Mistress Rochelle gave us a double dose of reality today as she announced her recovery from the dreaded COVID CRUD with one of her photos. Nothing can keep her down for long. But the lovely flowers and get-well balloon should inspire us to find the words to tell our own story.
Click on Rochelle’s bouquet for a lift to her page to scope out the rules and regs of the game.
Genre: Military Fiction
Title: Friendly Enemies
Word Count: 100
***
Timo and I were life-long enemies. We always argued and fought. Didn’t know why.
Fatefully, after graduation we ended up in the same platoon. One night on recon walking about ten feet behind the point man, Timo shoved me and whispered, “You’re too close. Spread out!”
Just as I put distance between us, the point man tripped a mine. I remember the flash and loud blast.
I awoke in the hospital to a bouquet of flowers: yellow carnations, white snapdragons, buttercups, purple and violet petunias, and orange lilies.
The card read, “Keep friends close, enemies closer. Get well soon. Timo.”
***
Look both ways for friends and enemies, discernment is key.
Mind the gaps, it may not be what you think.
What would you send your enemy? To know why I used those flowers, click here.
Our Literary Journey 
Having a good enemy is a defining quality
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A few friends, fewer enemies, and a good stout. 🙂
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Just perfect, Bill!
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Thank you, peter.
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The explanation of the flowers put a whole new slant on it! Excellent Bill.
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Thanks, Iain. Who knew?
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Well damn. I am muy disappointed that sunflowers have a negative connotation. How could they?
What a great take, Bill!
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Thanks Dale. 🙂
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Wonderful story! And, always interested in the traditional meanings of flowers, I clicked on that link and got educated 🙂
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Thank you. Now we can check on all the flowers we receive to see who our friends are. 🙂
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let bygones be bygones, perhaps they can be friends now. 🙂
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And spoil the fun? 🙂
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Excellent story and an interesting link. As kids, we used to hold a buttercup under someone’s chin and if it reflected yellow it meant they liked butter. I love folk law!
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Oh, yes. The buttercup law. 🙂 Thank you, Keith.
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Yikes, it all sounded rather nice until I read the descriptions of the flowers!
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🙂 One must care for one’s few enemies.
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Dear Bill,
They sound like brothers. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer has worked for me. 😉 Perhaps I’ll write about it one day…although I’m not sure I can fit it into 100 words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Right, Rochelle,
It could easily have been me and my brother.
Peace,
Bill
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That ‘frenemy’ relationship is very well portrayed. I’d love that bouquet though. And if someone gave me a pot with basil, I’d be very glad. Great information about the flowers.
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Thank you. 🙂
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I always love it when I learn something new. Great use of the prompt, Bill.
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Thank you, Russell. 🙂
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That’s one complicated relationship. Hard to build such complexity into 100 words, but you did it – and the flower angle as well. Impressive.
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Timo saved my life. 🙂
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Now I’m wondering … more to this than these hundred words then??
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Of course. There is always more, Margaret. 🙂
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Now that’s a friend to have in a tight place.
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🙂
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If he took that much trouble to save his life and to carefully choose the flowers, maybe he likes him more than he cares to admit? “Didn’t know why” in the first paragraph would support my theory. Who knows what might happen if they both survive the war… Nicely textured tale, Bill.
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Thank you, Lisa.
I would say that your thinking is very realistic regarding these two. 🙂
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You’re welcome 🙂
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Well constructed story, Bill. It was fun to read about the different meanings of the flowers, too.
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Thank you, Penny.
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Interesting story Bill. I like the kind of relationship you both share.
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Thank you, Vartika.
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Thanks for the floral link. I enojyed your take on the prompt.
Best story this week, Bill. Nicely told … Isadora 😎
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Thank you, Isadora. 🙂
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