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“Jump!”
I stand on the quarry rim, the still water black, oiled peacock feathers in the filtered light.
“Do it!” they dare, giggling, impatient.
I hold my nose, knobby knees bent, gazing up into oak leaves, surely facing my death.
“Jump, chicken!”
Eyes squeezed shut, I shriek, I leap.
I open my wings and fly.
Myths of the Mirror 
I love the simplicity and the “restriction” of having a word count. How did you come across the specific number 55?
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I used to submit to a 55 word flash contest years ago and it just stuck. These short pieces are good practice for me, Erik as I can be wordy! Thanks for reading 🙂
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Love shorts with a twist in the tale! I read this quite literally obviously 😀
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You aren’t the only one. I’m glad it worked both ways 🙂 Thanks for the visit. Happy Sunday!
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Reblogged this on Crazy Pasta Child.
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Thanks for the reblog, Penney. Glad you enjoyed the story. Have an adventurous summer 🙂
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What a rush! Great bit, Diana, and great introduction to summer! Reminds me of hot summer days at the local lakes.
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Me too, Julie. In New England we had gorges all over the place that were great fun. Now they are way too cold! Ha ha. Happy Summer.
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👏
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😀
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Love this! Fun
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Thanks, Lynn. A little summer fun 😀
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yes for sure!
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Such a short piece of writing but somehow it says so much, really enjoyed this. 🙂
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Thank you, Marje. These short ones are easy on the readers and fun to do. 🙂
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Yes I must write more flash too!
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I love the last line. If only we could all do this! *sigh*
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I think we can, Millie, metaphorically at least. Summer is a great time to try something new and fun no matter our age and abilities. I hope you get a chance to spread your wings a bit. Happy Summer!
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Exactly! And I have to add that this is the first time in my life that someone has said ‘happy summer’ and I’ll actually be in the northern hemisphere for the month of July! I’m so excited ☺️ I’ll be in Canada. It’s absolutely freezing where I am right now ❄️ 😩
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Canada will be beautiful! Not too hot, so you won’t melt. And yet it will feel tropical to you! Have a wondeful July 🙂
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Thank you!! Hopefully it’s not too hot, but just enough that I can top up my Aussie tan yay ☀️
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This is a very exciting challenge which sounded like a young person’s perspective, Diana. It is interesting to read how people see a photo and come up with diverse messages and stories. This one was a perfect match, I feel. 🙂
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I wanted a skinny little kid with knobby knees, but this one at at a least captured the rock wall. We used to swim in swimming holes when I was a kid. Lots of jumping off big rocks! Thanks for reading, Robin 🙂 Have a great week!
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Gorgeous, Diana! I am writing an academic essay at the moment… so dull! Reading this was like jumping into a rainbow in comparison! Just what I needed. 😊
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Thanks Ali. That’s a sweet thing to say about this little flash. Academic essay does sound a bit dry. Hopefully it’s something you’re interested in! Have a wonderful Sunday 🙂
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Kids challenge each other. At least they did, when I was young 🙂 Great piece, so much said in just a few words.
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Thank you, Inese. I think kids have always challenged each other to test their skills and bravery against the world. I remember it from my childhood too, generally good memories. Thanks for visiting 🙂
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Well, I was hoping for the best but it turned out differently than I thought it would. Well done with just 55 words, Diana. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks Suzanne. The different interpretations are interesting on these flash pieces. Glad you enjoyed it 🙂 Hope you get to spread your wings a bit this summer in a good way!
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Oh marvelous set-up — and in so few words. I felt the ground go out from under me. Well done Diana.
I’m reminded of one of my favorite quotes. “The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” – Douglas Adams
Mega hugs!
