This piece was written for the weekly Min Min Challenge prompt of ‘spy balloon’.

It was with the greatest reluctance imaginable that the Speaker finally gave the nod to that notorious force of flatulence, the Honorable Member for Bullamakanka, Mr. Wilson (Horse) Pucky.

In what can only be described as an orderly stampede, other Honorable Members bowed and nodded towards the Speaker and fled to attend to more urgent matters, such as signing Christmas cards to constituents.

‘Thank you, Mr. Speaker’ bellowed Pucky. ‘Now, I do not wish to alarm Honorable Members or the public at large, Mr. Speaker, but it has been drawn to my attention that a new scourge has emerged in our skies, one that threatens the very fabric of our society. I have been inundated with complaints about a balloon joy flight operator in my electorate, Mervyn’s Pervin’ Tours.

Customers of this nefarious operation have been seen hanging out of the basket to film people going about their private business in that sanctuary of sanity, their own back yard, and having the resulting videos posted on YouTube. One young person of female persuasion has had a promising career in kindergarten teaching ruined by her desire to gain an all-over tan. And a man innocently digging in his veg patch is now helping Police with their enquiries into the disappearance of his third wife.

Mr. Speaker, I call on the Prime Minister to immediately authorise the Air Force to swat these spy flies so that we can again barbecue our chops and vegie burgers in peace!’

A different type of prompt this week, albeit one often used in writing competitions, namely a supplied first line that you have to continue in your own inimitable way. Start your story with the first word after the prompt.

So this week’s prompt is: The world thought it had seen everything until …..

Let the prompt take you wherever you want to go. If there was ever an opportunity to let your imagination run riot, this is it.

Remember to read the guidelines here before you start.

Let the fun begin! Remember, no more than 250 words!

Then post your story on the Min Min Inlinkz link party page!

Click here to post your story.

When you click you will see a page like this.

Scroll down to Add link + and click on it.

On the next page, paste your link into the box marked Link.

The title of your piece will be automatically completed.

Then scroll to the bottom and click SAVE.

And you’re done!

My apologies to all. Somehow I managed to post the wrong link for your responses. Should be fixed now. Many thanks to Neil for picking that up so quickly. https://sixcrookedhighways.com/min-min-weekly-prompt/

Min Min has taken flight into the unknowable night sky in such a way, I’ve decided to start the regular weekly prompt today (Friday my time) and thereafter every Friday. The link will close the following Thursday. Thank you to all the inaugural contributors for supporting the building of this new community.

As CE Ayr has informed me, the birthday of Rabbie Burns is coming up next week.

So this week’s prompt is:

The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley (often go astray)

John Steinbeck borrowed the phrase ‘Of Mice and Men’ for his famous novella, which became a play and has been made into a movie twice. Once in 1939 with Burgess Meredith, Betty Field and Lon Chaney Jr and in 1992 with Gary Sinise, John Malkovich and Sherilyn Fenn

Let the prompt take you wherever you want to go.

Remember to read the guidelines here before you start.

Let the fun begin! Remember, no more than 250 words!

Then post your story on the Min Min Inlinkz link party page!

 Click here to post your story.

When you click you will see a page like this.

Scroll down to Add link + and click on it.

On the next page, paste your link into the box marked Link.

The title of your piece will be automatically completed.

Then scroll to the bottom and click SAVE.

And you’re done!

Some people have had difficulties with posting stories so I’ve changed the page to provide detailed instructions. No excuses now. 🙂

https://sixcrookedhighways.com/min-min-weekly-prompt/

I’m posting this story of mine to test the system and get the party started. https://sixcrookedhighways.com/min-min-weekly-prompt/

Solitude has its own rewards

Keith turned his gas bottle on and lit the flame under the wok. When his campfire meal was ready, he gave some to his German Shepherd, Arfer. He had just poured himself a glass of cabernet sauvignon when a SUV towing a white caravan pulled up some fifty metres away.

A middle-aged couple emerged and shouted to Keith ‘Great spot you have here’.

Keith looked at them coldly and said ‘Why did you stop here?’ They both looked perplexed and she said ‘Well, we saw strange lights in the sky and it got scary.’

Keith said ‘Just don’t go chasing them or you’ll never come back.’

The man said ‘Come on mate, you’re scaring the missus. There’s no need for that sort of talk.’

Arfer stood up, bared his teeth and growled menacingly. The couple moved rapidly to their vehicle and took off.

Keith picked up his well-worn leather-bound journal, pumped up his lamp and said ‘Arfer, what do you think of this passage? I think it has a sort of timelessness about it but that may be beyond your sense of the aesthetic.’

Keith read the passage in his sonorous voice. When he’d finished, Arfer revealed nothing.

Keith said ‘You’re right, it needs work. Time for bed.’

He turned off the lamp, burrowed into his swag and, as he drifted off to sleep, he noticed the Min Min lights and heard Arfer laughing in his sleep.

Hello to all my loyal followers. Today I’m launching a brand new weekly prompt site, Min Min, and I’m hoping you will be a regular contributor. I am doing this to provide a community for international writers to submit short responses to a weekly prompt (word/s, quotes or photos).

It will be a home for fearless writing for fearless readers. No trigger warnings need to be provided and there will be no diversity quotas. Wit, humour, satire and irony will be applauded in the heavens. The guidelines are here.

Comments will be encouraged because that’s where the real payoff is for writers. Forget hitting ‘Like’. If you like a piece or a piece didn’t appeal to you, write briefly about why or why not. Contributors will need to leave their preciousness at home but they will also be encouraged to say what they think in a generous and thoughtful way and/or be funny.

Looking forward to your contributions.

Write away right away!

Note: A big thank you to C E Ayr and Jenne Gray for their thoughtful and humorous contributions to my thinking on this project.