Hush!

TSL Pandorathon May 31 (Prompt given by Santosh Bakaya)

A conversation between a snake charmer and a circus manager . The latter's conversation  littered with  ",hush ,do you see what I see !

What a fantasy world

She must be living in

Where a snake charmer

And a circus manager

Have a conversation . 

Here the snakes have no charm

They have fangs full of poison

We have snake catchers, oh yes,

But snake charmers, oh no!

Here the circuses aren’t 

Allowed to have animals

On show performance 

Ethics or escapism 

Into the bush? 

I don’t know.

But where ever you are

You’re sure to hear

 “-hush ,do you see what I see !”

It could be a bush turkey,

A lyrebird, a platypus,

Or a mundane kangaroo 

It all just depends on where you stand

And how lucky you are really.

It is a fantasy world too

It you’re so inclined.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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The scream

TSL Pandorathon May 30 (prompt given by Santosh Bakaya)

"How dare you !!!!" His words rolled out spasmodically, eyes riveted on a tailless lizard hanging from the ceiling.  Short fiction:  Humour, satire

We had arrived at the beach resort on Bali island after a taxi had driven. us from the busy industrial airport to   entrance gardens leading us to a huge straw covered wooden pavilion among the fragrant frangipanis trees and jasmine vines. It was a  mesmerising reception hall with no walls filled with low sofas and coffee tables . The staff was welcoming and friendly , already our luggage had been taken care of while we were filling official papers. Our flight had arrived early in the morning and the staff told us our room was not ready yet, so if we didn’t mind we were to have breakfast in

the hall. And in fact three waiters were preparing us a feast on one of the hall large square tables. It was a lavish spray of fresh fruits, danish pastries and croissants, coffee , tea and fresh pressed juices. So we just enjoyed it. The curious thing was we couldn’t see any tourists. A staff was sweeping a carpet, there was no noisy vacuum cleaner to distract us, and the swish swish of her broom was kind of relaxing. Eventually we were told our room was ready and to follow the steward. 

We walked behind him on an outside pathway wandering to our hut for the hotel was in fact a series of tropical huts set amongst lovely native gardens . Already, the short walk had us sweating in the high ambient humidity. Our hut was also straw hatched on the outside, but with a plastered ceiling inside, where a large fan was moving the thick heavy air. No air conditioning was on offer. We decided to change from our townies clothes and take a shower to refresh us from our night trip before exploring the rest of the resort. I went in the bathroom, it had the expected utilities, I got in the shower turned on the taps and screamed my head off when I was suddenly faced with a somewhat monstrous scaly creature stuck to the shower wall . I had already bolted from the shower cubicle and wrapped myself in the bathrobe of the hotel when the steward came in and tried to catch the nightmarish creature. It was even made more nightmarish, when the steward having caught it by its tail, the creature just shed it , and the steward stayed with the tail in his hand. It was my turn to be stuck to the wall, I was simply terrorised while the gecko creeped to the shower ceiling. The steward apologised for the inconvenience, telling me that each hut had a resident gecko, to keep out the vermin, it was a natural pest control and that they were totally inoffensive. As he couldn’t catch the gecko on the ceiling, he left the hut wishing us a “ good day”.

For me after having calmed down, and still eying the   beast,  I spoke those words,”Pervert creature, eyeing bathing innocent tourist,  How dare you !!! “My words rolled out spasmodically, eyes riveted on a tailless gecko hanging from the ceiling while I showered. 

We later learnt that the staff kept bets rolling on how long the first scream of horror would sound after  the  hotel guest had entered their room. Games men play!

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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The Beast

TSL pandorathon 

May 29 (prompt given by Sarmita Dey)

Write a horror story. (500 words)

I am the beast

I own your darkest fears

When the sun sets

My outstretched shadow

Melts itself in the obscurity 

My real self takes flight

Into the blackest sky

Guided by the stars

I hunt your souls 

Hidden as best as you can

But for me the beast

They’re as bright as a lighthouse beacon

I gather them and together

We ride the wild mares of the nightmares

In horror lands we trample without remorse

Your hope and happiness 

Extracting the pure essence 

Of your own atrocities 

For your darkness answer to mine

I am the beast and no one is innocent 

That is why you don’t pray to me

The reason why there’s no temple

Nor church built in my name

You wouldn’t dare to appeal to me

I am the beast I know you best

You tremble and shiver

Afraid you are

And yet I haven’t even started 

Still you bore me to death

I let you go you’re not worth

Of my attention 

There are so many

Return to your puny life

Miserable human

Try to make something of yourself

Before I finally come for you.