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You’re the second one to mention that quote, Teagan. It’s a memorable one. Thanks for reading. Hope you get to spread your wings a bit this weekend 🙂
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Love it… So I guess, that to a certain extent, some chickens might fly, if being under pressure 😀
Happy weekend… All the best to you!, Aquileana 💫
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Sometime a little peer pressure is a good thing 🙂 Thanks for reading, Aquileana. Have the wonderful weekend as well. ❤
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Haha…. indeed, it is…. 😀
thank you and the same to you ☀★🎇 ~
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When I was growing up in the Bronx, kids used to challenge one another to jump like this from the lofty heights of Columbia Rock into the Harlem River!
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Holy Smokes! 110 feet! Yikes, Sean. I would have chickened out. That’s crazy. Our cliffs were super high – about 12 feet! 🙂 🙂 So, did you jump??
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Did I jump? I climbed up there all the time, but let’s just say being the aesthete that I am, I preferred to admire the lovely views of the Palisades! I’m pretty sure my dad jumped as a kid, though; he lived on the other side of Spuyten Duyvil Creek in Inwood (the northernmost tip of Manhattan), and had crazy stories about his adventures growing up in the area. Of course, back in those days (this would’ve been the ’30s and ’40s), the New York waterways were a hell of a lot cleaner than they’d become by the ’80s!
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I love how kids are just kids and will find these adventures and rites of passage wherever they live. Thanks for joining in the fun 🙂
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Perfect.
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Do you remember those days of kid adventure? I plan to do a little metaphorical flying this summer. Have a great weekend 🙂
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Yeah, I remember them. We thought we were invincible back then. Thanks. You have a wonderful weekend, too.
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Great job. I can almost feel this!
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I think most of us have memories of these dares as kids – the fear and excitement and adrenaline and then the feeling of mastery. Thanks for the comment and enjoy your weekend!
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I agree. Great post 🙂 have a wonderful weekend!
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Awesome! 🙂
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Thanks, Bette. Something light and short and fun! 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend!
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Thanks, Diana. You have a wonderful weekend too! 🙂
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Love this! There are definitely life lessons tucked into those words! Hope you have a great weekend. 🙂
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I’m feeling excited about summer, Kelly, and after sitting on my butt for 8 months, the urge to get outside for an adventure is almost overwhelming. Soon! Have a great weekend, my friend 🙂
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Well I hope it’s an adventure you’ll never forget! I don’t like to hear about all that sitting either… you know better!
But more about your writing… the versatility you share inspires me so much and I think it reflects your true nature as well – at least that’s what I take away from it. And this piece is playful yet wise as well… just like you!
Hope you have fun – lots of fun very soon, up on your two feet! xo
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I know, I hear you, Kelly. I’ve been writing standing up more lately, but I’m looking forward to getting out in the woods and leaving the laptop behind 🙂
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And where you live… such inspiration! You are meant to be in those forests more often! 🙂
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Who can doubt your imagination!! Perfect! 🙂
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Thank you, Balroop. I love the way kids test the world and their own power. I’m feeling the urge to be a little adventurous and try out my own wings a little this summer 🙂 Have a wonderful weekend, my friend ❤
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I have a tendency to take things literally, so that last line was a startling twist the first time I read it. A moment of fantastical transformation above oily, black water strewn with peacock feathers.
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Ha ha ha. Goodness, Frank. What a totally fresh take on it. I love it. In a workshop I attended, the instructor said that fantasy writers need to be careful with metaphors when kicking off a book. She warned that they can be interpreted literally as the reader doesn’t know the world yet. True! 🙂 Have a great weekend!
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That’s good advice. 🙂
Thanks, you too!
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I usually ignore the advice, but yes, something to be aware of 🙂
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With temperatures reaching three digits this is the perfect flash fiction. As always right on.
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If only the water wasn’t so brrrrr cold, Christina. It didn’t bother me as a kid, but now even 75 degrees is icy! Ha ha. Thanks so much for the visit and comment. Have a great weekend and stay cool! 🙂
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Give me a parachute and I’ll jump! LOL! 😉
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A parachute?? No no, Kathryn. Use your wings 🙂 I am ready for some summer adventure though its going to be a couple months before I venture into that cold water. Have a great weekend, my friend 😀
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You too Diana! xo
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Beautiful and perfect!
