copyright – Jennifer Pendergast
“This tower is 700 years old,” said Uncle Atticus. “The house came later.”
Lotta trailed behind. The incessant winding left her dizzy. Added to that, his tower smelt bad. Bat droppings. Damp. An unidentified animal smell that seeped beneath the doors on every landing.
“Nearly there -” he wheezed, pushing open the uppermost door.
Midnight air wafted in.
Breathing deeply, Lotta stepped up to the parapet. She could see black upon blackness, shadow and silhouette like her bedroom after dark.
“Off you go then,” he said.
Shoving her.
Lotta toppled into night.
“Don’t forget this!”
He tossed her the broom.
This story was written for the Friday Fictioneers. See the other stories here on Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ site.
Whoops. Sorry about that. I hope she’s capable of levitation or perhaps able the shapeshift.
Yes, a rather traumatic flying lesson, but she’ll be fine!
Great imagination.
What a compliment, thank you!
I loved the broom at the end– wasn’t expecting it. Sounds like an interesting story beginning.
Glad I surprised you 🙂
Lots of twists and turn there (probably literally.) I think I’d disown Uncle, even if the broom caught up with me. I like your description of the stinky tower.
janet
Thanks Janet, yes, you wouldn’t trust Uncle twice would you?
I guess you could say she fell for him
😉
Wow, I didn’t see that coming – the shove or the broom. It does seem part of something that could be much bigger. Lovely writing.
Thanks Claire, I thought I’d try to use the Lotta character for a few weeks and maybe come up with a larger story.
So delightful (“black upon blackness” was genius), I loved the surprise ending!
Thank you 🙂
completely unpredictable from the beginning! Beautiful! 🙂
Thanks so much!
Dear Trudy,
it’s an ill wind… I wonder what she did to earn that long fall.
Aloha,
Doug
This is so nice, you made me laugh out loud! Poor girl, but I bet she turned out just fine.
Thanks Iris, glad you picked up on the humour in the situation. She’ll be fine, I need her for my story next week!
Lovely suspenseful story with a brilliant twist at the end – I really enjoyed this 🙂
A nice set up and a twist that works well. This tale made me smile. Thanks!
Great ending…well written. Very nicely done.
Tom
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it.
Those first flying lessons would be traumatic.
Especially with a ‘tutor’ like Uncle Atticus.
😉
You conjure a great opening to a longer story here, Trudy. I hope you go on to write the rest Although I have a feeling kids-with-magic’s been done recently, can’t think where 😉
Ah yes, a certain JK of Edinburgh would seem to have that subject all sewn up! But I’ve always been fascinated by magic in stories, going right back to Enid Blyton books, and ‘Bewitched’ on TV. One of my daughters is too. She’s read Angie Sage, JK Rowling, Diana Wynne-Jones and Derek Landy; all authors who’ve used magic in children’s stories but in very different ways. It’s an enduring subject matter, but I’ll need to find a new and unusual take on it if I want to expand much further. Thanks for reading Jennifer, your photo was very inspiring.
Nice piece! I’m not sure how I missed this one before, but I’m sorry I didn’t read it before. I often don’t have time to read all the Fictioneer stories each week.