This week, July 18th, Charli at Carrot Ranch’s inspiration for the 99-word story Collection is the word FLOAT. This quickly took me back to my youth, remembering the good times we had at Grandma and Grandpa’s house by the creek. I hope you get as much joy from reading my two 99-word stories as I did from writing.

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PART 1

The creek flows down from up above, under the bridge where tiny fish float serenely in crystal clear waters, past the weather-worn house sagging with age like the couple who lived within, down past the garden, over-grown and brown, abandoned, on under Pa’s old barn where only rotted beams and boards still stand, past the privy, over stones worn smooth with time, on to the swimming hole at the corner where the children’s laughter can still be heard floating in the air, on it flows winding through the fields and towns, there are still miles to travel this day.

PART 2

Sunday’s were for family. Aunts, uncles, cousins gathered at the farmhouse by the creek. Ma and Pa’s house for as long as I knew. While the grown-up’s were grown-up’ing, cousins headed to the creek. Sometimes fishing off the bridge or to the swimming hole on a hot summer day. We’d float in old innertubes, swing from the frayed robe, skip stones and catch polliwogs. We might lie in the grass and watch the clouds float by – a parade of odd shapes and sizes – a game, “What Do You See?” Those were the happiest of times, carefree, we were blessed.

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What is the Collection? Each week a new prompt is published on Monday’s for submission and publishing by the Carrot Ranch Literary Community. The previous week’s Collection is published on Wednesday that week. Read last week’s Collection inspired by “FOR A DAY.”