It’s time for Friday Fictioneers, the weekly challenge where writers compose a 100-story based on a photo.
Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting the Fictioneers and to Jennifer Pendergast for this week’s photo. All are welcome to give this challenge a shot. Join in!
Genre: Fantasy/Myth (98 words)
Tumbleweed Junction
Rob kicked sand at the tumbleweeds and watched them roll, floating and drifting, glued to the wind like rails to a train with no conductor.
Ellie climbed into the train car.
“I thought I was seeing things,” Rob said. “Like this train was a mirage.”
“Get on. Let’s see where it takes us,” Ellie patted a spot next to her. As if pinching herself, she drew in the dust on the floor, “Ellie was here.”
Rob was not. The wind picked him up to join the other tumbleweeds, hopping and skipping with the desert’s scraggly skeletons.
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For more stories from the Fictioneers, click here.
AmyReeseWrites 
Dear Amy,
A lyrical piece alive with the rhythms of the wind. Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
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Dear Doug,
Thank you, kind sir. I’m so pleased you thought it was lyrical.
Aloha,
Amy
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LOL! A tumbleweed! 😀
You’re right — ours were very similar this time around. I wanted to write mine yesterday morning, but I really struggled with it and just couldn’t put anything decent together until this afternoon. This was a hard one to do. The tumbleweed part was a nice touch. 🙂
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Ha ha! I see a dusty place and I think of tumbleweeds. I had a hard time with this one, too. That’s funny we came up similar ideas. I’ve never thought of tumbleweeds as skeletons until now though. 🙂
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An interesting take on purgatory perhaps?
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Perhaps, Dawn. Boy, that would be an awful purgatory, wouldn’t it? Rolling around in the desert.
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I never think of purgatory as pleasant.
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No. That’s kind of the point of it, isn’t it? Ha ha.
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This is great. Having grown up in tumbleweed country, I know they’re skeletons of some sort of plant (that’s about as exact as I can get). Love your take on the prompt, Amy. Especially Ellie scratching her name in the dust.
Hope all is going well with you, Alicia
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Thanks, Alicia. Oh, where did you grow up? I grew up around tumbleweeds, too. They are part of my mental fabric. 🙂 They are skeletons of some kind of plant…I never knew that until today when I looked them up. It’s going…this was a tough day. Things come in waves. Thanks for asking.
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Strong imagery here, I too loved the skeleton/tumbleweed comparison – worked well.
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Thank you, KT. I’m glad it worked. I never thought of them that way until this prompt. It’s funny what a photo can bring out.
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Dear Amy, I loved the way you wrote about the tumbling tumbleweeds – so poetic and the image is amazing. You are such a good writer. Nan 🙂
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Aww, you’re so sweet. I just love me some tumbling tumbleweeds, and oh, if I can make them poetic. Thanks for the high praise, Nan. 🙂
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This short story caused me to think — You write very well.
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Oh, why thank you, Mike. That’s very kind of you to say. 🙂
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I really liked this piece, Amy. Great title and use of the tumbleweed imagery.
I once knew a couple who had a rather large piece of tumbleweed as their Christmas tree one year. We were all hardly 20 at the time. I wasn’t sure what to think of it at the time 😛 Now it would be so cool!
Ellespeth
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I’m glad you enjoyed it, Ellespeth. Thank you. Now how cool would that be to have a tumbleweed Christmas tree? Ha ha. Talk about resourceful! With ornaments and everything? Nice.
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Interesting take on this one. Great read.
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I think this is the best piece offered against the train photo. You’ve crafted that wistful thinking onto the page so well.
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Thanks so much, Mick. What a lovely compliment.
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Terrific take on the prompt with spectacular imagery. ( I love that you equate dust with tumbleweed; you should have seen my house when we had dogs.) That last line was magnificent.
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Thank you, Sandra. Did you have some dusty dogs? When I had a dog, he just loved the mud. Thanks for your lovely comments.
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I love your descriptions. You make this place sounds quite bleak and lonely.
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Thanks, Ali. That’s exactly what I’m shooting for.
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You’ve put forward a beautiful story for the prompt! I wish Rob and Ellie would meet again, under a different circumstance.
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Thanks so much. Anything is possible. Maybe in a different time and place they will meet again.
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This one is taking me in several directions … which is both good and unsettling.
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Thank you, Frank. I hope you enjoyed it. More than one direction is good in my book.
