“Music can speak louder than words, and I will use my music to speak out on behalf of children everywhere.”
Judy Collins
"Tulips in Green Vase" Acrylic on paper. Copyright 2012 Totsymae
The child, local news reported, was playing in her very own backyard. It was fenced and locked. Her mama, cooking sweet bread and sticking her head out to smile often. Being that it was a quiet and upstanding nook of town, that child should’ve played ’til the contentment of her heart, so the folk who lived there implied to the mic shoved in their faces, with knuckle-scratching confusion.
“This kinda thing…downright baffling,” one town folk whimpered, grappling with his sadness. “Should’ve never happened here.”
Mrs. Waller umphed umphed at the boxed screen. “Then, where the hell should it have happened?”
(c) 2012 Totsymae
I'm an artist who's writing,mothering, blogging and doing a few other things under the sun. I buy toilet paper 99.9% of every trip I make to the grocery store. I'm a people watcher, so I know you're here but drop me a line anyway.
Great post! Thank you for reminding me how far we have drifted from a once protected place where our children were safe, to where we are today. Sad.
PKC
Thank you.
It’s very sad indeed.
It was never safe, Totsy. We just didn’t know it wasn’t. Your mastery of this kind of storytelling is stunning.
And this is a most unfortunate way to find out that it wasn’t safe.
Glad you like the little stories. I enjoy writing them.
Thanks for sharing this. It always makes me want to hear more.
Thank you for reading. I have two more for the week and then we shall see what happens.
Ooh, I like this. And we don’t *know* what happened to the child – pedophile? coyote? Fell down a well? Great little story, and I love the social critique there.
Thanks.
Exactly. Gotta be more careful.
I loved Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell and Carol King.
Mrs. Waller, I agree. My answer? On Never Street in No Way Land at Nix O’Clock!!
Never, ever. One can turn on the news and on any given day, a child is missing or some other circumstance. Not how it should be. Ever.
It should have never happened anywhere. So sad.
It is sad. We mustn’t blink.
I just love these 100 word gems. I think you’re inventing some new genre here, tots.
Thanks, Narelle. This is a gem already discovered that I found on the internet. I do think they’re fun ways to write. Glad you like.
The bubble went pop – the day the music died, when will we ever learn? cheers catchul8r molly
That, we must.
Good story, Tots. Love the way you unfolded it. I feel like we’re so helpless in protecting our children. This is a reminder.
Thank you. We have to stop believing in that false sense of security.
Oooohhh, left me very curious. What’d happened to the child (and the mother)?
Loved the acrylic painting, too. The tulips were hanging low. Tulips – with the flower language ‘hidden pockets of sunshine’ on a website, I think.
Glad you enjoyed the little story, Claudine.
I suppose the painting tied in well with the story, as I think of your words to connect to the missing child.
Totsy, you are a born storyteller, lady! I think sitting down with you for coffee would leave me with one hundred memories to retell! By the way, I’d love it if you dropped by my blog and read my post on “telenovelas.” I’m dying to know if you participated in viewing them or not!
Thanks for saying that, Bella. I certainly appreciate it. Between your stories and mine, I think we could go on and on! I’ll stop by your place today to see that telenovelas are all about. Sounds interesting.
NO WHERE–absolutely no where it should have happened. These types of events, this type of evil manifestation makes me so angry that I would NOT have been able to limit myself to 100 words the way you did here, Sister Tots! Very accomplished and professional of you. Thanks for this much-needed message today.
Exactly. Just today on the news, a seven year old fought away this pedophile in Wal Mart. He was trying to get her out of the store and she kicked and screamed. The store had the entire thing on camera.
Loved this one, Totsy! The last line was powerful.
Thank you.
Wow! “Then, where the hell should it have happened?” Good question, my friend. You cut right to the chase and that’s what makes you so darned talented.
Thank you, Lorna.
Wonderful. I’m captivated and saddened. I am wanting more.
Here is everywhere!
Hope they found her.