Photo Flash Fiction?

This is my first time, but I've seen this on a couple different blogs. Sunday Photo Fiction!

Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge to write a story of less than 200 words, based on a photo prompt. To join the fun...
Click on this link 

image: Joy Pixley

“Here. It’s perfect.”

“Out here in the open? They’ll find us.”

“No, the big hollowed out boulder! Perfect hiding place. We could practically set up house in there.”

“I’m not hiding in a skull.”

“You are such a wimp, Bobby.”

Sally clambered up the rocks from the shore. She reached back to offer her little brother a hand. He was never a bold one, but she didn’t think he was superstitious enough to decline shelter. Standing in front of the rock, she agreed with him. “It really does look like a skull. Oh well.”

Sally slung the backpack full of that morning’s pickings into the eye-socket and searched for a foothold, so she could join the bag. She looked back at Bobby, mesmerized by the rock, eyes wide. “Bobby! Get up here! They’re coming!” 

Finally hearing the distant sirens, Bobby accepted her hand and joined her in the eye. Within minutes, it started to rain. At least that might wash away any footprints they left in the sand.

Sally opened the backpack to see what kind of goodies they managed to grab from that electronics store in town, as the sirens passed on the road behind them.

Word count: 197

What Else Am I Going to do With my Time?

Now that I'm writing a book, everything is fodder.

Oh, yeah. Now that I'm almost through (ish), I guess I'm ready to say that I'm writing a book.

Any person who stands out to me through a random experience might turn up in a scene sometime. They might not recognize themselves, but if you are in my head, you might come out sometime. Or, a version of you might come out.

The owner of an Italian restaurant we once visited was so warm and open - the epitome of "When you're here you're family", except we weren't at that chain. This guy greeted everyone with a smile and handshake, and asked your name, then handed out musical instruments and invited you to play along with the pianist. The best Italian experience of my life. And a colorful enough personality that he's easy to convey on a page.

I'm working on a character who is sort of a blend of two people I know. I'll never tell them though, because neither one is fully there, and even if I completely made a character after one person, I'm not trying to write that person, I'm really just writing my perception of things that have happened. I could be totally wrong!

For months, I've had a loose idea of a story vaguely inspired by a wide variety of experiences I have observed family and friends go through. 

So I have a new perspective on social occasions: Observer for inspiration. 
In the US, I had more social anxiety than I've had here, but I still don't love being part of big groups, and even one-on-one sometimes takes getting in the right frame of mind to get me out the door. But now I think: What will happen tonight? What will I hear that might become a character's thought? Will any tiny instance relate into a larger story? 

I think of things like the checkout girl at Target in Indy who gave me some good advice on bargain shopping. Like the guy who cut my hair once and told me about overpricing of women's hair products. Like the woman at FedEx who told me I brightened her day because I was patient and smiled. 

My book has dozens of these. Tiny instances that didn't exactly happen to me the way I write them but were inspired by something like that. 
Do you ever think of the intricate life behind that random person you interact with once or twice and never see again? What do you think happens?

Taking a Sick Day

I was supposed to be helping at a Children's home today, but I woke up with ... how to put this delicately ... discomfort in the guts? In Asia, I have learned that if I have any doubt about my digestive system, I'd best stay home. So I canceled at the last minute and said I'll get to next month's event instead.

I didn't eat crazy food yesterday, although my husband thought it looked like they had put ham on my chicken pizza last night. I didn't notice pieces and didn't taste it, but if it was there, my body does not know how to digest pork products anymore so that might be it.

Then again, during my lovely, restful day yesterday, he was busily looking up new houses and apartments to visit, expanding our rental parameters, reaching out on forums, trying to contact our agent, etc. At the end of the day, we have two places to look at tomorrow, and three in a neighboring city on Tuesday. That's enough to cause a little anxious-tummy, too.

I am excited to get into a bigger place, but the actual deciding is a bit stressful. It's not a conscious stress, but every day is a "what if" and that wears a person down. 

So I'm home again today. Writing, writing, writing. How's your weekend going? Big plans for the coming week?

I Spoke too Soon

You know that saying "Don't count your chickens before they hatch?"

Yeah. 

That beautiful house from my previous post (here) is not going to be ours. It was just a handshake and verbal agreement, so no harm, no foul.

The landlord's wife wasn't 100% on board with renting it out. Her parents live in the little cottage next door, and I guess she got used to being there so much. Now that the house is almost done, she decided she just can't part with it.

Poor guy, he was SO apologetic. But I have to hand it to him for the way he dealt with this. Monday night we got a message asking when we'd visit the house again, so we said we could come by Wednesday (this morning). We met our agent before going there, and she clued us in a little to her conversation with him but was encouraging about the prospect.

We all sat down together and he told us straight up what happened. He didn't say, flat out, "you can't have the house" but he said that his wife was not happy about it and they were arguing and she loves to be by her parents. I added that it seems like she wants to live there, which I think helped him open up about that. We all understood very clearly. I give him credit for 

• a) telling us face to face and not through text 
• b) standing with his wife - next time he will hopefully discuss things like this with her first 
• c) not beating around the bush and wasting our time.

SO DIFFERENT FROM CHINA! In China, no one likes to tell you "no" so they tell you all kinds of yesses until you find out that it's an actual no. Such a waste of time.

