Arriving home from a long day at work, Sara entered the living room with heavy footsteps and plopped down on the couch. “What a day,” she muttered as she fought back the tears of frustration. “I don’t think it could have gotten any worse.”
Just as her mind began to replay the day’s events, her two cats appeared. The gray tabby, Tiger, and the black cat, Soot, paused inside the doorway and gazed at Sara for a moment. When Sara turned to look at them, the two cats ran into the room and began chasing each other around.
Sara watch as Soot chased Tiger around a few times, going back and forth in front of the TV and around the coffee table. Then Tiger chased Soot around the table a few times, with Soot at one point jumping up on the couch and running across the back before jumping back down to the floor and continuing the chase. The chase came to an end when Tiger found a catnip mouse in a corner and began playing with it, kicking it in the air and batting it across the floor while Soot watched, only to have Soot eventually steal it and run off with it before batting it back towards Tiger.
As Sara watched the two cats, she slowly felt her frustration slipping away and a smile forming on her lips. When Soot suddenly began to chase his tail, she began to laugh.
At the sound of her laugh, the two cats paused in their play to look at her, then they ran over and jumped up into her lap. Sara stroked their soft fur and they began to purr. “Thank you, boys,” she said. “Your silly kitty antics were just what I needed. The two of you are definitely the best antidepressants.”
Image found on Pinterest
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “antic”:
Frank pushed aside his empty plate of Chinese food and opened his fortune cookie. He didn’t know why he bothered with it. He didn’t really like the cookies, and he thought the fortunes in them were just silly. He only read them for the chuckles they gave him. Like horoscopes, he didn’t believe them.
“Good fortune will shine on you,” he read on the little slip of paper that was tucked inside the cookie.
Short and simple, he thought. And at least is sounds more like an actual fortune this time and not some knock-off of a Chinese proverb or something.
Still, he scoffed at the cookie’s fortune. “Good fortune will shine on me,” he muttered. “Yeah, right. Not with my luck.”
Frank left the restaurant and headed home. As he walked along the sidewalk in front of an apartment building, he spotted a $5 bill on the ground. He stopped and bent down to pick it up. A moment later, a brick fell from one of the apartment’s balconies , hitting the ground right where he would have been if he hadn’t stopped.
Frank jumped back and stared at the brick. His mind raced as he tried to calm his heartbeat. It had to be a coincidence, he thought. There’s no way that fortune cookie could be right.
When he finally calmed down, Frank continued his walk. A couple of moments later, his cell phone chimed. He looked at it and found a text message letting him know he’d been offered the job he’d interviewed for and had really been wanting.
Frank stared at it, disbelieving. “No way,” he muttered. “That cookie’s fortune couldn’t be real…”
Flustered, Frank walked on down the sidewalk to his apartment building. When he stepped out of the elevator and headed for his apartment door, he spotted a pretty girl unlocking the door of the apartment next to his. He didn’t recognize her. Then he noticed a couple of moving boxes next to her and realized she was moving in.
He stepped up and introduced himself, and offered to help her carry the boxes in. She gave him a warm smiled as she accepted his help, telling him how grateful she was for his offer because she was new in town and had no one to help her.
As he help her and they chatted, Frank noticed they had a lot in common, and he felt they were really hitting it off. When she smiled at him as he set a box down, he began to think maybe there had been something to that fortune cookie after all.
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “fortune”:
He stepped into the living room and stared in surprise. The walls were covered with bookcases filled with to overflowing with books. Books that wouldn’t fit on the bookcases had been stacked on the floor. He shook his head in amazement, then noticed that even the coffee table and end tables were covered with books, as well.
“Uh, Suzie?” he called.
“Yes, Robert?” she called from the kitchen.
“Don’t you think you have too many books?”
“Nonsense! There’s no such thing as too many books!”
“Are you sure? I’m getting a bit of a Hoarders vibe from all these books in here.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Robert. You know it’s not hoarding when it comes to books. I’ve just created my own library. Now be a dear and bring me the cookbook for Italian dinners, would you? The third bookcase on the left, fifth shelf.”
Robert’s eyebrows rose briefly, then he shook his head slightly and made his way over to the bookcase for the cookbook. She was quirky, but he couldn’t help wanting to find out more about her.
From my Pinterest
Sheska’s home, from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Image found on Google Search. My apartment could easily look like this if I’m not careful 🙂
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “more than a hundred” – write your post inspired by something you have more than a hundred of in your home right now (in my case, I chose books, which I do have more than a hundred of, I’m sure):
Blackie walked into the living room and over to the recliner. The black cat spotted the tortoiseshell cat, Snickers, curled up in the chair. Blackie let out a low growl.
“That’s my spot,” Blackie said. “You’re in my spot.”
Snickers opened his eyes and yawned. “I don’t see your name on the chair, ‘Sheldon’,” he quipped snidely as he stretched and changed positions.
“I was sleeping there, Snickers. I just got up to go use the litter box. Now get out of my spot.”
“I don’t think so. This is my spot now. Go sleep somewhere else.”
