Cut Down

stump

PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

Emory heard that you could tell how old a tree is by the number of rings in its trunk. He had no idea how to figure the age of the stump in front of his place. The city had ordered the beautiful shade tree cut down because it was a hazard.

Pity. He used to sit underneath it with his grandchildren and read to them. He played hide-and-go-seek with them behind it by never quite hiding. It had been his harbinger of winter and his herald of spring.

Now, like him, it was just a broken relic of the past.

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The Happy Birthday Circle

card

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

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“Spanish dancer in green cap. What the heck?” Al set the pen down on the greeting card and envelope trying to work out why Emmie liked this kind of art.

“Looks like some sort of mermaid stuck in the muddy Mississippi to me.” Then after a moment, “Oh, well.”

He picked up the pen and opened the card. After all, it was her birthday and getting her a card he knew she’d like was the least he could do.

Alastair wrote the expected greetings and added a few designs of his own. She’d appreciate the new circles for binding demons.

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