Twittering Tales #122 – 5 February 2019 – It starts with one word…

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. If you would prefer to post your tale in the comments (some people have very specific blog themes but still want to participate), I am happy to post a link to your site when I post your tale in the Round Up.

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.

Twittering Tale #121 – The Roundup

Starting us off…
She knew the recipe by heart. Butter, flour and sugar, a few drops of vanilla. These days bakers use fancy appliances to mix the dough, but not Irene. She’d press the flour and butter between her fingertips Into a buttery dough. “Makes the cookies sweeter,” she’d say with a wink.
~kat
278 Characters

By Michael at Morpethroad:
He loved the fair lady and his cooking skills illustrated the ultimate expression of his love. The shapes were standard, the magic ingredient would make all the difference. He sprinkled each with love and baked with care and affection. She swooned. He knew he was on a winner.

By The Dark Netizen:
Cookies
She had arranged the shapes neatly in rows.
She stood back and observed the cookie dough. Her grandchildren loved her cookies. She checked the clock. Just enough time left to bake. She hoped her star and heart cookies would be good enough.
Good enough to win masterchef…
Character Count: 270

By Violet at Voilet’s Lentz:
Perspective
Carmina’s lackluster, cookie cutter existence was quickly put into perspective by a complete stranger- she never even saw- as simultaneously he jabbed what could only have been a gun into her back- and spat the words “Gimme your dough lady. All of it.” gruffly into her right ear.
Character Count: 280

By Deepa at Sync with Deep:
the wait…
once
the cooking
and baking
never seemed
to be enough
today
boxes of snacks 
and cookies
wait for
a lonely kitchen
to sing
once more!!

By Fandango at This, That, and the Other:
Secret Ingredient
“You’ve been open for barely a month,” Donna said, “but your bakery is a such a success. There is a long line of people waiting outside to come in and buy your cookies.”
“It’s my secret ingredient,” Ann said.
“Which is?”
Ann smiled. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be secret, would it?”
(279 characters)

By Kristian at Tales from the Mind of Kristian:
Love Biscuits
“See her over at the bus stop? She used to create the loveliest biscuits in the world. You know what the secret ingredient was?”Sally asked.
“No. What?”
“Love” She replied.
“Is that why they were the best in the world?”
“No dear, that’s why the hygiene inspectors closed her down.”
[279 Characters]

By Douglas at Help from Heaven:
Proud to be a Baker
Todd’s father wanted him to become a doctor, a job for a real man. But, Todd creates treats that bring joy to people’s souls. When they eat his inviting cookies, they forget their troubles for a little while, giving their hearts time to rest. He considers himself a healer.
(275 characters)

By Di at Pensitivity101:
She’d cooked their favourite biscuits, stars and hearts, for the men in her life after a hard day at the mine.
She heard Happy, Grumpy, Sneezy, Bashful, Doc, Sleepy and Dopey singing on the way home.
198 characters

By Teresa at The Haunted Wordsmith:
What Did I Sign Up For
Fifteen jobs. I had to keep this one or I could kiss my apartment goodbye. The ad said it would be a fun job with a different task every day. I don’t consider using a different cookie cutter a different task. Is an apartment really worth this?
243-characters

By Sadje at Keep it Alive:
The tray holding the cookies was ready to be baked. Just a sprinkling of sugar required. She was famous for rainbow colored sugar cookies that were freshly baked each day. It was a way to pay tribute to her daughter who had loved these as a kid. She had died at the age of ten.
Character count 278.

By Lady Lee at Lady Lee Manila:
Mum came down and was greeted with this sight. Inside the kitchen were the joint effort of Sam and Bill. Cookies of different shapes, stars, hearts, boats and sails. They tried them but they were as hard as rocks. Oh well, better luck next time.
(246 characters)

By Reena at ReInventions:
Game of Life
ambitions nurtured
by love-filled hearts
stars in the eyes
Life –
a game of cards
with unexpected deals
shows and surrenders,
bearing the brunt
of clubs and spades
awaiting emergence
of jokers in the pack
Life –
A game of chess
where we are pawns
masquerading as queens
manipulated by Kings
(278 characters)

By Ramya at And Miles to Go Before I Sleep:
Rediscovering Love
She loved baking cookies for her family whenever they visited her..
As the time flew by, she stopped baking as they stopped visiting..
Recently, she rediscovered her joy for baking, not for her family but for her four pawed friends who visit her every day.
Character Count : 254

By Ponnz at The Swan Song:
Not This Time
Star Cookies! Jen watched the making in awe. 10 for me, No, 20?
Stars? All of them,Mom assured.
Those hearts? Your usual, giving to me atlast,she smiled.
Not this time. I’m home. A voice came.
Dad! Jen screamed. Military holidays baby,he winked.They stood hugging each other.
~Ponnz

By Lorraine at Lorraine’s Frilly Freudian Slip:
Cinnamon Twist
star-dusted cookies
mixed with
shapes of love
sugar and spice
all things nice
are not what my
kitchen is made of
oh, that sweet pinch of arsenic
special treats wrapped up in old lace
be my guest, have a little taste?
Grandma’s Murder-Mayhew Cookie Shop
(241 characters)

