Writing

Timmy’s dream was to be a professional wrestler.

Ever since he was a kid, it’s all he could dream about. And as he went into his adult years and looked to pursue his passion, there were road blocks all over. He went to two wrestling schools. He competed on the independent scene.

It just wasn’t working.

Driving four ours one way to get paid $10 and a slice a pizza to be the second match and only given 10 minutes was starting to drain on him.

That’s when he got the phone call he had waited for.

It seems that a celebrated wrestler in Mexico, El Mousito, had a rough week. It started when he was in a match with his longest enemy. They fell out of the ring and to the ground. The place the matches were being held was in a bad part of Mexico. And it wasn’t clean. His leg went under the ring and … he felt something latch on

A rat had bitten him and then scampered by to the shock of El Mousito!

He felt woozy. He didn’t know what was going on. He just went through the matches and finished. He was then rushed to the hospital, where a doctor looked him over. He took out his stethoscope and listened to El Mousito and his face went almost white. It seemed El Mousito was in a bad spot.

The two had a conversation and Mousito said he was having a hard time moving. It almost it felt like he was in a giant cobweb or something. The doctor then talked and said those were common symptoms of what El Mousito had. The bit had done some damage, so they were going to have to get him better.

The doctor then pulled out a mirror and gave it to Mousito who looked and saw his face covered in spots.

“You have mouse pox,” the Doctor said. You will be staying here for a while so we can make you healthy again!

You can imagine how hard that was for the promoters of Mexican Championship Wrestling! This was their hero! He was fighting for the championship in less than three weeks! Who could replace him?

The phone rang and Timmy finally answered. This was what he had waited for. A plane awaited and before he knew it, he was on his way to Mexico.

Donning a mask, like traditional Mexian wrestlers, he was known as El Archer! He came to the ring carrying a bow and arrow and a target, and before each match, he would shoot an arrow – usually for a bullseye.

And weeks later, fighting for the honor of El Mousito, El Archer won the championship and as the crowd chanted his name, he held the trophy high in the air!

LINKUP FOR APRIL 1

No. 7

Story Challenge No. 7 linkup will be posted on April 15! Here is the photo for that one (Back to the original set!):

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This is part of the Story Cube Challenge, a bi-monthly blogging challenge hosted here. Feel free to join up with us for the next one and tell others! 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Once upon a time, there was this girl who lived in the country. She worked hard, but wondered if life would get any better for her. She just never understood why she could barely stay above water.

Reading had always been her escape, ever since she was just a little girl. She love fairy tales and stories about princesses. But not just any princess! Rather one who would stand up and fight for her people!

On a weekend afternoon, this girl pulled out an old princess costume she had and put it on. She then got a small sword that had been passed down in her family and went out to the backyard to envision what it would be like to be the fighting princess.

As she role played it out in her mind, she walked around the backyard — but not always paying attention to where she was — and that doesn’t always end well.

Such as this time.

She backtracked a bit in a “sword fight”, tripped over a small rock and as she tried to regain her footing, she fell backward and into the well.

Down she went and she landed with a thud. When she looked up, she was in a small boat and rowing was somebody who looked like the grim reaper. Or at least somebody dressed as the grim reaper.

She shook her head and looked around and didn’t seem to have a voice. The boat pulled toward a small landing spot where two people — some brute with a club and an evil-looking gremlin were waiting. As the boat stopped, they jumped on board and quickly got into place, tying up our “princess,” and making it hard for her to do anything.

Was this a dream?

She couldn’t understand how this was happening. Soon after they pulled up near a castle and the three pulled her off the boat and into the castle. After roaming through a few rooms, she was led to a dungeon area where her mouth was covered and she was pushed into a cage.

No words were ever said.

The three bad guys left the room and slammed the door shut. Our friend was trapped and she still couldn’t tell if this was real or a dream. She tried to wake up but then realized this might be real.

Hours went by. Or days. Or weeks. She couldn’t tell. She hadn’t seen her captors.

And then… the sound of a harp echoed through the area. The door slowly opened and in came this ogre of sorts. He was smiling and playing the harp. He ripped the door off the hinges and rescued our fair princess! He threw her over his shoulder and started walking and soon, he was below the well.

A smile from the ogre gave the princess hope and … he heaved her straight up toward the opening in the well.

Slowly, and quite a bit groggy, our princess wakes up. She had a pounding headache and started to look around and found she was in her bedroom. She stumbled to her feet and wandered into her kitchen where she saw a full mug of some sort of alcoholic drink. She shook her head, grabbed it, and dumped it down the sink … vowing never to get like that again!

LINKUP FOR MARCH 4

 

No. 5

Story Challenge No. 5 linkup will be posted on March 18! Here is the photo for that one (using Looney Tunes dice!):

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This is part of the Story Cube Challenge, a bi-monthly blogging challenge hosted here. Feel free to join up with us for the next one and tell others! 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

It seemed like it took years, despite it being just a couple of weeks. But it finally arrived.

I had called into a radio show and they were offering a secret vacation. They gave the date – and that was it. I was caller No. 29 and that was the secret number.

Getting home from work today, the box sat on the porch. I knew the vacation was set to begin the following week. And there was the box… with the secrets.

As quick as I got inside, I ripped open the box and all I saw was a cardboard box full of packing peanuts.

Packing peanuts.

These things are annoying as all hell. They feel weird in your hand and they are just not cool. They get all over the place and it’s like one or two always find a way to get away.

But I knew I had to dig – and dig I did.

All I found was a small shield and a crown. Nothing more. No letters. No instructions. No tickets. Not one single thing.

Just a shield and a crown.

