FICTION IN THE TIME OF WAR
Greetings Tiffy and Mrs Mac fans.
I’m back with a new episode and not so long between drinks this time.
I am just back from a cruise to south-east Alaska on Windstar’s Star Seeker sleek ship. I was aboard for eight nights, unlike Mrs Mac and her crew who have been sailing the world on a three-month jaunt. We have all lost track of time. You get that way on a ship, that’s why many of the big cruise vessels have carpets in the elevator that tell you the day of the week! What a great idea. “It’s Tuesday, so we must be in the elevator, again!”
Things might get a bit bumpy for our lovable cruisers – as they head south into possible troubled waters.
As you all know by now, I write my almost 500-word pieces for a flash fiction monthly competition – I try to be diligent with a monthly entry, but sometimes life gets in the way and I find something else to do.
This time the prompts for my story were:
- The first line must have something being ‘popped’
- A character must reference a ‘film title’
- The words bottle, leap and shadow must be used. Prefixes and suffixes can be used by the root word must be maintained.
So let’s put on our life jackets, batten down the hatches and head off! 
Good news called for a celebration and the champagne popped as Mrs MacPhillamy picked up the phone to invite her granddaughter and maid to join her for bubbles.
Their cabins were just down the corridor making it easy to organise an instant party.
“Well girls,” Mrs Mac began. “I’m officially on the ship’s staff.”
Granddaughter Tiffany clapped and did a mini jump for joy; a frown – a shadow of doubt – crossed Marjorie’s face. The maid had been in Mrs Mac’s employ long enough to question most of her utterances.
“Yes,” Mrs Mac continued, “ I’m going to be an onboard guest speaker – so exciting!”
The duo listened as the old lady outlined her topic: ‘Blogging for Savvy Seniors. How to monetise your memories.’
Now Tiffany looked confused.
‘But Grandma, you don’t have a blog.”
Mrs Mac disagreed. “I do Tiffy dear, I started Septuagenarian Soirees last year. I had such great ideas. Don’t you remember?”
Tiffany creased her brow; Marjorie thought it best to interfere. The truth was needed.
“Madam, if I recall, you took down several suitcases from the attic, went through your old letters and keepsakes, by way of research, but you actually didn’t write anything.”
Now Mrs Mac screwed up her face.
“Ahh Marjorie, of course you’re right. I got distracted and took up tennis instead. Dear, I’m so glad I invited you along. And by the way, we’ve you been lately, I was worried you’d leapt overboard.”
Marjorie wondered whether she should reveal details of the adventures she’d had since the trio boarded the Queen Mary 2 cruise, two weeks earlier.
“Well madam,’ she hesitated, “Basil and I have been exploring my muse.”
Mrs Mac snorted; a few drops of Bollinger shot up her nostrils.
“Marjorie, that’s too much information, dear.”
The maid blushed – “Oh no, no. Basil is my creative writing teacher. We are hard at it.”
Mrs Mac shot Tiffany a look.
“But madam,” Marjorie continued. “What about you talk about the first world cruise you went on decades ago and Tiffany, you teach the passengers how to open a TikTok account and post a video from this cruise.”
Feeling pleased, Marjorie sank back in her chair.
Tiffany snorted – it was painful, Bollinger or not.
“Brilliant idea Marjorie,” Mrs Mac interjected.
“All those social media lessons will come in handy Tiffy. Let’s get to it. I’ve brought an old diary along with me. And Marjorie, you can type up my notes! Tiffany – you need to swot up.”
“When’s the talk grandmother?”
“Ah,” Mrs Mac paused for effect. “It’s the day we cross the Bermuda Triangle.”
“What’s that Grandma?”
Marjorie employed her best Wikipedia voice: “It’s a big maelstrom Tiffany – a huge whirlpool that some people believe ships are sucked into and never seen again.”
The maid smiled. “It’s very ‘Poseidon Adventure’ dear, if you know that movie.”
“No,” Tiffany gulped.
Mrs Mac smiled. “It’s nothing darling — think ‘Titanic‘ ….but way more tropical.
“Now ladies, let me order another bottle.”
Well dear readers, what a bother. Just when the trio had settled into their cruise and found out what end of the ship was what and worked out the days of the week, they now had to deal with a maelstrom – menacing or mythical. Our ever-staunch Mrs Mac can’t abide a conspiracy theory, but we can’t be sure of its effect on tender Tiffany.
But in the meantime, Tiffy has the TikTok content creation to distract her while Marjorie will be typing out Mrs Mac’s memoirs in the wee hours. What of Basil? Will he feel dejected? Let’s hope he doesn’t spread his muse-like charm too far up the deck.
Mrs Mac will of course be booking hairdressing and salon appointments in readiness for the big day.
Stay tuned.
If you’d like to enter the Furious Fiction writing contest, here’s the link:https://www.writerscentre.com.au/furious-fiction/
And thanks to Unsplash for the free images: http://unsplash.com
Main photo courtesy of Joe de Sousa.
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