The beastly Lucette C. Bailliet 

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The interview

TSL Pandorathon May 28 (prompt given by Sarmita Dey)

Write a story in 500 words celebrating any festival that you love. Use only conversations/dialogue in your story.

Grumpy me!

• G’day, madam! Tell me what is your favourite festival?

-  I don’t like festivals, I don’t like people, full stop!

I don’t like  causes, I don’t like how the people behave : pretend they’re happy to see you when they’ve happily ignored you for a year. 

Most of them festivals are purely commercial to start with! Think about Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day. Rubbish day really! 

Some are preposterous really, the festival of the dead, well some News: they are dead! 

And nowadays a day is no longer enough,  you even have weeks or months take  October : cancer month is a good example , let’s celebrate! So you buy a daffodil and put it on your lapel, fabulous! 

I’m a cranky old sod, so be it! You don’t have to like it! 

You’re pushing a mike in my face to answer questions you’re interested in, not me! I’m wasting your time, yes , sir, as you’re are mine. Let us quit this pretend 

meeting and go on our merry way, I’ve got my shopping to do to celebrate my favourite day today!

Up yours, sir, hahaha.

-And there, ladies and gentlemen, one can see that festival time can be a  stressful time for some unfortunate persons like this old grumpy lady. 

Back to the studio, journo de facto.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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No gold, no silver

TSL Pandorathon 27  (Deepika KC Chand)

#Prompt: Use the synonyms of gold and silver to make a poem without using the word 'silver' and 'gold. Let's glitter and dazzle people...

In a far away galaxy

A planet imploded

Spreading around stardust

In a fireworks barely imagined

Of colours and hues

In this primeval maelstrom

An auriferous shard escaped 

The universal gravity pull 

For eons it travelled intraspace

Only to crash in our planet

Where it buried deep 

Inside its crust

In a splash of dust and particles

A seer saw it all in a vision

Prevailed on his followers

To go and dig deep

And bring him back

This wonder of nature

To make himself a parure

He said it was easy to find

As it was at the end of the rainbow

They followed rainbows 

And dug here and there

But could never find

The wonder there in 

For one does not capture

A sun bounty

When one has selfish wishes.

The seer continued 

To wear multicoloured feather coats

Dying of disappointment.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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Malice

TSL Pandorathon Prompt May 26 (Ampat Koshy)



Write a short story or flash fiction of 300 words on Malice in Malevolent Land and her encounter with Sane Matter, Had Matter, and Gray Matter, the three wizards of that place.



He is Malice incarnated, helped by his three stooges, the wizards. They have let him loose in Malevolent Land. He came with the will of the people, he got rid of the senior ministers, telling every one of them was corrupted. The crowd applauded, screaming “ down with corruption “. He put “Had matter” in charge of his new government, for he liked to play golf, and to govern was interfering with his ranking. He’s replaced his golf balls by the skulls of the virus victims. He finds it hardworking to go thru the daily count of fatalities despite what His second wizard , Sane Matter,  tells him, that it does not matter how many he scores in a day. He’s got a itchy finger to press that red button that would annihilate the world. It is only because Gray Matter, manages to distract him with tweeting  during the long hours of the  night.  It is obvious by now that Malice is an evil fool, but unfortunately the three stooges protect him.

Lucette C. Bailliet
All rights reserved
Sorry A. Koshy, I found a malicious male.

A classy lady

TSL Pandorathon 25 (Santosh Bakaya)

A conversation between a stray and a stiff-upper-lipped pomeranian.

SULP
Oh, my god, what are you? Where do you come from?

S
Oh darling, breath, don’t forget to breath! Don’t you swoon on me! The street belongs to me! I was born in the street, the street is my kingdom.
I should rather ask you, where are you from?
Because I can see you definitely do not belong here.
Oh don’t get it wrong, you smell good, enticing and alluring should I say and you’re an eye candy too! Can’t get better than that! What do you say , you and me?

