Dammit, I’m addicted. Two weeks in a row and I just can’t help myself. So here we go again with another flash fiction story challenge courtesy of the wonderful Rochelle Wishoff-fields (her story is fab, by the way!) and her ever-inventive story-telling band of Friday Fictioneers (going to check them out here just as soon as I’ve posted this) The challenge as always: using the picture prompt, write a 100 word story with a beginning, middle and end. Here goes:
Now the school has closed, Alice thinks back. Remembering how each event of the day was heralded by the bell; how even before it was a school, the cloisters had rung with its compelling voice, calling the nuns to prayer.
Her phone chimes once. A reminder.
It chimes again, this time two short pings. Her daughter Melissa, exhorting her not to forget her appointment.
Alice sighs. It seems her life is still regulated by bells after all.
The bright flowers outside grow wild, following their own rhythm. Dropping her phone into their blooms, she knows they won’t be listening either.
nina nakamura 
Excellent story. I like her rebellion against the bells in the end!
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Dear Nina,
Your ending made me laugh out loud with delight.
I’ll let you in on a little secret…not really a secret. I came into Friday Fictioneers as a participant in April of 2012. I ended up inheriting the whole shebang in October. I’ve not missed a week yet. I don’t think there’s a 12 step program for this addiction and if there was one, I wouldn’t do it. 😉 Glad you’re aboard.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Phones can be so much less friendly than the bells. At least the bells at school have a set schedule.
Cheers!
Marie Gail
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Nice bed for the phone to lie on-beautiful and fragrant ;-)Great story!
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I’m glad you are sharing our addiction! This was a great story, and your protagonist did what so many of us don’t have the courage to do 🙂
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Free at last!
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Good use of description for a story done well. Many people probably feel enough is enough at times.
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A good place for her phone. Good story.
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Beautifully written, with a lovely structure, and the story itself “rings” so true! Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself! 😉
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Thank you Joanna! I love puns. I find them so appealing.
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So does my co-author and co-Fictioneer, Ron 🙂 He finds them ap”peal”ing, too 😉
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Enjoyed this very much. There’s also something comforting in certain bells. I made my ringer on my smart phone sound like an old rotary phone 🙂 It gets some attention from others too.
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I agree the sound of bells can be comforting and beautiful …church bells…distant gongs… but not alarm clocks and school bells! So happy you enjoyed it!
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Nina, you’re addicted for life; it’s inevitable. 🙂 There are worse things. Lovely job on the story tying the various types of bells together and their influence on our lives. Beautifully written.
janet
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I knooooow Janet…. but at least I’m in great company! 🙂 Thank you for your lovely comment.
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I loved the repeated bells, ringing incessantly. Such a great commentary on how static and rigid and scheduled our lives have become.
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Thank you Helena – it seems to be in our nature to want to control things not least our time and what we do with it. So we create all these external devices like bells and clocks and… now our most dearly beloved mobiles… 🙂
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Delightfully, wistfully, elegant.
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Thank you for such a lovely compliment. 🙂
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Don’t we all wish, at times, that we could drop our phones into the bright flowers growing wild? Good story.
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…and the gap between wishing and doing! Thanks!
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