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Now I have “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” stuck in my head. But there are worse things that could be stuck there, so I’m off to have some breakfast, humming mentally. 🙂
Happy Friday.
janet
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Janet, I’ll admit I didn’t know the song. I just looked it up and I must say that the song goes perfect with my story. I liked the whistling. 🙂 Thank you! Happy Friday to you, too.
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Beautifully written imagery, Amy. Felt like I was in a dusty, barren, forlorn place where a tumbleweed would definitely blow on by. I hope you are doing alright and hope you have a nice weekend. Sending love and hugs your way xo
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Thank you, Kelly. That’s perfect that you thought a tumbleweed would blow on by. 🙂 Thanks for the hugs!! You are always so thoughtful. I’m hanging in there. xo
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The mystery of your story really works with this photo, Amy. Nice job!
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Thank you, Dawn. It is a bit of a mystery, but I’m okay with that. 🙂
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Amy,
this is quite an entrancing piece, and yes, I agree with the previous comments about it being lyrical. Great imagery and metaphors too. The line “Rob was not.” was a beautiful twist as well. Great job, all in all. 🙂
-David
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David, thanks for all your wonderful praise. You’re too kind. I’m so glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
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Bah, I’m never too kind; I’m just the right amount of kind. 😉
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Oh, shucks! 🙂
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This is so vivid. I can almost taste the dust.
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Thanks so much for the kind words, Melanie.
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You evoke great imagery with this story Amy, well done 🙂
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Thank you, Dee. 🙂
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Dear Amy,
Wistful, poignant and, has been said, lyrical. And to that I’ll add ‘lovely.’ Beautifully written Amy. One of your best.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Oh, Rochelle, you are too kind. You make me blush. Thanks for the praise. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Shalom,
Amy
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Lovely imagery, Amy. I can see that dusty, desert landscape and rolling tumbleweeds perfectly. You have written this beautifully. 🙂
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Thank you so much, Millie. I’m familiar with the dusty landscape. I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
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I’ve only seen that kind of landsacpe in Western films! Haha. Perhaps one day I’ll see it in real life. 🙂
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Ha! Well, I’d prefer the lush green. I grew up in Southern California, inland. It’s really just a populated desert.
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Oh, we have plenty of lush green in England! And a lot of rain to make it that way. We can’t expect one without the other, I suppose. Interesting description, ‘populated desert’. Thanks, Amy.
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Oh, how we need that rain!! We are in a bad drought. I’m sure you’ve heard. They say in over 1200 years…the worst drought we’ve ever seen. C’mon rain!
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I’d send you some over, if I could! We’ve had a couple of droughts here over the years, the worst one in 1976. They were bad enough, so I can imagine yours. I hope the rains come soon.
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Thank you, Millie! I hope we get a break soon. A long break of wet weather.
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Wonderful story. I noticed one comment about purgatory…but I think the desert is quite beautiful when viewed close up. There’s a lot of life that we miss from our lofty height as humans, but might really enjoy up close if we were tumbling around the desert floor.
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Thank you, Jan. You almost make me want to be a lizard…but only for a very short while. Ha ha! The desert really is teeming with life, even if they are scraggly skeletons. I enjoy watching the tumbleweeds roll. 🙂
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That was fab, especially your last line 🙂
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this story speaks to me. well done.
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I’m so pleased. Thank you, Plaridel.
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I get a strong sense of limbo here. The tumbleweeds are perfect for that.
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That’s true. Tumbleweeds have that I-could-float-forever-nowhere feeling. Thanks, Tiff. 🙂
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A truly lyrical piece indeed! I loved the imagery you have created. Love.
In my house, tumbleweed is the dog’s fur! Seems like no matter how many times I vacuum, one close of a door and it’s off! Rolling away to get bigger and bigger.
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Thank you, Dale. Glad you enjoyed it.
Ha ha. That’s really funny about your dog’s fur. I can totally see it. Once the fur is the house, it’s all over!
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Such a story.. those Tumbleweeds are so desolate, and I can clearly see them as skeletons
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Thanks, Bjorn. Desolate is a good word for tumbleweeds to be sure.
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Fascinating take on the prompt – tumbleweeds, skeletons, and memories. Thanks, Amy.
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Thank you, Perry. So glad you liked it.
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Such a sad, lonely feeling here. I love the tumbleweed image. Beautiful.
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Oh, you’re so kind, Margaret. Thank you for your lovely comments.
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Seems they have different views of life. He seems to be a loner who can’t put down roots. She better chose someone else. Good metaphors, Amy. The storytelling was lovely. Well done. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I like your interpretation and thoughts on this, Suzanne. I’m glad you liked it. Thank you!
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