Expressing Ourselves Through Short Stories
First, I would like to thank all of you that have stuck with me over the last few months. We have almost reached 6K in viewings alone. I know many of you post and just as many don't. For those that do, I am deeply grateful for all your thoughts so expertly expressed on here. Those that do not, I appreciate your viewing and hope that we have given you something to think about when you have left this page. I am always open to new thoughts and ideas even if they stray from the topic chosen at any given time. Feel free to post all your whatever' s....this free flow of ideas always lends itself to new thoughts. I thought we could try to do a topic on creative short stories on any variety of subjects. Please try to limit the length of each post hence the word "short". I know we will all be awaiting each new post with great enthusiasm.
I am so not a web designer..just changing this background took me more tries then I care to admit. I wanted to change the font but somehow it never worked ..*sighs* I'll stick to writing my poetry and short stories and leave the rest to luck.
ReplyDeleteWow, great job on the blog Cross! You always tell me that you can't figure this stuff out, pleeeaaasse lol. You're gonna be a true before you know it. :)
DeleteI meant to say....you're gonna be a true NERD before you know it. hahaha
DeleteYay I fixed it LOL
ReplyDeleteLooks good cross and u seem to always make it work and not give up.. So thanks for all the hard work you put in it and its very well done and appreciated.. thanks again.
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ReplyDeleteWow again Cross have to say i wonder if all will truly understand what is going on through the story?? I know i see what each part stand for from the begining where she was alone after all the years. To looking at the picture with her lost love who i know she cant get over but she knows she needs to , to be able to be happy. I know it speaks of love lost and heartache but again i know what the deer stands for. I hope you keep sharing your words and heart with us. thanks...
ReplyDeleteTHE PHOTOGRAPH
ReplyDeleteA Story by Southern Cross
...This will be the very last page in my book of poetry.... many years from now...
THE PHOTOGRAPH
She lay alone in her bed as she had for so many years. Time has it's way of racing through your life..the now becomes the past, dreams perhaps reality, and it all winds up somewhere in a place called memories. The silence of her room reminded her just how alone she had been....perhaps had been all her life. Sure she had married, more times then she'd admit. Outlived them all. Had children, had companions but the one man she never embraced , she held firmly in her heart and soul for over 50 years. Her love was kept in the vaults of her mind as was his too... perhaps. She would never actually know. He was there though, faithfully over the long years. She often wondered what he looked like now. Last time she saw him he had had a beard , then it was shaved..never saw it though..never saw his face without it. So she continued over the years to remember him just the way she saw him last. He was in his forties then. Hair as black as the midnight sky, beard peppered with gray, the glint in his eyes , crooked smile..the attitude and yes his sensuality. It had been a warm day in June, June 28th to be exact and nearly 50 years from that last memory. She was never able to actually see him again yet nearly every night for 50 years, they would meet and talk and dream. She often wondered which one would be the one to say goodbye. Knowing all along it could never be her..till tonight. She had never believed in coincidence, just fate. Their fate had been sealed from the day they met . Her love for him never doubted, nor was the passion she felt ever taken from her heart.
She raised her feeble frame from the bed and slowly walked to the drawer where she kept his picture. All this time and that was the only picture she had of him. Her hands shook as she held it closer and kissed it for the very last time. " Wish he didn't have that damn dead deer in his lap all these years. The evil eyes of the hunter, staring at me ..black as coal to match his heart. " She knew what her heart had to do.. just this one night. Taking the scissors from the kitchen drawer, she carefully lifted them to the worn picture. Slowly she cut out the deer that lay in his lap making sure the blades never touched his heart...the heart that somehow she knew held hers. Once the image was removed, she took out another picture. This time it was one of her as a younger girl, lying on her back and looking up to the sky. Her golden hair long and falling aimlessly and recklessly about her face. Blue eyes the color of the sea , alluding to a certain sensuality, lips kissed with the color of strawberries..wet with desire. She smiled as she thought , " What a beauty I was in my day. Hot , as we said back then ." She once again removed the image of herself from its surroundings and gently placed it on the picture of his . She now lay in his lap where the deer had been for over 50 years. Her eyes looked into his as he cradled her in his arms. His hands covered in blood of the deer, now held her delicate frame. Tears slowly caressed her cheeks. "This is how it should have been..all these wasted years. Should have been pictures of us .. of our moments spent , shared, together as one..All I ever had were dreams where our feet never touched ground. Love forbidden and never consummated...but we had us. Us was better than the void . Us made my entire life as complete as it could ever be , I suppose".