By Melanie at Sparks From a Combustible Mind:
Anise, so named for her grandmother’s favorite spice, sat in the storage room at the back of the bakery.  Grandmother said the girl brought her luck.  Grandmother always put a bit of anise seed spice in her cookies.   Those always sold out first.  Magic or love?  Who could say? 
(278 characters and spaces)

By Radhika at Radhika’s Reflection:
Payback Time!
Widowed young, Meg took orders for baking, to make ends meet. Her baked goodies were heavenly and she managed a decent living, to raise her son well. Now in college, her son marketed her work on social media.
Today she has a roaring business with clients all over the world!
Lettercount: 276

By Anurag at Jagadilmein:
There’s No Such Thing as a Free Cookie
She wiped her sweaty brow with a floury sleeve, feeling as wrung-out as the dough she was kneading for her 28th batch of cookies.
Maybe agreeing to cook for the seven dwarves in return for free lodging had not been that great a deal, thought Snow White ruefully.
263 characters.

By Indhu at Always!:
Bakeatouille
“The new bakery on Julia Street is the current talk of the town. Their star and heart shaped cookies are a must try” read the review on the daily. Eric gleamed at the picture of him in front of his bakery.
Little did the readers know that Remy is hiding right under his chef cap! 
<279 characters>

By Jo at A Creative PTSD Gal:
Innocent Cutouts
The investigators couldn’t find the culprit for the devastating loss of life. The cutout shapes of flour and sugar seemed harmless rolled out on the counter. The kitchen once full of warmth and life was now a cold and quiet scene.
‘Do you suppose she meant to do so much damage?’
279 Characters

By Willow at WillowDot21:
Hearts and Stars.
He was delighted, that last beating must of worked. At last she was being wifely. The smell was delicious. She gave him a plate of cookies. He ate them all to her delight.”Bastard” she thought as she waited for the poison to work. Her bags packed and ready in the car.
(269 Characters)

By Peter at Peter’s Pondering:
In every batch there was always a broken heart.
At the first bite it shattered into a dozen pieces.
Whoever ate it was guaranteed to have a dramatic failure in their loving relationship.
Some said she was a witch!
A sorcerous!
An evil hag!
Whatever she was, she sure made magic cookies!
(280 characters)

By The Indishe:
“The star shaped cookie was an amalgam of all latent dreams. She wished to shine like those bright stars on dark skies. And the heart shaped ones were a cache of her love for the diaspora around. The vanilla essence fired up a luscious aroma as she rolled out myriad shapes.”
(274 characters)

By Shweta at My Random Ramblings:
Hearts and Stars
Sarah ignored her arthritis and soldiered on.
It was her granddaughter Mia’s birthday.
Mia loved the cookies.
Sarah couldn’t wait to surprise Mia!
Unknown to Sarah, Mia’s heartbeat grew steady again.
The doctors heaved a sigh of relief.
Mia’s heart had finally settled in its new body.
(279 characters)

By Namitha at Discover When Lost:
Joy of Baking!
She was angry, she was moody, nothing worked accept the fight. 
Late night she woke up with no sleep, craving for some more sweet. 
She baked cookies until she was tired.
In no time she realised that was what she desired! 
Baking turned into passion, with fighting just an option!
Character Count: 274

By JP at The Wide-Eyed Wanderer:
The Scent of Love
I watched her roll out the dough. Her hands were worn and gnarled with age but strong and gentle still. The cookies would soon fill her kitchen with the heady scent of sugar and flour, and love. Her secret ingredient remains a secret to this day. I think it was love.
character count 272

By Ron at Read 4 Fun:
Let’em Eat Cookies
A Navy cook who had traveled the world before retirement, Cookie’s bakery job was a natural choice. Cookie wanted to give back to the community for the good life he was living. The ingredients Cookie brought from Phnom Penh where Ganja was a condiment would make customers happy.
280 characters

By Kalpana at Gemini in the Sky: (Almost Forgot…from Blogspot)
The Baker
Her wrinkled but deft hands moved creating masterpieces that melted in the hearts. Patrons would line up early morn . Technology changes people’s taste. Fancy shapes and packaging rule the market. It is time to down the shutters. The last batch of cookies would go into the oven. 

Wonderful Roundup everyone! We have a few new tweeters this week. Be sure to visit their blogs and welcome them to our fun little challenge. And to all of you…thank you once again, for adding your creative tale to the mix. All these cookie stories have me craving shortbread. They are my favorite cookies (biscuits, for my friends across the pond 😉 ). I might have to make a batch this weekend. At any rate, well done everyone!

This week we have a new challenge. You will notice that there is a short line typed on the page…”It starts with one word”. 23 characters in all. I am challenging everyone to finish the story. Which means you have 257 characters or less to complete your tale. I hope you’ll accept the challenge. The possibilities are endless. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Have fun and I’ll see you at the Roundup next week! 🙂

Twittering Tales #122 – 5 February 2019 – It starts with one word…

“It starts with one word Charles. Do you know what that word is?”
Sweat saturated Charles’ brow streaming down his face. He knew they were on to him.
“Geeze, guys, you know me. What’s in a word?”
“One word, Charles…”
“Loyalty. Right? Am I right?”
“Charles, Charles…you pain me.”

~kat

278 Characters