I put them on the desk near me and as I worked on the computer that night, I kept looking at them. Sometimes I’d pick them up and look closer. Was there a number or something? Information in hidden ink? A black light didn’t work.

A day went by.

Two days went by.

Three days went by.

And I couldn’t figure it out. One day, after staring at the crown and the shield for what felt like the billionth time, I couldn’t do it anymore. So I chucked the shield against the wall and the item slightly cracked.

And something looked odd.

Looking closer, it opened some. And inside … was a letter. It read as follows:

“Dear winner!

Congratulations on winning our vacation! It seems like this vacation could be anything! Maybe you’ll need to use an axe to cut some firewood. Or how about boating or hiking through the mountains? Think of all that nature! No? Maybe you’d rather be part of a crew researching something, and experimenting? You could get samples of things for those researching?

You can scratch all of that off. This vacation isn’t that at all.

This one will feature as many beautiful sunrises and sunsets as you can handle. And hopefully you won’t get any of those awful rain clouds!

Instead, get to the harbor by Friday night… and there you will set sail on a 7-day cruise into the Caribbean islands! Everything is paid for but make sure you have your passport and any other documents showing your identification! Enjoy that trip and we’ll be in touch for an interview!

One final tip!

Don’t forget your camera!”

Less than a week later, I boarded a boat and as it drifted off into the sun setting over the ocean, I reached into my camera bag to pull out my camera and what else did I find?

Packing peanuts. Damn things are everywhere!

LINKUP FOR FEBRUARY 18

 

No. 4

Story Challenge No. 4 linkup will be posted on March 4! Here is the photo for that one (using the Fantasia dice):

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This is part of the Story Cube Challenge, a bi-monthly blogging challenge hosted here. Feel free to join up with us for the next one and tell others! 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Remember, the new photo of dice for the next challenge is at the bottom of this post!

(This time I’ve gone out of order with the dice as it seemed to make a better story. Remember, with this challenge, you don’t have to go in the order the dice are … you just have to use each one!)

It’s a hard-knock life for Ronnie.

Life never was easy for him. He was a troublemaker in his early days. He loved a good scrap here and there. But Ronnie was usually never too crazy.

Somewhere along the way, though, Ronnie really lost his way in society. It wasn’t just a barroom brawl, or some drunken shenanigans — it was developing into something more.

He just didn’t seem to be getting ahead in life.

Every time Ronnie started to get somewhere, it seemed, he’d just find a way to mess it up. Like the time he was working as a night stocker at a big-box store. Somehow a dare came out of it where he’d do a handstand on a cart. Never the one to turn something down on a bet, Ronnie turned it into a way to make money.

He fulfilled the bet, but unfortunately, the cart went out of control and Ronnie crashed into an expensive display, ruining a lot of products.

Of course he ended up being fired. That was the final straw. He had nothing. He couldn’t do anything right.

He started plotting.

On a cold Monday morning, Ronnie walked in front of a bank. He covered his face and went inside, straight to a teller and passed a note saying he was robbing the bank. The teller threw all the money she had into a basket-bag Ronnie had. At the same time, she activated the silent alarm. Ronnie dashed out of the bank with the basket of money, and he thought he was all smart carrying that money, with his face still covered.

That didn’t last long.

Cops surrounded Ronnie. He tried to fight them off, but he stood no chance. Those cops have weapons and billy clubs and subdued him with too much of an issue, despite a few extra fists flying.

This was it for Ronnie.

In court, he couldn’t believe where his life had gone. The cameras showed him doing it. He had no defense. He was caught red-handed with the loot. Ronnie was done for. While the trial ended, Ronnie put his head on the table and wiped a few tears away. He had never planned on life going in this direction.

Now he was going to jail and there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

Maybe there was, though. He could still turn his life around! Maybe — just maybe — Ronnie wasn’t a lost cause after all! Maybe he could still be a good member of society!

Will he be a success story after all?

In jail, Ronnie read a lot. He studied. He was learning trades by working in the jail. He read some more and his behavior was steller! He was a model inmate and earned the right to do different things!

His few friends on the outside, as well as his family, were cheering and hoping Ronnie would find his way in this world.

Would he learn? He never did in the past.

Then came the big day. Ronnie was at his parole hearing. After being sworn in, he sat at the table and answered all of the questions. He had learned from his mistakes. He was ready to add to society. He now knows right from wrong.

When the ruling came down, his paroles was … approved! Ronnie was a free man but needed to start proving himself. As he left the hearing that day, he skipped down the steps, happy to be a free man, but he also knew he had to improve himself. He couldn’t continue doing what he used to be doing.

Did he succeed.

Ronnie walks every day now. He smiles. He often walks past that bank where he once made the biggest mistake of his life. He’ll sometimes stop and look in and drift off to a place he once was. And then he’ll continue walking to the bank’s ATM machine.

He needs money for lunch, after all.

You see, there are often happy endings. All the studying and research Ronnie did in jail helped him get ready for a community college to learn a trade. It was there he studied construction and masonry, and soon got a job with a local company. Now Ronnie’s work is some of the best in the area — and even the bank president has hired the company to do work because of how good Ronnie is.

He’s happy now, too. And Ronnie does go back into that bank — every two weeks to cash his paycheck.

It’s not a hard-knock life any more for Ronnie. It’s a good-luck life instead.

LINKUP FOR FEBRUARY 4

 

No. 3

Story Challenge No. 3 will be posted on February 18! Here is the photo for that one (using the voyages cubes this time):

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This is part of the Story Cube Challenge, a bi-monthly blogging challenge hosted here. Feel free to join up with us for the next one and tell others! 

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!