Twittering Tales #103 – 25 September 2018

About the challenge: Each Tuesday I will provide a photo prompt. Your mission, if you choose to accept the challenge, is to tell a story in 280 characters or less. When you write your tale, be sure to let me know in the comments with a link to your tale.

A final note: if you need help tracking the number of characters in your story, there is a nifty online tool that will count for you at charactercountonline.com.

I will do a roundup each Tuesday, along with providing a new prompt. And if for some reason I missed your entry in the Roundup, as I have occasionally done, please let me know. I want to be sure to include your tale.

Finally, have fun!

And REMEMBER…you have 280 characters (spaces and punctuation included), to tell your tale…and a week to do it. I can’t wait to see what you create this week.

Twitterting Tales #102 – The Roundup

Photo by Skitterphotos at Pexels.com

Starting us off..
Smart Girls
“This is exactly how I found them Doctor. I don’t know what to think! Should I be worried that my sweet daughter has mangled her Barbie dolls?”
“Have you asked her?”
“I did. She told me she hated Barbie. Who hates Barbie?”
“Smart little girls, Mrs. Jones. I hope you’re listening.”
~kat
(278 Characters)

By Michael from Morpethroad:
The kids are quiet today playing in the girl’s room with the neighbours.
I like these dreamy afternoons watching the game, undisturbed.
The quiet gets to me.
Investigating I find the room empty save for the pile of broken dolls.
One face looks horribly familiar.
It blinks at me.
(274 characters)

By Deepa at Sync with Deep:
Playtime
Dragged hair, dressed and undressed, pinched her cheeks and poked tummy to make her cry and hurl her across the room.
The devilish dolls enjoyed their playtime with the mortal baby.
(151 characters)

By Willow at WillowDot21:
The Group.
“Is this a statement?” Asked dr Haldon, “has someone got a point to make. If so be big enough to put your name to it” The therapy group shifted uneasily. No one spoke there was no eye contact. “Speak up this is a good sign, own your feelings!” Silence, but a tiny glimmer of hope.
(280 Characters)

By Reena at ReInventions:
We are back from a less-than-exhilarating shopping stint. I fix up coffee to soothe our jagged nerves, and hear unusual sounds from the next room.
“This is the beginning of a plus-sized revolution.” Maggie smiles, “I am launching a new business, and this is a promo for the same.”
(279 characters)

By Amritha at Igniting Hope:
Kintsugi
09.03.2018
Location-Mattel factory
On Barbie’s birthday, Sara witnessed a terrible sight-numerous imperfect disassembled dolls,
“When you re-design them, a new Barbie would come to life. Its an art!” said the worker.
That day she learnt a lesson – to appreciate imperfections.
(275 characters)

By Piyali at Piyali’s Blogs:
Realization
Tears streamed down her face as she cut up the doll into pieces
She’d wasted her teens attaining those ridiculous proportions
No one has legs that go on forever, she realized
Unlike the plastic Barbie,she was made of flesh-n-bones
Thus, more real & beautiful with her delicious curves
280 Characters

By The Dark Netizen:
Mrinal tossed aside yet another barbie.
Mother noticed the new addition to the pile of broken barbies. She snarled.
“Again? This makes four.”
Mrinal huffed.
“Bad girl. No dinner for you.”
Mrinal bawled.
“No fair. Tina called me ugly.”
“Child, you have to stop using voodoo for revenge.”
Character Count: 280

By Kristian at Tales from the Mind of Kristian:
Murder in Toytown
As the police in Toy Town uncovered another mutilated body from under Ken’s patio, it became ever clearer he was a dangerous killer.
The chief turned to one of his men “Put out an APB for a tall brown-haired male, Caucasian, plastic, goes by the name of Kenneth Sean Carson.”
[274 Characters]

By Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
“Oh, baby, what happened to your Barbies?” Jenn’s mother asked when she saw all of her daughter’s dolls broken apart.
“I hate them!” Jenn yelled in anger.
“But I thought you loved your Barbies.”
“Look at them, Ma,” Jenn said. “They’re beautiful, but I don’t look anything like them.”
(280 characters)

By Amir at Bacchanalia:
Life in Plastic, it’s fantastic
On this day we remember the victims of Barbie Genocide Day. The day that Ugly Supremacists decapitated and dismembered the body of all elegant, slender people and the universe became excruciatingly ugly ever since.

