Flash Friday 8/9/13 - "He's lying." "Guess who just walked in?" in Prompted Writings

Prompt from haredawg drools "He's lying." "Guess who just walked in?"

"Guess who just walked in," my sister whispered to me.

I'm not much on guessing games, so turning my head to look in the direction Sis was looking, I didn't see anyone of particular interest. "I don't see anyone familiar. Who?"

"Mom."

I just looked at her with a deadpan expression. Sis wasn't a jokester or, for that matter, one who had much of an imagination at all, so I wasn't sure I was hearing her right. I repeated, "Who did you say?

"Mom."

"Sis, are you feeling okay? Have you been drinking?" Although Joni rarely drank, she did on occasion have a glass of wine and we were at a mixer. People were milling about, drinks in hand, chatting it up and swapping lies with each other. I looked around for someone who looked like Mom. Mom, who had been dead for five years. Nothing.

"Do you mean you saw someone who looks like Mom?"

"No, I mean Mom." Joni, who was easily the whitest woman I've ever known, had turned a paler shade of pale. The look on her face told me she wasn't kidding.

"Joni, Mom's dead. Mom has been dead for five years, " I said talking in a slow and calm voice as if to someone who had clearly lost their mind, which I was quite sure at this point my sister had or she had developed a warped sense of humor over night.

"Remember five years ago, Mom and Dad on vacation? Mom drowned in that boating accident up at the lake? Remember Dad coming home to tell us?"

"I remember," said Karen. "Do you remember they never found a body?"

"Yes, I remember, but Dad saw it happen. He couldn't save her, remember."

"He's lying. Kate, I'm telling you I just saw Mom. I don't know where she is now, but it wasn't some look-alike. It was Mom. She was standing right over there," pointing to the the door open to the wide porch outside where more people were mingling. "She is wearing a blue dress with flowers on it."

Blue was Mom's favorite color. She had a closet full of blue dresses, some with flowers, some with polka dots, some with stripes, but all with a blue background. It was almost a uniform for her. Sundresses, party dresses, house dresses, all blue. Even the occasional pair of capris and shirts she wore were blue.

Dad, who had remarried about a year after Mom's death, was standing near the fireplace in the parlor. His wife, Cissy Jean, was standing next to him. Cissy Jean had been Dad's secretary. She was a good fifteen years younger than him and could have been our slightly older sister. Neither Joni nor I could abide her. After she and Dad married, she quit working for him and starting working on herself, spending hours and hours at the gym, spa, hairdresser, getting mani pedis, or spending the insurance money Dad got when Mom died on cosmetic surgery. No, we could not abide her. In fact, we loathed Cissy Jean.

"Well, I wish Mom would come back from the dead and kick that bitch's surgically improved ass over her shoulder blades," I hissed at Joni.

"I think she is back and I think you might just get your wish right about now," said Joni, pointing back towards Dad and Cissy Jean.

A woman was walking up to Dad and Cissy Jean, who were in rapt conversation with each other and not noticing anything going on around them. She was carrying something in her hands that looked like a small cinderblock with a chain on it. It was my mother.

I started run to her, but Sis held me back. "Wait," she said.

"But, but . . .," I stammered.

"Just wait!" she hissed.

"Hello honey," Mom said when she was standing behind Dad. When he turned, his mouth gapped open and he and Cissy Jean dropped their drinks simultaneously.

"Here," Mom said holding the cinderblock out to my father, "You forgot something when you left me at the lake."

END

I worked on this for 39 minutes. I could have written more, but it seemed like a good place to stop.

I'm not sure I understand the rules, but I think I'm supposed to leave prompts at the end of this exercise, so here goes:

   From haredawg:

   "the meek shall inherit the earth"       

   "barbaric, fondness, corrupt       

  "purple, snail, hammer          

 "He's lying." "Guess who just walked in?"

From me:

   "I put the check in the mail yesterday."

   "Pots."  "Pilfering."  "Poltergeists."

   "If I'm lying, I'm dying."