SULP
Never heard such rubbish!
Vulgar and rough! Oh, no , you don’t!

(Starts barking)

S
Oh, you’re up to it, such fun. I love to play too. You play coy and  may put on those high airs, but I now your nature.
You’ll be mine by hook or by crook. You can run away, I like a good chase!

As he readies  himself to follow his new challenging love, a lasso passes around his neck, stops him in his track. All he sees next is the inside of a pound truck. That dame was a bait! And he had walked right into the trap! She was a real bitch, damn it, but what class !

SULP
She goes to the gentleman who pats her, says : “well done Lady, one less vagrant, you’re doing a good job!”
She is quiet, thinking:
He was sexy nonetheless, charming in own way that handsome stray  . King of the street, really, what imprudence, I am the queen of the street.

A whistle brings her to attention , and she hops on the back platform of the Ute and start to bark in honest, announcing to the world her rank.
“Will you stop that racket, you mongrel” her handler screams.

Lucette C. Bailliet
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Nonsense

TSL pandorathon Prompt 24 (Santosh Bakaya)

Write a twenty line nonsense verse, which makes a lot of sense.

., .., ...,

!, !!, !!!,

?,??,???

You, yes you, don’t you know,

Idiot! idiotic moron! Infra moronic idiot!

Why? Why now? Need to ask?

I, yes me, don’t I know,

Today! Not yesterday! Right now!

Here? Of course? And why not?

We, yes us, don’t we know,

Come! Go on! Let’s do it!

Say? Tell all? Don’t be shy?

TSL, the group, yes on Facebook,

Best! Simply is! It’s the best! 

I? Of course ? I Love it?

Mad, total madness, certainly it is,

Write! On prompts! One each day!

Prose? Poems? Everything goes there?

Bakaya, Santosh Bakaya, she who orders,

Smiling! Always smiling! Like the cat!

Obeyed? Not always? The proof?

Twenty-four lines of nonsense

Not making any sense

That is the proof!

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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The exorcist

TSL Pandorathon Prompt  23 ( Santosh Bakaya )

Take up the mantle of a stereotypical Excorcist and try to excorcise demons,  be they from a person, or society at large . 

Sisters and brothers 

Today pray with me 

I need your power

To rid the world of this evil

Demonic he is

One only needs to look 

At his skin colour

Orange it is

He is barely human

Today pray with me

For he preys on the vulnerable

He divides, incites violence

Spreads misinformation 

To kill people by the millions 

Believe he is the devil incarnate 

He is the destroyer of peace

Like all daemons he is self-indulgent

Lies he utters be the seconds

Rewrites history to fit his own

We need to act together

Brothers and sisters

Leave your donations 

In the passing basket

For the battle will be long.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

All rights reserved 

The birthday celebration

TSL pandorathon Prompt 22 (by Santosh Bakaya)



A short story in 500 words where two lovers meet after a very , very long time .  The story should have a twist in the tale.



They met for his eighty-nine birthday in this time of social distancing in the Versailles gardens. He had no problems with walking despite having had in the last ten years two knees replacement surgeries, he could not longer run, but walking was alright, he said.
She had organised a picnic, baguette, pâté, ham, pickles, salad, cheese, apple pie . She had even brought a candle, a lighter and a bottle of champagne, Laurent Perrier, his favourite.
The weather was a perfect mild spring day, the royal chestnuts trees were in bloom.
They reminisced about the old time, when love was strong with them, when life had not yet separated them. They had stayed friends all those years, she had become his confident.  They had come to the present situation.
He told her his present companion has been diagnosed with stomach cancer  and unfortunately it was in its final stages. That  while his third wife was under perfusion and morphine at the hospital , she was so bored that she insisted to be allowed to return home and it was such a stressful situation to organise a medical bed and medical home treatment. He really didn’t know if it was worth it for the doctors didn’t give her more than two weeks.
She asked him what he was going to do after the passing of his third wife, he said he didn’t know, really. He hadn’t thought about it.
She suggested that maybe he would like to move in with his daughter , he simply refused . No, he didn’t want to move from Paris, France. First of all, he would be isolated speaking only French, he had forgotten he spoke English at one time. She suggested that he might move to a retired village facility. No,  he didn’t fancy that either, he wanted to do as he pleased, as he had always done. Didn’t she see?
Well, she thought, no. He was losing his grasp on reality, refusing to address his mortality. He was speaking about returning to cycling during summer time.
They were having a good time, the bubbly having its mellowing effect. He called her , my darling like in the old days. She felt loved and valued as a dear friend. Then it came from the left side, he was asking her if would she move in after his third wife had passed.
She roared with anger, threw to the contents of her glass to his face. Called him a bastard, his wife not even dead , he was already playing with the next candidate! He was trying to find someone to cook, to clean after him, that was all. She stomped away and left him to find his way home. What a birthday celebration it turned out to be, she thought, typical of him really, he had always been a selfish bastard!