She slowly walked to the bed. Held the picture close to her eyes to see him once again only this time he would be holding her . She closed her eyes and said goodbye for the very last time.
© 2012 Southern Cross
This was the revised edition so I deleted the first post of this..Thank you Wolfman for taking time to read such a long short and trying to understand my words..I wrote this as a final page to the book of poetry I am planing to publish when I have all the material I need. I should post the beginning page ..should have thought of that earlier
DeleteYour story is really wonderful Cross. You're an excellent writer and story teller. It's such a touching story of a love that as you said in your story, was sealed on the first day. All of the memories and dreams that she held within her heart through the years all poured out as she finally passed away as life ended for her. I know I've mentioned it before, but you must let me know when class begins. :)
DeleteLOVE READS LIKE A BOOK
ReplyDeleteA Story by Southern Cross
..compare me to an epic novel for I wish to be your classic..
LOVE READS LIKE A BOOK
Have you ever noticed the similarity between writing and relationships?...Warm and cozy in the middle, awkward and distant in the beginning. Of course, endings are avoided as we never want to reach the finality of it all.. especially when it has been so enjoyable. Take a good book for example. At first you peruse the shelves looking for that title that catches your attention. Ah Ha !....you say as it begins to hold your interest. Let me read on see if it's worthy of my time and attention. So you open the pages, start the first chapter..Early on, aware if it's going to be a page turner or just something bland and boring. The bland, boring gets placed back on the shelf . The ones that grab our attention, we anxiously await reading and try to block out the rest of our world to accommodate quality time to be alone and rapt in the tale.
And so we begin our journey..in search of that interesting, don't want to stop reading novel. Once selected, we are then faced with a decision. Rent from the library on a temporary basis or cast doubt to the wind and purchase it . After all, if it proves to be unworthy, what have you invested? Some time and finances. Not like you are indebted for life to possess it. Once in a great while, there is one novel that stands out . Grabs us from every angle and doesn't seem to let go. Those are the keepers..the ones we save on our bedside to pick up again and aga in... somehow, never getting enough. I never want to be a shelved book...keep me by your bedside, hold me in your hands...turn my pages again and again. Let the light glow so that you may always be able see me ...continue to read me, finding new meaning each and every time . Rent the others...but purchase me.
© 2012 Southern Cross
This is just a wonderful story. Your imagery is perfect as you make the comparison between writing and relationships. You are definitely a book worth purchasing. You are deep, thoughtful, warm, and loving. I am definitely jealous of all of your writing skills. I wish I could come up with these ideas and express them so skillfully. An amazing short story, from an amazing writer. Thanks for sharing.
DeleteThis is the opening page to all the poetry
ReplyDeleteWell i have to say I would purchase and keep you safe and warm !!!!!! Have to agree with the words you write within this blog and your book sounds wonderful... Love how you put it all in just the right words and bring it to life with your heart .,. Thanks again,, Loved them all.!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind, sweet words and taking the time to view the blog
ReplyDeleteYour welcome and always a pleasure reading what u write. Just so you know if u write more post wont be on to much here and there, dealing with some stuff , just incase u dont think i am still reading wat u write. tc
ReplyDeleteYou really do like to challenge me don't you Cross?? lol. I finally had the nerve to post some simple little poems and now you want me to try and write a story...hmmmm. I guess we'll see what I can do.
ReplyDeleteBTW...when is your book release party?? :)
I don't see a story so I'm thinking, Jake has you beat..ready to relinquish the title?
