12-5-21 Out Of The Blue

 

Out of the Blue

by: Carrie Keiser

She'd hit the ground hard, it knocked the wind out of her. She lay there, looking up, trying to catch her breath.  Thoughts flew through her head so fast she was having trouble making sense of them.  She closed her eyes shutting out the world calming her mind and her racing heart. “Breathe deeply, in and out, Saoirse (ser-sha).” She could hear the words of her mother in her mind, they used to irritate her, but now they were comforting, soothing and relaxing. She took the slow deep breaths and could feel the last few mins fall into place.

She’d been out riding her horse through the fields around her family home.  Racing though the tall grass free from all stress and responsibility, just her and her favorite horse, Majestic. Her mind had wondered, this was normal when riding, she knew Majestic would not lead her astray and had given the horse her head, giving in to the sense of freedom that riding always gave her. Since she was young, Saoirse had spent every moment possible in the barn or fields with the horses, they were her happy place. So to find herself on the ground and Majestic nowhere to be seen was very strange indeed. Her head was pounding and she gingerly reach up to touch  the goose-egg sized bump that had formed there. She’s been hit out of the blue while riding with her eyes closed allowing Majestic to go where she pleased.  Who or what had hit her, was the question most pressing on her mind. 

Slowly Saoirse sat up and opened her eyes.  This didn’t look like their lands, something was off. The slant of the sun would indicate that it was no longer early morning but rather nearly evening! How long had she been lying there?  And were those trees?  There weren’t any trees in the part of the land she’d been riding through. The pounding was getting worse, she put her head in her hands and closed her eyes once again.  “This is all a bad dream,” she said aloud. 

She heard rustling nearby and cracked her eyelids enough to make out that Majestic had returned. So she wasn’t dreaming after-all. Carefully she stood reaching for her horse who happily joined her. Running her hand down Majectic’s soft warm neck, Saoirse surveyed their surroundings. There were mountains in the distance and the stand of trees around her, she was no longer home that was evident. Why had this happened?  How would she return home. Where was she?  Worry was staring to set in. 

The horse nudged her and she grabbed the reigns. They turned back towards the way she hoped she had come from, Saoirse could only hope that retracing their steps would shed light on the situation. As they plodded warily along she searched the ground and sky diligently for any sign that would lead her to answers. 

There was a slight shimmer and a light pop, and once more she found herself on the ground. But this time she when she looked around she realized that she was back in the grassy field she’d been in that morning…. It was still morning, only an hour had passed side saddling Majestic and riding away! What was going on here? She turned to look hoping to see the trees and mountains in the distance, but no, it was grass as far as the eye could see. 

Getting to her feet, dusting off her backside and giving the reigns a tug they headed toward the barn. Something just out of reach was tickling her memory. A conversation she had once had with her grandmother many years ago. Out of the blue it came to her that long ago conversation with GrammaMae, she had said that one day while out wondering the property she had suddenly ended up in another land, a magical world. At the time she thought her gramma was losing it, now she wasn’t so sure.

As Saoirse unsaddled and brushed down Majestic in the barn, she wondered if she would ever find her way back to that land and if she would have grand adventures there that she could later share with her grandkids. Maybe next time she’d bring along a camera on her rides or when just wondering around so she could capture the place. Her mother’s voice cut through her musings and she ran to the house for lunch.

Dec 5, 2021

Story Slingers

Myrna Flynn

OUT OF THE BLUE

Donna Atwood had already been hit with one "out of the blue" experience today. She passed all the requirements to become a Deputy Sheriff with the Missoula County Sheriff Department. She had been told that it would take 2 weeks before it would be official. But today, only 5 days later, she was congratulated and handed her badge. She had spent 3 years analyzing evidence and solving cases from behind a desk but now she would be out actually working in the field.

She was sitting on her couch, in front of the fireplace, celebrating by reading a book, eating popcorn and drinking a Pepsi. Her doorbell rang. She was not expecting anyone.

She opened the door and another "out of the blue" happened. It was Angelina Conrad, whom she had not seen since high school graduation 15 years ago.

Donna invited her in and asked, "What brought you to my door, after all these years? I never expected to see you again, in fact I did not know that you even knew I existed."

Angelina responded, "I know that we did not run with the same people in high school, but we did have a class together that required deductive reasoning and you were the one who was able to figure out the solutions to purposed scenarios."

"My daughter is missing and the last place she had been seen was in a convenience store in Missoula. The person who saw her could tell that she was afraid of the man walking too close to her. He walked with her to the restroom and stood next to the door, as if to be sure she could not escape."

The person was able to give a description of the vehicle and the license plate number as they drove away. The bulletin was sent out to be on the lookout for the truck. It was as if it just disappeared."

"Bob Johnson told me that you were a deputy sheriff and had been successful solving missing person and kidnap cases. He suggested that I get in contact with you. So, here I am with what little information I have and some ideas about who the man with her could be."