Today has been a good day! We didn't get the house we thought we were getting, but we learned a lot about the process from our agent, and we have a new friend in this landlord. He was SO apologetic, I honestly feel worse for him than for us.

Back to the drawing board. But as I told Brett, we started this process early enough that we were ahead of the game, now it's like we're just "on time" to begin the search.

How Did THIS Happen?

We found a house! We have agreed on a one-year lease and will go sign papers on August 1. So this will be a picture-blog. Although no place is ever perfect, we are both quite excited.

The doorway, obviously. Isn't it welcoming?

Inside the front door.

That table-looking thing to the left is a "fa'an" (no idea how to spell it in Vietnamese) It will be covered with cushions and blankets, for relaxing to read or watch TV. It's a luxury item in Vietnamese houses. Yes, there are flowers painted on the inset wall that holds the TV. I wouldn't have probably thought of it, but I don't mind. It adds color and life!

Ample kitchen/dining space, and a washing machine will be added beyond that glass door.

I love the stairs. That area at the top of the landing will be my workspace.

The whole upstairs has these ceilings.

My workspace, blurry.

See? All that wood!

At the far end of the hallway beyond where Brett is talking to the owner are:

1. A large space that will serve as my yoga/meditation/reading room
2. Brett's office - all enclosed with a solid door and everything!
3. A would-be bathroom that will become the shower room. Both bathrooms have showers - an open shower head along the wall between the toilet and sink. Water everywhere. We just don't get it! This extra room was supposed to be a bathroom, but he changed his mind so there's nothing in it, just a drain in the floor with a place to attach a shower head. Which he will do for us.

The 3rd floor "storage" area will turn into a guest room.

View down from the 2nd floor. I love the stairs.

Did I mention I love the stairs? The owner is the architect, so everything was designed with creativity and beauty in mind. Therefore the fancy ceilings. Therefore also a lot of scented wood. "It keeps away mosquitoes." I'm so glad he's leaving the heavy, scented, wardrobes that will keep away mosquitoes!

It's not actually on the market yet, but the owner mentioned it in answer to an expat's question in a forum, and Brett happened to see it. Coincidence? Or God at work?

The Last Hodgepodge for a While

It's HODGEPODGE time! I started joining Joyce over at "From This Side of the Pond" a few weeks back. This will be her last Hodgepodge link-up until September, so I guess I'd better make it good. If you want to join in, it's a nice, quick little bloghop, just 6 questions. Click the link under the image.

Click HERE

1. I feel most energized when I ____________________.
Workout. Well, workout properly. I haven't had a proper "workout" since moving overseas. I do yoga, I get some strength training at home. I even did a couple online cardio workouts while in Beijing, so maybe that counts. (I definitely worked up a sweat.) But my primary exercise is walking. I miss getting up and hitting the gym for an hour before going to work.

2. Where were you ten years ago?
WOW. July of 2008, I was living in Delaware... that's four moves ago! That's the place I call home. I was working on my Masters, living and working at the beach. I had friends and margaritas. I still have the friends, but I don't see them anymore.

3. July 17th is World Emoji Day. Do you use emojis? Which one's your favorite? Your most used?
I wasn't much of an emoji user - only in Messenger, really. But then I moved to China. Chinese people use emojis more than possibly any other nationality on the planet. Maybe because the characters often have more than one meaning, and you can't hear tones in a text, so they add emojis. On WeChat -

the Chinese social media - they actually have a facepalm emoji! Why hasn't the western world done that yet? So yes, now I use emojis more than most of my western friends. In Wechat, I use the giggle emoji the most. On Facebook, probably the winkie.

4. What song would you put on a wedding DO NOT PLAY list? 
I have no idea. Anything tacky. Things like that 80s song "I like big butts and I cannot lie..." You know, anything I'd be ashamed for my mother to hear should NOT be played. Keep it classy, people.

5. What deserves less of your attention? More of your attention?
Less = games on my phone. I don't have many, but without working, I play them a lot. I just deleted one today.
More = people. I'm not naturally social, but maybe it would be good for me to put effort into the friendships I'm making here. My social anxiety has notably lowered since moving to Da Nang.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.
Joyce called this "Winds of Change Hodgepodge", and the questions do lead me to think about change. I'm at a place in life now where, once again, I'm trying to figure out how I fit. My identity is a bit up in the air. The person I am inside hasn't changed much but the way I live my life, and the obligations or lack thereof are extremely different. What is my role? What should I be doing? How do I do it? Can we afford it? 
For not going to church in a long time, I have to say my faith is about the strongest it's ever been.

Eating Habits

Real quick thought for today:

It's almost 5:00pm. I ate fruit early (8-ish) before we went to look at a house, then as soon as we got back I was STARVING, so we grabbed lunch to bring home from the tiny little hole-in-the-wall place near us: rice and tofu and egg and veg. That was before 11am. 

I was cautious about eating "lunch" so early, but everything is closed here from about 12:30-3:00, so if I didn't I would probably have had to eat my shoe. (or potato chips, something bad for me).

I just now realized that I'm not even hungry now when I should be!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Listen to your body. Eat when you're hungry, not at the "right" time.