The Rogue Speaks:
The last games of “Swing the Statue” and “Mother May I” ended, and the grassy field had fallen silent. Children scattered to their homes for dinner, and Graham found himself standing quite alone. His mother had not called him home to eat, and there was no one waiting to teasingly scold him for the grass stains on his clothes, and the dust and grime on his face and hands.
Howard, his “uncle,” was there, however. Sitting in a drunken stupor, with belt in hand, he waited grimly for Graham to come through the door. The summer games of childhood came with a price.
Enjoy this prompt, Centusians, while you can! We've been threatened this week by Jenny to give us an evil one for next week! On the other hand, she's threatened us in the past, and we've always come through with flying colors!! We'll just have to wait and see, eh? In the meantime, be sure to read and comment on ALL the offerings for Saturday Centus. I do, and so should you.
27 comments:
OMGosh Judi, that was so excellent and awesome, vivid and brutal. Sadly the picture you painted with words so eloquently happens all too often !
BTW, I didn't really know it before your comment today... made me blush, feel warm all over and smile...thank you so much !!!
Oh my Judie you are amazing, what a lovely written piece, not of course what one really wants to happen in real life, but sadly we all know that it does far too often. This photo of him just makes you want to scoop him up and tell him everything will be okay! Enjoy your weekend, and I just know this piece and that photo will come back to us in every lost little face we see...and just maybe we'll have the courage to really reach out to those in need! Hugs to all!
Nicely done.:-)
So sad that that is a truth for some poor souls.
well written So sad that this happens in some homes in the world
You write wonderfully. The sad fact is so many kids have that lifestyle! It makes me so sad. If I were younger I would adopt a bunch of kids! I love children and never tire of their laughter. Greta writing Judie!
Oh Judie, this is incredibly powerful and sad. Kudos to you for addressing the issue of child abuse. You captured it so well wrapped in a story about the fun of childhood.
xoRobyn
Childhood can be such a dichotomy. All children should be wrapped in innocence for as long as possible. But those silent voices of children who are abused should echo in our ears. Thanks for a poignant post, Judie.
Beautifully written and all too true for some children. It makes me just want to scream how children are treated. Very well done.
wow, this one gave me goosebumps of fear. Very, very good.
Heartbreakingly beautiful.
As a child who had that type of childhood, I have to say it is heart-breaking.
I agree with your comments on my post. With the way your country is right now, I fear for its future both as a world leader and super power because it's seriously going down in flames this past few years and China is fast catching up and waiting in the wings to take its place on the world stage and, they're not exactly great on human rights, are they.
Judie: When can I expect you to complete that book?
How sad. This is a grim reminder that we don't reallyy know what a child goes home to. Many children don't eat unless they eat at school. This makes me want to cry,... cry all those children. Children are the closest to God and should be cherished. Your centus is wonderful. It makes me want to do somethingto help children.
I am not even in the mood for Saturday Centus. I think this will be the first time I won't be participating. ~Hugs. ~Ames
really well done Judie ... how is it that we both went to dark places with this prompt??? yours was handled very well and reminds us all that children are just prey for some adults
beautiful.
Thanks for visiting me.
Absolutely heartbreaking.
Whoa. That one's a gut punch for sure.
Good writing.
=)
Great post! It takes one back to childhood days of summer (without an uncle Howard). You have the extraordinary gift of swaying us to and fro with just a few words. Well done!
noexcuses
One of the great things about being limited to 100 words is that it forces us to distill our work down to its essence. Judie, this is compact, powerful, gut-wrenching and so disturbing. Girl, you can write!
Namaste..........cj
PS- Thanks for your comment on "Ragtop." I so agree about having the house to ourselves!
Oh Judi, I have tears in my eyes. What a moving piece this was. Well done! laurie @ Battling My Inner Critic
My heart broke for this Graham. What a heart wherching story that is so sadly true for many young children.
You did an amazing job with this.
Blessings
Beautiful...
shreds
Aww, how sad it this :-(
But your writing and place is lovely!
Aww, how sad is this :-(
But how lovely is your writing and place!
Oops! My first comment disappeared so I posted again. And now there are 3!
Judie,
My visits with everyone in the blog world have become way too few and far in between. But every time I'm over here, I'm just blown away by your amazing tales. This one was raw and dark and it certainly couldn't have been easy to write.
You're an amazing lady.
I'm working on my final read thru this week. Hopefully, tomorrow if this mad cow or Ebola leaves my body. And then, we'll be off and running.
September Song started playing as i was reading this.
It breaks my heart that this little story is true for so many children. I can't imagine innocence being crushed on a daily basis.
This brought tears to my eyes, Judie.
I swear...your writing gets more fabulous ever single week!
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