He asked, “How’d you end up here?”
“The wind swirled and lifted me into a tree.”
“Oh my, how long were you stuck in the tree?”
“Days! What about you?”
“A fly-away branch broke my arm.”
“Hey, you guys think you had it bad. My insides turned outside.”
The others gasped.
“I know, it was humiliating, but then the lady picked me up when the storm was over and brought me here, the Brolly Sanctuary. Life’s tough for us umbrellas, serving until we get thrown away.”
“Well, at least now we get to rest and watch from the rafters.”
~~
Clean up continues here in Hong Kong after Typhoon Mangkhut roared through this past Sunday. Water poured from our living room windows. We spent hours mopping and ringing out towels in between gusts of wind. We were afraid to stand in front of the windows thinking they might shatter. As the storm calmed a bit, I looked out our 4th floor flat and saw a man walking down the middle of the street. He carried a bright red umbrella that flipped inside out as I watched. This along with the beautiful photo taken by Dale Rogerson was the inspiration for my story.
“Friday Fictioneers” is a weekly challenge hosted by the lovely Rochelle Wisoff Fields. This challenge is to write a story using only 100 words in response to a photo prompt. It has been a lot of fun to join in with this fantastic and encouraging group of writers! For more stories, visit HERE.
A hard life indeed, especially in the stormy season! Glad you survived.
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Thanks, Iain. As bad as the storm was, there is much to be thankful for. =)
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Sad to see the damage, I really enjoyed the talking umbrellas
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Thanks so much, Michael. Near me some big beautiful trees were ripped up by their roots. As it was the worst typhoon in recorded history, thankful the damage was not worse.
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At least the umbrellas all found a good home.
My sympathies for the typhoon damage. Water spilling out the windows? Yikes!
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Very true, they did! Thanks for your well-wishes, it was a doozy of a storm. Thankful not more damage considering.
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Great idea, to use the umbrella as your point of view! I’m glad the damage to your flat was limited. Some of the TV pictures were dreadful.
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Thanks, Penny, I wanted something light-hearted this week. Near to where my daughter works, tall buildings lost windows and doors. It’s difficult for that to happen here. Sad what it did to the Philippines on its way here too.
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Eavesdropping of umbrella chit chat! Is it not invasion of privacy?
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Well, maybe a little bit of eavesdropping is okay (haha)!
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Lovely story! It’s a like a retirement home for brollies 🙂
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Thank you so much! I wanted something a bit light with a little underlying truth. =)
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I always knew umbrellas had minds of their own! The storm you suffered was certainly dramatic.- I got annoyed because one of my flower pots got blown over!
Click to read my FriFic tale!
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I’m so sorry to hear about your flower pot. =) I can relate, I love my plants and moved them off the window sills before the storm hit just in case. Glad I did!
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Liked your story from the viewpoint of umbrellas. When it’s windy, my umbrella has been turned inside out and I have been drenched. I have felt helpless but that’s life. Hope things are in some order in Hong Kong.
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I’ve had the same thing happen and it is quite startling. It’s going to take some time, but the roads are cleared for buses (actually the workers here do a fantastic job) and trees are being cut into pieces and hauled away. I’m glad you liked the story. Now, they get to rest! =)
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I love stories where inanimate objects talk. They always have interesting stories to tell. Glad you survived the typhoon. There’s been a lot of nasty weather around the globe lately.
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Me too!! I’ve written a few (they sit quietly on my computer) and they were so fun to write. Thank you for your well-wishes, it was scarey but we are indeed fine. My brother’s family had to contend with Florence in North Carolina. It’s true, the weather patterns are disconcerting.
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Dear Brenda,
Glad you’re safe after the typhoon. Lovely talking umbrella story. Fun stuff.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle, I wanted to write something a little bit light. They were fun to imagine. Thanks also for your well-wishes.
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Loved the perspective in your story. So sorry you had to deal with monsoon rains. Must be as terrifying as the hurricane that hit our country’s east border this week (USA). Glad to hear everyone is okay, though.
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Thank you so much! Typhoon is what we call a hurricane on this side of the world (Asia). My brother lives in North Carolina so we were commisserating together. Florence certainly was a powerful storm with loss of life and so much damage, very sad.
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Our new kitten, Huey Tripper came from North Carolina the day before Florence made landfall. He flew on a helicopter all the way to Ohio. He’s a real trip, too. Today he had his first taste of catnip, poor little man didn’t know which side of the world was up. LOL! 🙂 ❤
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Oh my, so cute! I love the name Huey. =)
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We call him “Trip”. HE’s a doll!
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I suppose that is appropriate given his history. =) Trip is cute too.
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if only umbrellas can talk… you’ve nailed their sentiments very well. 🙂
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What a treat that would be. Thanks so much for commenting!
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OH goodness! So happy you are safe, Brenda.
Lovely lighthearted take on my picture. 🙂
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Thanks, Dale, for your encouragement and well-wishes. =)
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If umbrellas could talk eh? A light hearted imaginative take on what looked a terrifying situation, you brought the typhoons to life in a really fascinating way.
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It was fun to imagine, but somber as well. Thanks for reading and commenting! =)
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Great story from a different point of view!
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Thanks so much, Liz! =)
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I am happy you are doing ok after the storm. My story was a reflection on Hurricane Florence here in the States. It is always nice to know what has prompted a story. Thanks for sharing. 😊
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Thanks so much, we are well. We did indeed go the same direction, two extremely powerful storms on two sides of the world at roughly the same time. =)
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In the city I grew up in, no locals ever carried an umbrella… but you could find the umbrella corpses the tourists left after every rain.
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Now that you mention it, I don’t remember carrying an umbrella growing up. =)
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Nicely done. Took me a half-second to figure the one with his insides turned out was an umbrella 🙂
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Glad you realized it was indeed an umbrella (haha).
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So glad you are okay and yours is a lovely take on the prompt.
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Thank you so much, Jilly! =)
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Glad you are safe, Brenda! I enjoyed the animation of these umbrellas in your story. Brought them to life.
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Thanks so much, Fatima. The story was enjoyable to write.
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And happy that you’re safe, Brenda. What a delightful story. It was nice hearing life from the umbrella’s perspective for a change 🙂
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Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the story. =)
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