By The Indie She:
Broken Barbies
She loved her Barbies with their blonde hair and flouncy dresses. The world was all pink and lovely.
As she stepped out into the wide world, all she saw was grey. The beauty was the beast and blessed with a ubiquitous plastic presence. Her Barbies were of yore were no more.
273 Characters

By Hayley at The Story Files:
To the Bullies
May stopped in her daughter’s bedroom doorway and asked, “why are you breaking all your dolls?’
Jenny looked up at her mum from the Barbie she was dismantling on the floor, ‘because, this is what I want to do to the bullies.’

By Melanie at Sparks from a Combustable Mind:
Manufacturing
“Do you know the difference between male and female?!” The supervisor asked huffily. Ericka cringed. She hadn’t meant to put the Barbie heads on the Ken bodies and vice versa. And then for him to start dismantling them like that – it looked like “In Cold Blood”. Without the gore.

By Lorraine at Lorraine’s Frilly Freudian Slip:
Deconstruction
“What is THAT?” Dad asked about the various doll parts lying on the counter.
“Assembling my Woman’s Studies project: ‘deconstructing the feminine ideal’,” I replied
“Barbie is the feminine ideal?,” he asked.
“Yep, just look at Mom.” I answered. “Now who does she remind you of?”
(280)

By Jan at Strange Goings On in the Shed:
Piglet, avert your eyes, what a terrible massacre.
Why Pooh, what’s happened?
Dr Frankenstein, that’s what happened. Wasn’t content with tampering with the laws of nature, now to sink this low.
Pooh, even he can’t revivify this relic. Where is he now?
In rehab, making little progress
(280 characters)

By The UniversalUnionist at Broadsides:
Had an accident at work? Been involved in a crash? Need a personal injury lawyer? Trip Crash or Fall, we’ll get you back on your feet, a fully professional service and we won’t charge you an arm and a leg.

By Anurag at Jagahdilmein:
Growing Up
“Mommy NOOOOOOOOO….” my daughter cried out as I gathered all her dolls and threw them into the bin.
I shouted at her angrily, “You’re 5 years old now, it’s high time you stopped playing with these stupid Barbies, and start practicing with Voodoo dolls like normal witches.”
277 Characters

By Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
Smart Girls Part 2
I was not convinced by the doctor’s comments, so I asked for a second opinion.  A lovely lady offered her services pro bono.
“Don’t worry Mrs Jones,” she said. “Have you checked the liquor cabinet? I think all young girls lose their heads some times. She just got a little legless!”
(277 characters)

By Hridi at Inked Beliefs:
I was tired of people
telling me how Barbies are
flawless in their physique
defining every woman out there,
giving illogical beauty standards
only to increase insecurities among us.
So today, I collected
a dozen barbie dolls,
Breaking them apart into bits
until it satisfied me.
~278 characters

By Indhu at Always:
Journey Begins
“Join your Barbies, baby”, said Sara.
Little Naina looked in the direction of the sound and smiled. As she walked towards her toy basket, she bumped onto the chair.
“It’s okay. Turn left to get closer to your toy basket” said Sara as she helped her blind princess.
<264 characters>

Well, I don’t know what I was worried about. When presented with this weird photo prompt, you all hit it out of the park! Well done! I want to say welcome to several new tweeters this week. So glad you joined us. I hope you’ll be back! And to our regulars…yes, after over 100 challenges, you are now regulars if you’ve been around for more than a few tales…thank you for coming back again and again. As long as you do, I’ll keep doing what I do,..so…without further ado, I present to you today’s photo challenge by PDPhotos at Pixabay.com. This is (or at least was) a real thing/place/bizarre attraction. I’m not going to say too much. I don’t want to get in the way of your creativity with too many facts. I’ll fill you in at the roundup. At any rate. Tell me what you think happened here. In 280 characters or less, or 140 characters (old school Twitter) if you’re up for a challenge! No pressure. Have fun! I’ll see you at the roundup next week. Happy tweeting! 🙂

Twittering Tales 103 – 25 September 2018

Photo by PDPhotos @ Pixabay.com

The Shoe Tree

She lost her greening when lightning singed her, tip to root. But life still flickered in her core where tiny creatures nested and cicadas laid their eggs.

One day someone tossed his shoes over her bare limbs. More followed. She was useful again. Life has a way of surprising us.

~kat

279 Characters