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Thank you, Holly. I’m looking forward to summer and a few opportunities to fly 🙂
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Fly like an eagle! Have a lovely and adventurous summer.
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Speaks of childhood days perfectly, egged on but you wouldn’t dream of backing out. Then the exhilaration followed by complete denial you ever hesitated.
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Ha ha. Yes, then you go back up there and do it again! Thanks for the visit, Tric. Have a great weekend 🙂
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I love this! The last line is priceless. Well done! Sweet summer is surely on the way!
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Oh yes. It’s still too early for this, but the hot weather is coming! Thanks for reading, Mary 🙂
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Vibrant and free! Love the life depicted in this, Diana.
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Thanks, Lenora. It’s a summer dare that I’m intending to reenact when the swimming holes around here warm up (a lot). Have a great weekend 🙂
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Oh wow that sounds fantastic! Warm swimming holes, my goodness! Best of luck, I hope you have a great time 🙂
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“I open my wings and fly,” I love the last sentence. It is so me.
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Wow. That’s great that you see yourself that way! I’m feeling the urge for sure. As the weather improves, I need to find myself a real swimming hole and a (low) cliff 😀
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“There is a knack to flying, which is basically to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
(I may not have got the quote perfect, but it’s what leaped into my mind when I read this!)
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What an interesting quote. I’m going to have to think about that 🙂 There’s definitely an edge of danger and element of trust. I loved those dares as a kid, taking the risk, and prevailing!
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http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Flying
I was never entirely comfortable about dangerous dares, always doing mental risk-benefit analyses before deciding what to do. Still don’t really get the appeal of gambling!
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Boy, do I have some stories. I rarely risked death, though frequent stitches and an occaional broken bone were realities in my family. Some things we did as kids were plain stupid and my dad was usually leading the way. 😀
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And that’s what dads are for! 😀
The most I got up to was climbing trees (and falling out of them) and wandering the countryside.
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Such simple joy and adventures of the young I imagine when flying was so was so easy! Feelings of summer and mischief.
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You hit it, Annika. Summer is calling. I have a feeling I’m going to end up taking a bloggin break at some point to do some jumping 🙂
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Diana, you of us all should treat yourself to a blogging break over the summer! 😀 You work tirelessly and faithfully day in/day out! I’m as usual in Sweden for a few weeks this summer so enforced blogging break as no wifi…then a couple of weeks in Florida! I love the photo and we used to jump from the rocks into the sea in Sweden – loving that the scared happy moment before hitting the ice cold water.
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I don’t “work” that hard, Annika. I just do what I love. But I do sit on my butt too much! Ha ha. Yes, some summer fun is in the future 🙂 Hope you get to do some jumping too!
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PS I’m not very good at maths so that could in fact be wrong.
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I’m not very good at math either. I’ll have to get out my calculator and check.
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It still wouldn’t help me.
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I thought that was exactly ten percent better than a fifty word story ;p
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You crack me up, Richard. Your writing is so dark and your comments are hysterical. 🙂
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I’m a Gemini; split.
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Oh no, a Gemini? Ha ha. Makes total sense now. 🙂
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Oh, how I love this.
How about a book of 55-word stories?
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The kid in me wants to do a bit of flying this summer, Mike. I love flash fiction. Great idea – I can’t wait to see what you pull together. Ha ha.
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Oh, to feel the rush of the wind! Lovely!!
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And the adrenaline! Ha ha. Have a great weekend, Dorinda 🙂
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Oh yes, mustn’t forget that!! Thank you, Diana, you too!! 🙂
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Love it. I have visions of the ending of the movie “Birdman”. ☺
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I don’t think I’ve seen that movie, Van. I’ll have to rent it sometime. Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend 🙂
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You’d enjoy it. A bit dark at times, but very thought-provoking. Happy Weekend to you as well, Diana. ☺
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Haa such freedom!
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Summer’s coming and I’m feeling a need to do a little jumping 🙂
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