DeleteDo you really think I'll give up that easily?? Lol
DeleteWell you know...as much as I talk, short stories should be pretty damn easy for me. lol
ReplyDeleteHi everyone. First I must definitely welcome our new blogger, so hi Kaya! It's great to have you here. I think that you'll definitely enjoy the banter we throw around here along with the poems and stories. Please feel free to jump in and have fun.
ReplyDeleteCross, I truly am amazed at how talented you are. You write such heartfelt stories. You use some great imagery to describe your life and love and you are definitely someone special. I have to agree with PM, when are your classes starting? We can all learn many things from you and your writing. I do want to share a story with everyone, it doesn't compare to your stories Cross but hey I guess you have to start somewhere right. :)
23 Grams
ReplyDeleteA story about two friends that laugh about the simple things..
It started out as a typical conversation, two friends finding time to enjoy each others company. They talked about their days, her's was worse than his but they always know how to make each other feel better.
They were laughing as they talked about the little things and somehow dinner came up. He knew that she was always careful with her food choices so he asked her, "What's for dinner" ? She replied, "Oh I don't know. I guess I'll have to look around. I'll look around as we talk. Well, I'm at the cupboard and I don't see a lot, I could have some cereal I suppose. I'll check the fridge and see what's there. Humm.... Well, there's not much here either but oh wait their's some yogurt". He replied, " Wow cereal or yogurt huh" ? She asked ," What would you rather have" ? He said. " That's easy, the cereal, at least you would feel a little more filled up". "That's true", she said." but lets compare nutrition info between the two. She starts going over all the nutrition information, so many grams of sugar, sodium, fat, carbs, and she gets to protein and says, "I think we have a winner! The yogurt has 23 grams of protein the cereal only has 9, yogurt it is ". He laughs as she gets out some blueberries and mixes them in. She eats her yogurt as they talk and talk. They finally say goodbye and continue on with their day but not until they laugh again about her joy in having yogurt for dinner.
Thank you Jake for all your praise, which I really don't deserve but will gladly accept. I had welcomed our newest blogger Kayla but then I changed the topic and perhaps she didn't get to see it ...So welcome and thank you so much for joining our site. Now, about your prose. i found it so sweet to read as 1. She's definitely my kind of girl as I am so addicted to nutritional labels. 2. It amazes me how the most insignificant of things that we share can become a memory for the future. You have done this moment justice.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone. Cross, I can't say that I will relinquish my throne as most talkative..but I will definitely say that summer keeps me much busier.
ReplyDeleteLiving up north, I have to get out and enjoy the nice weather while I can. I enjoy having campfires and s'mores and all that stuff in the backyard. I have to pressure wash the house and paint things and all those damn responsibility type things lol. I get out and go trap shooting as much as I can. I'm told it's too many times but oh well..the other stuff will be there when I get home. I have very active teenagers at home so they keep me busy with events. I tend to forget or just not have enough time it seems for the inside winter things like writing and reading. I definitely do more of those things in the winter when I'm stuck inside or don't feel like going out and freezing my behind off. Oh I can't forget all the grad parties in the summer. I think my kids spend most of their weekends at parties. I dropped my son off at a party last night and it was like he was Norm going into Cheers, he gets out of my car and about 50 people called his name all at once. When my weekends are over, I'm actually ready to back to work just get some sense of normal. Yes, I'm a schedule person. I need those details and order and all that stuff. I'm ok with chaos, just not all the time.
Ok, I think I rambled enough for now. I need to get to work I suppose and can you imagine, I come to work and they actually want me to work during the day lol. It's a good thing I'm and IT nerd and I have my own little way around things ;-).
Talk to everyone soon...
Ok..see I was in too much of a hurry and found the typo after I posted..
DeleteI might be an IT nerd but I still take pride in being able to speak and write properly so ignore my mistake in the last sentence.