Lucette C. Bailliet
All rights reserved

Humpty Dumpty

TSL pandorathon prompt 21 - Humpty Dumpty

By Santosh Bakaya

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Collecting Fabergé eggs

Of gold, pearls and diamonds 

While his hens forced to lay eggs

Had no grain to pick on

The war came on

Penury followed

The wall collapsed 

Humpty Dumpty

Had a great fall

Laying on the ground

Shell all cracked around

Among the scramble he was 

Trampled upon by his troops

Too happy to feed on him

Noting gleefully 

‘One can’t make an omelette 

Without breaking eggs’

Nicking the fabulous Fabergé eggs

In their deep military pockets.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

All rights reserved 

Doughnuts

TSL PandoraThon 20 Prompt  (by Santosh Bakaya)

Write a ghost story in the form of a rhyming sonnet .   Mandatory use of the following five  words:  Cinnamon , honey doughnut , gluttony , lantern .



 Switch off your lanterns and listen
To the story of Lucette’s gluttony
She couldn’t resist the alluring smell
Of fresh cinnamon doughnuts  glazed with honey

She simply couldn’t stop at one
A box of six was but the work of a moment
Twelve took a reasonable time
But Multiply that by six boxes

You can see the problem
She couldn’t find enough time in a day
To go through them all
She was only human.

Now she haunts the doughnuts bakery
Humming ‘ I so love doughnuts’ .


Lucette C. Bailliet
All rights reserved
So sorry Santosh Bakaya
Too tired to try rhyming



I owe you a box of doughnuts!

Blocking

May 19th: 

TSL Pandorathon Prompt given by Ampat Koshy

Write a poem or a short prose piece or short story explaining why

a. you unfriended someone

b. you blocked someone

c. someone unfriended you

d. someone blocked you

on FB 

Choose only one of the four above options.

————————————————

Why do I block someone on Facebook ?

Mostly when they annoy me

How do they annoy me?

Well, when men send me pictures

Of their dicks for instance 

My imagination is working fine

I need no inspiration in the matter

Thank you so much and adieu!

Well, when well meaning bigots 

Insist telling me I’m wrong being an atheist

I let them believe in their fairy tales

Take my reverence 

And once again I say adieu!

No harm done

I don’t have the urge

Nor the energy

To dispute or argue

Strangers egos!

Lucette C. Bailliet 

All rights reserved

Crowies

TSL Pandorathon Prompt May 18th given by Rituparna Khan

Prompt:  Use the tag line of any advertisement and write a poem (within 30 lines) or a short prose (300 words) on it.

Example: "Boost is the secret of my energy."

Crowies

So you know the ad

It makes me think of you 

“ At Crowies, we know the answers”

 It claims on TV breaks

For at least five years now

Since we moved in this place

It proclaims to be the expert

On paint business

And that it knows the answers

Of the questions it asks itself

The supposedly client is a puppet

In the camera lenses , 

Nodding his head

Rolling his eyes in answer 

To Crowies questions

It is like you when you ask sweetly

What would you like for dinner

“ fish or chicken ?” Adding quickly

“But you know the fish won’t keep long”

So I have only an expected answer 

“Fish” of course and happy 

You walk away having tricked me! 

Or what about the one

“Which macaroon would you like

With your coffee? “

Eying with trepidation the raspberry one

Relaxing only when comes my answer

“I’ll have the pistachio one, thank you”

You trained me well

As Crowies says, I know the answers.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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Revenge

TSL Pandorathon Prompt May 17th (given by Debraj Moulick)


Form to be used:  Shakespearean sonnet. The first twelve lines are divided into three quatrains with four lines each. The poem ends with a couplet ( two lines). There should be fourteen lines only.  A single poem only  Theme  A murder scene, you are the murderer.  Reason : It could be anything : you are a serial killer, jealousy, an enemy, a murder assignment, you could be a cop... Play with your dark side. Example : 1. Desdemona’s murder in Othello.                     2. Browning’s Porphyria’s Lover.


