The Bettermost Drabblefest: Please Join In!

[MaineWriter]

For today, let's try:

• the planets in alignment
• Kokopelli
• heliobacter pylori

L

[mariez]

  . . .In the silo’s shadow pawed a chestnut stallion with a silver blaze, its rider cocked his .30-.30.  “Believe I’d drop that pistol.  Your horseshoe ain’t that lucky.”

Wow - excellent Clyde! 

For today, let's try:

• the planets in alignment
• Kokopelli
• heliobacter pylori

L

OMG, Leslie.  Kokopelli?!  LMAO   I had to google "heliobacter pylori".  I can't wait to see what Clever Clyde comes up with! 

Marie

[Clyde-B]

For today, let's try:

• the planets in alignment
• Kokopelli
• heliobacter pylori

L

YOU'RE EVIL!!!!!!!   

[outrider]

   He stepped inside the front door and found a bench to sit at.  Bells rang and students swarmed around the halls talking on about all sort of things.  "The planets in alignment".  "Kokopelli".  "Heliobacter Pylori". 

   He looked up and down the corridor...  no sign of either daughter... 

   He dropped his eyes to the floor and thought of the words he'd heard from the kids and thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that the old truck had lost it's tranny, after all. 

   "Hi, Daddy!  I'll find Junior and we can go.  Are you hungry?  I'm famished."

[ifyoucantfixit]

                v'ry good, indeed!!       

[ifyoucantfixit]

         He told the women he would take the lead, and if they needed to stop, or had any trouble to give a shout out.  Ms Starret said she would take the rear position, and let him know if anything was wrong  Or perhaps she was in need of assistance.  They had been traveling along at a leisurely pace.  About an hour into the ride, they heard some commotion off to the northwest of the trail.  Seemed to be some kind of animal in the growth of young lodgepole.  Ennis looked immediately in that direction, and the women quickly glanced that way as well.  Ennis could feel Handy shy a bit ,and become a nervous leader.  He had to tighten the reins, and take more control than the loose grip he had before.  He noticed the women were doing the same things when he glanced back to check they were handling the surprise
they had just come in contact with. 
         He was pleased to see they seemed to be handling the situation quite well.  He paused, and gave them time to catch up to him.  Cautioning it was
probably just a bear they had disturbed.  "Sounds like he hi tailed it off in the other direction,"  They all smiled and gave a nervous puff of exhaled air,  "It may have been Kokopeli.  Ms Proulx announced with a grin."  "Kok o who?"
Ennis asked with a funny questioned look.  "Kokopeli " Mary replied in answer to the quizzical brow that Ennis displayed.  "He is a fabled character in the Hopi indian legends.  He is supposed to be a symbol of joy and happiness."  "Well he sure didn't make me too happy or joyful maam."  "Feel like he scared me outa five years life."  "Reminds me of one time I come up on a bear, when me and my friend was herding sheep, back in 63." 
     " Well," Annie remarked.  While trying to keep a straight face.   "You are going to have to tell us that one, tonight around the fire..After dinner of course."  "Sure nuf maam.  Be glad to."

[mariez]

.......He dropped his eyes to the floor and thought of the words he'd heard from the kids and thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that the old truck had lost it's tranny, after all. 

Awww...Ennis always underestimates himself.  Very nicely done, outrider.

. . . .Ennis asked with a funny questioned look.  "Kokopeli " Mary replied in answer to the quizzical brow that Ennis displayed.  "He is a fabled character in the Hopi indian legends.  He is supposed to be a symbol of joy and happiness."  "Well he sure didn't make me to happy or joyful maam."  "Feel like he scared me outa five years life."  "Reminds me of one time I come up on a bear, when me and my friend was herding sheep, back in 63." 
     " Well," Annie remarked.  While trying to keep a straight face.   "You are going to have to tell us that one, tonight around the fire..After dinner of course."  "Sure nuf maam.  Be glad to."

Oh, Janice this is great - you blended that into the story so seamlessly! 

Marie

[mariez]

Family Vacation

Jack rubbed his temples as he browsed aimlessly in the gift shop, his headache worsening by the minute.  Where the hell had Lureen and Bobby wandered off to anyway?   Looking at ancient Indian rock carvings wasn't exactly his idea of a dream vacation, but, then again, any trip that didn't involve Ennis wouldn't be.  He picked up a pewter keychain and fiddled with it, reading the description 

Kokopelli, the humpbacked flute player… sacred figure to Native Americans of the Southwestern United States for thousands of years….. thought to bring good fortune to those he meets on his travels.....

He looked at the little figure more closely.  He could sure use some luck, nothing ever did come to his hand the right way…

…….often referred to as God of the Harvest and is considered a symbol of fertility…

He dropped the keychain as quickly as a burning match and turned away as he heard Lureen calling him.

~~~~~~~
150 Words

[Cameron]

(Gee, thank you for these prompts, Leslie.   Only one possible today...)

The Gentle Breeze

(September 1985)
Tom stood there with his hands resting on Ennis’s shoulders.  Tom could feel the tight muscles slowly begin to loosen.  Tom slid his hands lower and helped Ennis up and then led him to the bed.  Tom wrapped his arms around him and slowly began to kiss Ennis’s moist face and his neck.  Then Tom opened the buttons of his shirt, one by one, as Ennis closed his eyes and softly began to moan.  Tom took off Ennis’s shirt, then opened his pants, and soon they were on the bed.  They became a jumble of arms and legs, with hands and lips and tongues moving all over, slowly at first and then faster and faster and faster, until they couldn’t any more, and they lay spent and exhausted on the bed.

There Ennis and Tom slept, their limbs intertwined, naked, with just a thin sheet tangled up all around them.  As they slept, a soft gust of wind blew the door open.  The visitor arrived.  The visitor slowly moved inside the trailer, and then went to the bed where he gazed upon them.  He came from a long ways away, just as he did once before.  This night the planets were aligned.

The visitor smiled a weary smile as he watched them sleep, with satisfied peaceful expressions on their faces.  He stood over them for a long time.  Despite the smile, the aching pain grew stronger and stronger within his willowy being.

Finally, the visitor smoothed the hair off Ennis’s forehead with a gentle hand, and caressed his face.  The visitor then tenderly kissed Ennis’s cheek and then his lips.  “Until next time” he whispered.  The visitor turned and moved towards the door, stopping to glance back at the bed one last time.  Then the visitor left, as the door closed quietly behind him.  He slowly went back to where he came from, with a gentle breeze swirling all around.

[Clyde-B]

    The rider and his mount ambled closer, .30-.30 aimed squarely at the mechanic and his stocky cohort.  “I got two bullets.  You got two minutes.  Don’t forget your ugly friend.”

    In the emergency room she sat twisting her handkerchief.  The young intern wearing the Kokopelli t-shirt under his lab coat stooped down. 
    “Will he be okay?”
    “He’s stable and resting.”
    “But will he be okay?”
    “We also found a bleeding ulcer.  It’s a treatable H. pylori infection, but the blood loss isn’t helping.”  Her eyes searched his.  “If the planets in alignment and we catch a little luck... maybe.”



     100 words