Yes, those little things bother me. lol
I never noticed them ..perhaps I'm too sleepy or have spent way too much time writing. Enjoy your summer
DeleteGRRRR....Wish some people would contribute.. I see you out there viewing but never adding ..*sighs* Just say hi at least LOL we don't bite
ReplyDeleteWelcome Layla..our newest blogger. I am hoping that you enjoy the remarks of the other bloggers and make a contribution to our various topics. You can say whatever comes to your mind ..post a poem, short story or simply stop by to say hi.
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone. I'd like to welcome Layla as well. It's always nice to see a new face here. I won't repeat what I told Kaya but I'm generally the chatty one here. I ramble and try to post poems and stories once in a while but I certainly don't have the talent that Cross does. I hope you enjoy our little piece of the web.
ReplyDeleteJust us here PM.. Noone else posts ..:( Hope your summer is going well.
ReplyDeleteI'm still here Cross, I'm just busy. The country living keeps me going all the time, and just because they show everyone in KY as backwoods hillbillies, that isn't the case with me. Ok..I'll agree that there are plenty of hillbillies here.
ReplyDeleteI see there are a couple of new ladies here since I stopped by last, so welcome ladies. I hope you enjoy Cross and I going at it when we want to get our point of view across. SHE has been very good lately, ok just kidding I wanted to tease a little bit.
My summer is going quite well, thanks for asking Cross haha. I could use some rain in these parts, this dry weather is making it tough to grow anything. I didn't plan on spending so much money on watering, pretty soon I'll have to decide how much of the crop I can afford to lose and stop watering it so I don't go broke from the water bill. Well I suppose I should get ready to go to church. Talk to you all soon.
Glad to see you are still with us..Hope you get the needed rain for your crops Dan...stay well
ReplyDeleteGood evening everyone. I hope that all of you that celebrate the 4th, had a wonderful holiday. My day was ok, it was definitely hot enough for me. I spent some time with friends at a party for most of the afternoon. We did some grilling, played yard games, and had some drinks..you know the very traditional stuff. My community cut out fireworks this year because of the economy so it was a little weird not seeing them but the day was ok. I was glad to get back inside at the end of the day anyway since it was so hot outside.
ReplyDeleteI can empathize with you Dan about the rain. I really need some too, its been really dry here and there is an open fire ban in place and they are asking people to cut back on water by 25%. I did have a little bit of rain on Tuesday night but it was real quick and in the form of a really bad thunderstorm. I guess I'll just be happy that I don't have to mow the grass for now.
Well I guess I'll get going for now, take care everyone and I'll talk to you soon.
Good morning everyone. It's been a while since I've had this much free time to do some blogging so all of you may pay for it now. :). Cross, you said that we were doing short stories so I guess I'm talking about my life because it really is a bunch of short stories made into a book at the end. It's something that you hope has been fulfilling and fun. It is what you make it is the best way I can describe it.
ReplyDeleteSo this morning I'm sitting on my couch in my family room and enjoying the silence. My cats are running around and chasing each other but that's it. I got up and did my usual stuff in the kitchen and fed the cats, very exciting right lol. I'm just looking outside at the sun coming up and thinking about the day. I have some errands to run and there are "friends" in town that I guess I'll have to see at some point. You all know what I'm talking about I'm sure, friends that you don't really care to see but you have to because it keeps the peace. I guess if I was more of the argumentative type, I might put up more of a fight but I tend to go with the flow and put on that happy face. It may not be the best thing to do but it helps me keep the order and flow that I need. I sometimes wish I was more of the fighter but it's just not me. Sorry got off on a tangent there, imagine that from me :).
I guess I should just enjoy the fact that I'm not at work today. I get to get caught up on some things at home for a change. Cross knows me, I don't sit still for very long so I'm sure I'll keep busy. If I get some things done this morning, maybe I'll go enjoy the community pool since its supposed to be 95 today. My bone white skin can definitely use some color. Yes, I use sunscreen like a SPF 30 at least. I suppose I should get going and get back to work. Have a great day everyone!