Revenge


You broke my heart a thousand times
Your time has now come
You work long hours, you are so tired
Not tired enough for me

At a stroke of your keyboard
Millions are transferred
You touch a commission
You are rich of money, but poor in time

For unknown to you, to your computer
I made a few modifications
Each time you press certain keys
Each time you receive radiation

They are the ones which spell
I love you dearest
Death by a thousand key strokes
I can’t imagine better revenge

All your money
Won’t save you!


Lucette C. Bailliet
All rights reserved

The Butcher

TSL pandorathon Prompt May 16 (given by Sarmita Dey)

Write a spine chilling murder mystery where the culprit/s are nabbed in the end. The story should not have more than four characters. The maximum word limit is 1000 words

“Murder most gruesome” read the newspapers headlines : human head discovered during rubbish collection on Royal Parade. Our journalist can reveal it is the head of a male aged around fifty years old. The police is looking for the body.

“The plot thickens” read the newspapers headlines the following day: Human foot found on Royal Parade! A cyclist fell over something , after examination he found it was a human foot. He immediately called the police.
It turns out the foot belongs to a female body.

“ Serial killer strikes again” read the headlines the following day. A human torso was found hanging in an elm tree on Royal Parade. The police is calling to the public for any information. The torso belongs to a male teenager.

On page three, a small article mentioned the mysterious disappearance of the abattoir CEO, a man of fifty years old. He had not been seen since Friday night.  A missing person alert had been posted. The family is calling to the public for any information . A reward of $20000 is offered.

“Serial killer on the loose” read the headlines on the following day in what seemed a gleeful way: a  hand was found hanging on a door knocker on Royal parade. The killer has a chilling sense  of black humour. The police has decided to patrol Royal Parade day and night reports our journalist. The hand belongs to a female senior citizen.

The police have called a press conference, revealing an unknown fact: “all  human parts belong to different persons. Missing persons alert have been issued. All human remains have been worked upon with what the police reckon above average cutting skills. The work points to a butcher. The first victim has been identified, it is the late Abattoir CEO. The family has identified the head , the police is still looking for his body. The inquiry is continuing. The police are hopeful of a rapid conclusion.”

“ Breakthrough in Royal Parade crimes inquiry” exclusive
report, all the headlines claimed, identity of the “Butcher” revealed! They went on: the police have arrested a young male aged 26, and charged him. Bail has been refused .
He was working in the boning room of the abattoir while studying medicine. Under a psychotic episode he killed his boss, the abattoir CEO, his personal assistant, and waited for the daily closedown . He started to dissect them at night in the boning room as he was late in his anatomy assignments. One evening one of the cleaning boy saw him in action, so he killed him. Everyday he was delivering one assignment at the University on Royal Parade. On a nightly delivery an old woman walking her dog on Royal Parade saw him lifting the torso of the teenager in the tree. He killed her too . No remains other than the already found
Parts will be found as the “ Butcher” put the remains
Through the bones crushers at the abattoir. So far the “Butcher has shown no remorse.”
Let’s hope he stays behind bars for the rest of his life.

Lucette C. Bailliet
Journalist for the Gazette
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Unnatural

TSL Pandorathon Prompt May 13 (given by Kabir Deb)

Write a controversial poem. Use a fable in it, mix it with what everyone considers unnatural. Draw a picture with your poem's words about something that shakes every possible ground of human conscious.

When Kronos and Uranus ate their own children 

That was unnatural but they were gods

When Zeus loved Leda in the shape of a swan

That was unnatural but he was a god

When Hephaestus split Zeus’s head 

With an axe, Athena in full armour

Sprang forth from his head

That was unnatural but they were gods

When Zeus has Prometheus sent an eagle

To devour his liver renewing itself everyday

That was unnatural but they were gods

When you ask me to believe in a god omnipresent 

My answer is that’s unnatural.

Lucette C. Bailliet 

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