Donna was thinking that what she would need was another "out of the blue" help.

(To be given your own endings!!!)

Story Slingers Prompt

"out of the blue"

12-4-21

Daren Flynn

North Dakota in Winter

I was cruising down the Interstate, east bound, on a kinda foggy winter day in North Dakota. The Cummins diesel, which powered my green cab-over Kenworth was humming its comforting tune and was going well. I figured the outside temperature was right at freezing and the road was probably slick. Then as I accelerated a little too quickly, I got confirmation. Yes it was slick: black ice. So I slacked off a little and began to pay a little closer attention, not only to my driving but to the traffic, both in front of and behind me. Under the conditions I was now driving in, I knew how important it was to maintain proper distance between my truck and all others. Sudden moves, whether braking, accelerating or swerving could cause sliding, loss of control, jack knifing and who knows what.

After a few minutes and a few miles with no change in conditions all east bound traffic near me continued to hold proper spacing and all was going well and there were no problems until, out of the blue or rather out of the freeway's west bound lanes, a car did a 360 into the median and continued rotating end for end crossing the dividing space with lightening speed. In the blink of an eye, the out of control vehicle was in my east bound lane, directly in front of me. In the split second I had to react, I dared not hit the brakes or swerve, either of which would cause me to become an out of control driver as well. All I could do was take my foot off of the accelerator and hope the spinning car would miss me. The right rear of the drifting car missed the left corner of my truck by inches. As it passed into the median I looked into the startled eyes of the passenger. The wayward vehicle then came to a stop, upright and facing east.

Sometime later, as it warmed, the ice melted and traveling became enjoyable. I made it safely to my destination and all was goos up to that point. But when you are a trucker, you never know what is going to come at you out of the blue.

Freyja's Epic "Out of the Blue" Adventure

A dialectal narration:

Wednesday, November 24, 2021 5:28 pm

Hokan:  So Freyja had quite the adventure today.

Colleen: Yes..?

Hokan:  While her erstwhile custodian wandered the realm of Morpheus and she being the very soul of intrepidity and daring, she slipped the bounds of her four walled shelter and, nor shod nor cloaked, she embarked upon an epic quest wherein, unbeknownst to her keepers and progenitors, she trekked a surpassing distance of one of twelve-arts of a league ere she was captured by the concerned citizenry and returned to her frantic guardians. Her exploits shall long live on in tale and song and around the familial board in the relished recounting of her father.

Colleen:  Exactly how far did she get?

Hokan:  one of twelve parts of a league.

Colleen:  She's fine tho?

Hokan:  And yes our hero of Legends yet unborn did make her triumphal return with harm neither to hair nor hide.

Colleen:  How many house lengths or blocks? Were you previously acquainted with the "concerned citizenry"?

Hokan:  Untold numbers of dwellings did she pass, nary a glance behind her casting, and tow thoroughfares did she traverse in her exploring.

Colleen:  Draw me a map.

Hokan:  Have not my words painted a most scenic and unmistakable illustration for your mind's eye to behold?

Colleen:  Um, yes. What was the extent of her undress?

Hokan:  A tunic and trousers did she have upon her body and most pleasant were her raiments, yet upon her feet she bore naught and against  the childish air she carried no garb sufficient to the task of protecting her person.

Colleen:  And just what was the duration of her quest?

Hokan:  The passage of time was not measured to a certainty, yet upon previous evidences gathered, it may be assumed that it was in excess of two quarter turns of the clock.

Out of the Blue

Flynn Family Story Slingers

5 December 2021

by Cary Holmquist

It was August of 1990 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and I was at a semi-pro baseball game with Ryanne and Clancy and infant Hosanna.  (Colleen was at work.). 

We were enjoying the game from seats above the third-base-to-home-plate line.  It had been a very warm, sunny day, and we were trying to find ways to stay cool with water we had brought and probably at least one trip to the bustling concessions counters.

We were in the middle of a row of seats, with probably three rows in front of us.  As the game progressed, it seems that the score was far enough along that it was becoming less interesting for us.  Ryanne and Clancy took a break and had left for the restrooms and concessions.  So I was sitting there alone with Hosanna, who was napping through the mayhem as I rocked her in her car carrier on the floor next to my feet.  

When out of the blue at the crack of the bat, a high foul-tip ball came up in the stands, coming down right for defenseless Hosanna.  I barely saw it against the clear blue sky.  

I reacted as fast as I could, stood up and stepped in front of the car carrier and took the hardball on my hip.  The ball glanced painfully to the right and a person in the row above me caught it amongst the screams of delight of the surrounding kids.  

When Ryanne and Clancy returned a few moments later, they were dismayed to have missed the action and appalled that I had not caught the ball instead of deflecting it.  

But...maybe it was not out the blue.  A few days before I had had a dream about this and even told Colleen about it.  So out of the blue in my dream and then I reacted in exactly the same way.  So fate was always aimed that I would not catch the ball, but saved the baby.