Well, I did end up enjoying the community pool. It ended up being 93 today and very sticky. It was nice to spend a few hours in the pool and just relaxing. I tried to do some yard work but it was way to hot for that nonsense. I just had some dinner and watched a movie in the AC. I tried to do some reading this evening but I was too sleepy from being out in the sun so I just watched some TV. I'm sleepy now so I'm gonna head to bed, good night everyone.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on your summer. I know during the summer months most Northerners go all out trying to catch as much sun and outdoor activity as possible. I suppose here in Miami, we are spoiled and take the warm abundant weather for granted. I'm not much of a sun person because I tend to turn red and fry not tan unless I peel for a bit and finally brown up. Since that is not as healthy as it looks, I use tons of sunscreen and limit my self to an hr or 2. Do enjoy everyone as I look forward to rafting on some white waves down a turbulent river.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Michael to our blog. Now if someone would just post I'd be so very happy :)
ReplyDeleteSOMEONE POST ...SOMEONE POST...SOMEONE POST....SOMEONE POST...SOMEONE POST...SOMEONE POST....SOMEONE POST...SOMEONE POST...SOMEONE POST...SOMEONE POST BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH
ReplyDeleteOk..ok. I get it, I can talk too just like the puppet guy. I see he's been talking like usual but not as much as you like huh Cross haha. I'm just getting ready to go to bed after another long day. I finally got some rain so that was a bit of a relief. It's just nice that it's not so damn hot outside for a change. I can go out and do all my chores and not sweat to death. Oh I see we have another new person here so hey Michael. Cross you must be getting the word out there with the blog, you're getting new people all the time. How's everyone else doing? Jake are you just surfing all summer or what? Puppet dude I know what you're doing. What about the the rest of you?
ReplyDeleteOk well I'm gonna run and people really, don't be afraid to post. I don't even bite anymore lol. Talk to y'all soon.
Hey everyone! Im sorry I've been gone for so long I've been enjoying the surf. We've had some killer sets for June and July. It's not even hurricane season and the waves have been great. Yeah I know, pretty stupid to be out in hurricane season. I can't help it it's not like I live in HI. I have to take adv of the big waves when I can. Soo anyway...I see we have some new peeps here with us so hi! Please jump in here and talk away. You can see that at least one us (sorry PM) really likes to talk lol. Dan, it's good to see that you're still with us. I wasn't sure if you would hang around. Cross, I had this crazy feeling..kind of that oh sh*t my arm hurts so I thought I thought I should check in. I see I was right from your posts above lol. I hope that you're doing well and I'm gonna run and hit the waves real quick. TC everyone..
ReplyDeleteGood Saturday morning everyone. I see the usual crew has stopped by for some chatting. I just popped on for a few before I get going for the day. I'm not overly motivated but I have a bunch of junk to do. It looks like it's finally going to rain here today. I'll do some stuff around the house and later I'm going to spend some time with friends so hopefully that will be fun. July has been a party month for me between grad parties and friend parties. I have another grad party tomorrow afternoon too for a family member, sort of.. It's not worth explaining the family thing here lol. Well, time for me to get to work. Have a great weekend everyone!
ReplyDeleteFinally the regulars posted thank you guys. I was really sick for 3 weeks so haven't been on the comp much. In fact didn't do crap for weeks.. Slept, hospital er and drs.. Fun fun. Going on vacation Saturday so may not post much . Love u guys
ReplyDeleteHope you are getting better cross have missed u and praying for u.. Hope you have a great vacation and get to relaxe now. Take care and have fun.. love you to...<3
ReplyDeleteAww Ty so much and for your prayers. Will miss u too
DeleteI'm back and disappointed to see no one has posted a single word since I left....HELL TO PAY ALL OF YOU ..I am changing the blog this week and have high expectations from all of you out there
ReplyDeleteFair enough..Hell has nothing on a woman's fury now does it. :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to tell you something...anything about why me, of all people didn't write but I can't give you a good one so I won't make one up.
Hang that head in shame PM ! Do I have to have my presence known in order for others to contribute ? To think I was considering having you as my 2nd in command here Hummph !!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou go girl... get them !!!! lol glad you are back home safe and sound hope you had a good vacation...
ReplyDelete