Blackie hissed and prepared to jump up into the chair to fight Snickers. Then he spotted the tortoiseshell cat’s favorite catnip mouse beside the chair and had a better idea.
Blackie carried the catnip mouse over into the middle of the room and began playing with it. Snickers noticed and stood up in the recliner.
“Hey!” Snickers whined, “that’s my toy! You can’t play with that!”
“Really?” Blackie replied while he held the mouse with his front paws and kicked it with his back paws. “I didn’t see your name on it.”
“Let go of it right now!” Snickers yowled, his back arching and fur bristling.
“Or what?”
Snickers jumped from the recliner and ran towards Blackie. Blackie quickly dropped the catnip mouse and got out of the way. Snickers picked up the catnip mouse and started playing with it, murmuring “Mine, mine” as he held it in his mouth.
Blackie retreated to the recliner, reclaiming his spot and curling up to sleep.
Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory (image found during Google search)
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “spot”:
“Julius!” called Lisa as she came into the living room. “Come here, Julius! I have something for you!”
Down the hall, Julius was napping. His ears perked up at the sound of her voice and he got up from his bed. He ran into the living room excitedly, eager to see what Lisa had brought him.
When he got there, he saw Lisa standing in the middle of the room with something small and black in her hands. “What is that fuzzy thing?” he thought. “Is is a toy? It must be a toy. Yay! A new toy!”
Having decided that, his tail began to wag and he panted expectantly.
Lisa approached the fluffy white dog. “I’m glad you’re happy, Julius,” she said, holding the fuzzy thing towards him. “Here you go.”
Julius sniffed the black thing in her hand, and reared back slightly in shock. “That doesn’t smell like a toy!” he said to himself. “That smells like a…”
The fuzzy thing stirred in Lisa’s hand and two small yellow eyes popped opened and a small mouth opened wide in a yawn.
“…cat!” Julius finished his thought.
“Say hello to your new brother, Marcus, Julius!” Lisa said, setting the black kitten down in front of him.
“What?!” thought Julius, staring at the kitten.
Lisa stepped back to watch the two interact, hoping there wouldn’t be any fighting but ready to intervene if needed.
The kitten faced Julius and gave him a stern look. “Look here, dog,” he warned. “I may be new here, but let’s get one thing straight. I’m a cat and you’re just a dog. That means I’m in charge here. Got it?”
Julius crouched down on the floor and stared at the kitten. He could tell that it had tried to tell him something, but he didn’t understand what it’d said. He did pick up that the kitten seemed to have a bossy air about it, though. He decided he’d humor it, for now anyway.
Taking the dog’s silence and peaceful attitude as acceptance, Marcus simply said, “Good”, and wandered off to begin exploring his new domain.
From my Pinterest
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “zz”:
“Where’s Gidget?” Lana asked as she dragged the carrier out of the closet. “It’s almost time for her spay appointment.”
“I don’t know, Mom,” called Jenny from her bedroom, where she was splayed out on her bed and scrolling on her cellphone.
“Well, could you help me find her? I don’t want to be late getting her to the vet.”
“Fine,” Jenny said with a huff, setting her phone aside and getting up from her bed.
Lana put the carrier by the front door and joined Jenny in the hunt for Gidget. They looked in every room of the house, in every nook and cranny they could think of, but couldn’t find the calico cat anywhere.
Lana was frantic. The time for the vet appointment was growing closer and closer. If they didn’t find Gidget soon, she’d have to reschedule and that would be quite a hassle. She grabbed the phone and as she got ready to call the vet, she was mentally tried to figure out when would be a good time for a rescheduled appointment, when her busy schedule might be open for an appointment around the time it would be okay again for Gidget to be spayed.
Just as she was about to hit the dial button, Jenny called out, “Found her!” from the kitchen. Lana ran in and Jenny pointed at the refrigerator. Gidget was crouching on top of the refrigerator, doing her best to hide from them, having sensed the vet trip coming.
“Oh, great!” Lana groaned. “How’re we going to get her down?”
“I have an idea,” Jenny said, and she ran from the kitchen. A minute later, she returned with a spray bottle in her hand. “I’ll spray her with some water to chase her down. Then when she’s down, you grab her and put in the carrier.”
Lana gave her a skeptical look, but agreed, having no better plan of her own.
Jenny walked up to the refrigerator, reached as high up as she could, and sprayed water in Gidget’s direction. Gidget hissed as some of the water reached her. She tried to back away from it, but the wall blocked her. With no other option, Gidget jumped down from the side of the fridge to the small counter area beside the sink. Lana quickly grabbed her before she could get away.
Gidget yowled and squirmed as Lana carried her from the kitchen. Jenny followed and hurried in front of them so she could get the carrier and hold it for her mother. Gidget tried to fight back, but Lana won and stuffed the calico cat in the carrier.
“Thanks, Jenny,” Lana said over the plaintive yowling from the carrier. “I couldn’t have gotten her without you.”
“You’re welcome, Mom. Good luck at the vet. I hope you won’t be too late.”
Lana thanked her again and walked out the front door with the carrier. Jenny could still hear Gidget’s yowls as she shut the door behind them.
