Damien, he’s obviously a demon!”


“Maybe it’s time to move back to town. Daryl has inherited more than his grandfather’s eyes” thought Sheila.



28 comments:

quilly said...

LOL! Wonderful story. It did leave me wondering though, how does one nurse a baby vampire?

Anonymous said...

Goodness me Akelamalu. Welcome back my friend. You certainly haven't lost your touch and it's so good to read you again. Well done. Very eerie and perfect for the season. Thanks for participating :)

Susan at Stony River said...

Oh no! What a baptism ceremony! LOL Our baby screamed all the way through hers; the other two were angels. But none turned out to be a little vampire ROFL I love how this story turned around from sweet English village charm, to such an ending!

G-Man said...

I hate puke. And all talk of puke!
Nicely written story though.
(except for the puke part)
*wink*

James Goodman said...

Oh, that was great, AK. Very fitting story for the season. :D

Daryl said...

Fabulous .. even if you spelled Daryl the girls way

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

well the little scamp! ha ha ha

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Akelamalu said...

Oooh Quilly - carefully I would imagine! LOL

Glad you found it so Dumdad :)

I missed POW so much Thom I thoroughly enjoyed writing one again. :)

We could hear our youngest screaming just before he emerged at birth honestly Susan. We checked his head for 666!

I don't like puke either G-man but it's what babies do even if they're not vampires! LOL

You know James, I completely forgot it was almost Halloween! Glad you liked it.

My husband's cousin was called Daryl and that's how he spelt it Daryl. Maybe it's different over here. :)

I'm not sure scamp is the right description for him Bee LOL

Gledwood said...

Here is a portrait of Japanese words:

日本語の単語

!

;->...

Gledwood said...

Notice to the lefthandside of the 3rd and 6th characters this motif:



it is a mouth letting out hot air and means "to say"

the 3rd character meaning "-ese" (of Japanese); the 6th meaning "words" ...

Gledwood said...

... and this is the symbol for mouth:

Akelamalu said...

Thanks for the Japanese lesson Gleds. LOL

Casdok said...

Loved your portrait of words, and yes very nearly halloween!

cheshire wife said...

What had his mother been feeding him? Some parents take this 'green' issue too far!

Dr.John said...

You have talent. I never saw that coming. But then most of what I know of story writing I learned from you.
It seemed like saw a nice quiet story. Green bile. Yuck.

bindhiya said...

Dear Akelamalu,
Great one! as always you have a way with words!!
♥ & ((hugs))
bindi

Spiky Zora Jones said...

Boo! hehehehe...I loved it.
You always capture my attention with your 'picture words.'

You arrange them like a film editor...a mini movie, you know what I'm saying huh?
I'm bringing pop corn and a diet drink next time round.

thanks honey. :)

clean and crazy said...

awe, the poor little guy maybe he should have puked on those catty women!!

Maude Lynn said...

This is hilarious! How clever!

Nessa said...

These were very good pictures.

Your story is just in time for Halloween. Boo!

Akelamalu said...

Thanks Casdok, glad you enjoyed it. :)

LOL Well spotted Cheshire Wife!

Oh Dr. John you are too kind really. YOUR story writing is second to none m'dear.

Aw thankyou Bindi x

Oh yes, make yourself comfy Spiky, I am so pleased you enjoy what I write. xx

Oh, yes that would have so served them right Clean and Crazy!

Cheers Mama Zen, glad you enjoyed it. :)

Yes the pictures fitted in nicely for halloween Nessa :)

Julia Phillips Smith said...

As soon as I read this - 'It was a beautiful village, peaceful and friendly' - I couldn't wait to get to the end!

Flowerpot said...

great pics Ak - well done again!

Akelamalu said...

Aw thanks Julia I'm so pleased you enjoyed it. :)

Cheers Flowerpot.

Cheffie-Mom said...

Hahahahaha!! Great post!! Quilly - your comments crack me up!!

Maggie May said...

At first I thought the vicar was going to drop him in the font and drown him!
Enjoyed reading it.
I used to love writing these but felt I needed more than a week to do it because of my busy lifestyle.
Nuts in May

Gledwood said...

bloody hell!

... If I could have inherited real vampire-style incizors/whatever they're called that would be exceedingly funky!

Akelamalu said...

Thanks Cheffie Mom.

Now there's an idea Maggie! You actually get two weeks to write POWs, so go on have a go!

I saw a photo somewhere recently where someone had their incisors filed into fangs Gleds!