The curious case of the cinnamon sticks

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

 

Nancy loved pottering about with Mum. Today they were planting flowers. Or they would once Mum found her garden tools.

“It’s as if they crawl off on their own.” she muttered to herself digging through piles of junk in their garden shed.

“Maybe the gnomes came to borrow them.” mused Nancy.

Mum mumbled something about gnomes and arses.

Cinnamon sticks poked out off one shelf, catching Nancy’s eye.

“See! The gnomes replace what they borrow with cinnamon sticks.”

“Flip! so this is where I stuffed these bloody cinnamon sticks. Maybe I should check the spice cupboard for my garden tools.”

100 words

My very first instinct was to write some grisly murder / thriller. Images of leaves, dried twigs and wintry scenes has this effect on me. I pushed myself to find something different, stretch my creative muscles a bit. Get the rusty cogwheels turning. There’s a bundle of twigs on the makeshift shelving that look like cinnamon sticks. (Left on image). And I went with that!

Hope you enjoy the break from my dark side. Anyone who is a busy parent juggling work (housework or career or both), fitness habits, hobbies, child-rearing will know that feeling of confusion upon discovering misplaced items. And I doubt that Mum will find her tools in the spice cupboard. That would be too easy.

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Responses

  1. neilmacdon avatar

    That brought a wry smile to my face, Fatima

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fatima Fakier avatar

      Could you stretch that wry smile into a grin 😉 Glad it made you smile, Neil! Thank you.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. neilmacdon avatar

        Tell me another joke next week and I’ll try

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Iain Kelly avatar

    I can certainly relate to this – amazing what keeps turning up in the garden shed 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fatima Fakier avatar

      Ha ha! Thank you, Iain.

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Sandra avatar

    Yes, I can see the link with cinnamon sticks. Nicely done.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Fatima Fakier avatar

      Thank you, Sandra. I had no idea about bug hotels till today. Thanks for the photo, turned out to be quite educational.

      Like

  4. Alice Audrey avatar

    LOL! That could happen to me all too easily.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fatima Fakier avatar

      Do you also look for keys that you’re holding in your hand? Sometimes I do. Lol, thanks for commenting Audrey.

      Like

      1. Alice Audrey avatar

        I generally know what’s in my hand, but have been known to leave my keys in the freezer.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Susan A Eames avatar

    Ha ha – this was fun to read. (And who hasn’t put things in the wrong place?)

    Susan A Eames at
    Travel, Fiction and Photos

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Fatima Fakier avatar

      Glad it provided some fun for you, Susan! Thank you.

      Like

  6. atkokosplace avatar

    I can totally relate to misplacing things. Just the other day I was frantically looking for my car keys…I looked and looked, only to find them in the same drawer I already looked several times before! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Fatima Fakier avatar

      Amazing how we have selective sight at times! I do that too. Thank you for commenting:)

      Liked by 2 people

  7. neeltheauthor- author of WHEN LIFE THROWS THOSE CURVE BALLS avatar

    Lovely story, pretty relatable too. Nice story, Fatima.

    Like

  8. pennygadd51 avatar

    I like the realistic way you’ve had Mum censor her bad language for the sake of her daughter. And I love the gentle humour. It’s an excellent take on the prompt.

    Like

  9. 4963andypop avatar

    Nice mother daughter bonding I wasnt aware that mothers could cuss until i was well into college ( that is, beyond the obligatory D*** word that accompanied getting burnt while ironing).
    Its sweet how comfortable they are together, friends through the generations. Now youre going to make me cry!😢

    Like

  10. gahlearner avatar

    Yup, I can relate, too. This gave me a good chuckle. A lovely, fun story.

    Like

  11. Susan avatar

    I am heading toward the dark and grisly but I liked your take on the prompt. Maybe I will give mine more thought. Nicely done

    Like

  12. rochellewisoff avatar

    Dear Fatima,

    I got a chuckle out of this one. Who amongst us don’t occasionally misplace something? We all need to write a happy story once in a while. 😉

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Like

  13. Sascha Darlington avatar

    I did like this very much. I think it’s nice to go with the light side every once in a while. I especially like the fact that mum thinks her garden tools might be in the spice cabinet! 🙂

    Like

  14. jillyfunnell avatar

    Small tools definitely grow invisible legs and wander off round here. Or maybe the gnomes take them. An imaginative take.

    Like

  15. Jennifer Kennedy avatar

    Such great voices in this piece! ‘Gnomes and arses’ made me laugh. I understand this feeling well!

    Liked by 1 person

  16. michael1148humphris avatar

    It is good to stretch the boundaries, I enjoyed this very much,

    Like

  17. Jan Morrill avatar

    I love the dialogue–so much personality and relationship shown in so few words!

    Like

  18. anuragbakhshi avatar

    We’re all getting there, or will get there eventually, so nothing to laugh about 🙂

    Like

  19. Varad avatar

    Oh dear! The things we keep finding in our fridge.

    Like

  20. Björn Rudberg (brudberg) avatar

    Ha … love the conclusion, there is a logic to every mess, you just have to know how to decode it.

    Like

  21. Dale avatar

    I love this, Fatima. Nothing wrong with avoiding the macabre… And we have all, at one time or another misplaced stuff…

    Like

  22. justjoyfulness avatar

    Entirely plausible. You captured the mum’s confusion and the child’s imagination so well. Maybe the tools are in the car 😀

    Like

  23. lisarey1990 avatar

    Very fun read.

    Liked by 1 person

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