“Preheat the oven to 350 degrees,” Susie muttered as she read the directions for the cake. “Okay. Then grease the pans and coat them lightly in flour. No problem.”
She set the box aside and turned on the oven to preheat. Then she gathered the eggs and oil and set them aside on the small kitchen island where she was going to be preparing the mix. Then she got the shortening and flour and pans out and set them aside.
As she was gathering everything together, her black cat, Sable, came into the kitchen, curious to see what she was doing and if there was any yummy food involved.
Sable approached the kitchen island as Susie was greasing up the cake pans. She watched Susie set the greased pans down and pour some flour into the sifter. Intrigued, Sable stood up on her hind legs and reached up to the island’s counter top, trying to get a better look at Susie’s actions.
Unfortunately, Susie has inadvertently put the bag of flour very close to the edge of the counter top and Sable’s paws bumped it. The flour bag tipped over. Sable jumped away quickly, but not quickly enough. Flour still managed to cover the curious kitty’s head. With a startled cry, the cat darted away to cower in a nearby corner
“Oh no!” Susie cried out, setting the sifter down and staring at the mess. “Sable! What did you do?!”
Susie looked around and spotted the cowering cat. She chuckled. “Oh, Sable! You look like you belong to the Uruk-hai now!”
Sable glared at Susie as she continued to laugh. When she stopped laughing, Susie cleaned up the mess, then cleaned up Sable and gave the kitty a treat in apology. Then she went back to baking her cake. Sable continued to supervise, but from a safer distance.
Image found on the Me.me website
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “directions”:
Princess Valerie and her retainer, Ingrid, had gone out for walk in the royal gardens to enjoy a lovely spring afternoon. The weather couldn’t be better, and the various flowers were beautiful to behold.
As they walked, they chatted about different things, as women will do. They were having such a nice time and not paying close attention to their surroundings that they soon found themselves outside the castle grounds.
A large field filled with wildflowers was spread out before their eyes. Princess Valerie gazed at it, taking it all in with a huge smile on her lips. Ingrid, however, urged the princess to turn around, knowing how dangerous it was for them to be away from the castle grounds.
Princess Valerie ignored her and ran off into the field and began picking wildflowers. Ingrid shook her head and walked towards her, intending to talk some sense into the princess. Neither noticed the dark spot high in the sky coming closer and larger with each passing moment.
Just before Ingrid could reach her, the black dragon swooped down from the sky and scooped Princess Valerie from the field in one its huge claws. The princess screamed as the dragon flew off with her.
Ingrid cried out after the princess, and as the dragon got farther and farther away, she heard the princess call something out to her. It was hard for the older lady to make out clearly what she said, though, because of the distance.
As Ingrid ran back towards the castle the sound the alarm, she tried to figure out who it was the princess had asked her to summon to rescue her.
When the dragon returned to its cave, it stuck the princess high up on a ledge where she would be hard pressed to escape from, then settled down on the floor next to its large pile of gold and jewels and stared up at its new trophy.
“You won’t get away with this,” Princess Valerie told the dragon.
“Oh, really?” the dragon replied, its rumbling voice echoing in the cave.
“Yes. Once my champion, the prince Valiant, arrives, I shall be rescued and you shall be dead, oh dragon.”
The dragon chuckled. “We will see about that. I have dispatched many a ‘champion’ in my time, girl. I shall do the same for yours.”
The dragon settled down and began to nap, and the princess settled down to wait.
After a while, the princess wasn’t sure how long, she could faintly hear the sound of a horse’s hooves outside the cave entrance, followed by the sound of armor clanking, and she quickly got to her feet. The dragon also heard it and woke up, it’s bright yellow eyes intently watching for the intruder.
Princess Valerie watched as her armored rescuer came inside the cave, eager to see her champion fight to save her from the dragon. But as he came into view, her eagerness fell to disappointment. “P…Prince…Valium?” she said. “What are you doing here? I told Ingrid to summon Prince Valiant!”
He turned to look up at her and raised the visor on his helmet. He stifled a yawn and replied, “Yes, well, I was surprised by the summons as well, my lady, and thought there must have been some mistake. But one such as I can’t refuse a royal summons or refuse to come to the aid of a damsel in distress.” He stifled another yawn. “So here I am, come to rescue you.”
“But…but…” she stammered.
He lowered his visor and turned to the dragon. He raised his sword and said, “Now then, dragon! Prepare to die!”
The dragon opened its large mouth. Flames flickered at the back of its throat.
Valium, the valiant would-be rescuer, suddenly dropped the ground, startling the dragon. The dragon stared in confusion, wondering what trick he playing. Then the sound of snoring reached its ears. The dragon shook its head sadly and decided what to do. There would be no real fun in just killing and eating him like this, the dragon thought, so instead it picked Valium up and left the cave, flying off and leaving Valium to sleep in the middle of the woods far away.
Upon returning to the cave, the dragon told Princess Valerie, “I hope your next champion is more of a challenge.”
This post is part of the Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt, “val”:
Jeanne Owens, author 