Trisha Faye

In Three Bags Full, Claire is about to change her career path by opening her own little store. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘year.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Panic flashed over her as Claire watched the wheels spinning and spinning and spinning. Five dollars! Ouch! What had she done? How could she get so immersed in her memories that she got sloppy on the machine? That was ten of her fifty-cents plays. Gone in a flash. One press of the button. One second of time. She couldn’t believe that she’d done that.

Maybe to add some time to her playing, Claire thought, she’d just pause more between each play. Dragging out the fifty-cent plays with a minute or two between them, so that her time on the machine would last longer into the night.

Although Claire was more than ready to head to the room and dive into her book, she also didn’t want to hurt Lucy’s feelings. Since Lucy was thinking this was a ‘girl’s night out’, Claire didn’t want to be a total wet blanket and bail on her friend so early in the evening.

Slowly, the wheels started to slow, with loud ticking sounds coming from the machine, as if the machine was trying to make it sound like the old slot machines from long ago.

Tick…tick…tick…

The ticks got slower. The wheels got slower, until they were barely moving.

The first wheel stopped, with a large ornate ‘5’ emblazoned in the box in the middle of the screen.

The next wheel slowly ground to a halt too.

Another ‘5’.

Three more to go. Although they slowed rather quickly, the time between the wheels stopping seemed agonizing long.

Bing. Bing. Bing.

The other three wheels finally stopped – all showing the overelaborate ‘5’ of the other wheels.

Before Claire could understand what the row of all 5’s meant, lights started flashing and bells rang out loudly from the machine. The screen changed, displaying proudly across the front.

YOU WON!

GRAND WINNER OF THE 5 JACKPOT!

Still not understanding what it all meant, Claire glanced down to the corner which showed her winnings for the play.

$5,555.55 it almost yelled out to her.

What?

Claire was stupefied. She felt like she were in a dream.

Within minutes a crowd of people started surrounding her and yelling out congratulations. Some were even brazen enough to clap her on the back of her shoulder.

“Good for you!”

“Yay! You did it!”

“Awesome!”

One woman yelled out from the back of the crowd, “It’s your lucky day!”

Lucky day? Claire thought. More like my lucky year!

As Claire was still adjusting to this big win – no huge win for her – and was starting to feel crushed by some of the congratulating throng of people, a lady wearing casino apparel pushed through.

“Move aside. Give her some room everyone.”

She moved up in front of Claire with a camera in hand. “Take a pic for the casino? One for you too.”

After she’d snapped a few shots, she asked, “Anything you’d like to drink? On the house, to congratulate you on your win.”

Check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

In Three Bags Full, Claire is about to change her career path by opening her own little store. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘angry.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

Bundling her coat tight as she headed out the front door, Claire headed for her car. Backing out of the driveway and driving slowly she examined the vacant house in question on the right. It would be a perfect little store. It was set back a little further than Sweet Thyme and Papyrus and was maybe a tiny bit smaller. It was hard to tell with all the overgrowth. Claire really liked the large, covered porch that spanned the entire front of the house. It sat on a nice large-sized lot that would accommodate a lot of parking. When the weather was nice, not too hot or not too cold, she could hold classes outside under the large pecan trees.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, reminding herself that she didn’t have the funds to follow this wishful thinking, Clare drove on, across the small bridge spanning the nearly empty creek. Claire drove into the busiest part of town. Busy for this town at least. The next block consisted of Brady’s Bar-B-Que, the post office and City Hall on the left. The right side of the block had the playground area, Thelma’s hair salon and El Burrito. If you crossed the next street, Walnut Avenue, you’d pass the feed store, the small market and a Laundromat. Don’t blink or you’ll miss the town!

After these few businesses there were acres of longhorn cattle on Johnsons Ranch. Occasionally the buffalo would be on the acreage by the main road. Claire liked to pull over now and then and talk to them. It was interesting to watch the bulls stand up and start circling the front of the herd, standing between their herd and the threat by the fence, right on the edge of turning angry. When there were little ones in the herd, they’d look up curiously, but the mothers would stand and move them to the back of the herd. Claire had read that Hal Medlin, an early settler of this area, had shot the last buffalo here around 1854, if she remembered right. It felt good to see the buffalo population growing again, even if they weren’t in the wild like they’d been a century before.

Claire halfway wished that Bluebonnet Ridge had one of the old downtowns built around a courtyard square, like Denton. Denton had a beautiful, historic courthouse centered in the middle of the square. Bluebonnet Ridge’s city hall was located in a small brick building with small little square windows lining the sides. It was probably built in the 1950’s and hadn’t been updated much since then.

Parking in the paved parking lot that only accommodated about six cars, Claire pulled the water bill and a check out of her purse. Hurrying inside to escape the chill she saw her friend, Jayne, seated behind the utilities counter.

“Hey Jayne,” Claire called out as she crossed the foyer. “What are you doing up here? Where’s Mavis?”

“Mavis is at lunch. And it’s good to see you too,” Jayne smartly retorted.

Check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

In Three Bags Full, Claire is about to change her career path by opening her own little store. This week we’re writing to the prompt ‘family.’

Enjoy the snippet here, then go check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.

A cold chill caught her as she got out of the car and Claire wrapped her jacket tighter around her. Watching the walk for ice, she stepped slowly and carefully. She’d learned about icy walks and roads here in Texas. These were entirely different winters than what she’d experienced in Southern California.

Claire stopped at the front door, despite the cold. Examining all the windows with delight, Claire was amazed. She’d never looked closely at this tiny little nook when she drove past on the main road. The windows were filled with framed watercolors, sparkling, dangling wind chimes, lace bits and trinkets.

Opening the front door slowly, warmth enveloped Claire enticing her inside. Scanning the shelves and display cases, she slowly made her way into the main room. Slowly turning from side to side, Claire saw papers of all sizes, shapes, and colors. There were papers for scrapbooking, handmade papers, mulberry paper, and handmade card creations sitting in little baskets and on rotating wire racks. The walls were lined with watercolors of every size and color family, mostly landscape and floral motifs. In between, wind chimes, glass pieces and small glittery trinkets sparkled.

A woman rose from behind the counter. She was a little older than Claire expected; beautifully coifed and elegant.

“Hello,” the woman murmured, walking around the counter. “Welcome to Papyrus. May I help you find anything?”

“Hello,” Claire replied, still gazing about in wonder. “Are you Shelly?”

“Nein, I am not Shelly,” the woman answered. “I’m Nora, Shelly’s mother. Shelly had to run some cupcakes to her son’s class this morning. I’m watching the store for her while she’s gone.”

Tucking a pat of hair behind her ear, Nora continued, “I fill in here quite often. Is there something I can help you with? Otherwise, Shelly should be back in about an hour.”

“Well,” Claire hesitated. “I had a question for her. Mimi, at the bakery next door, thought that Shelly might know something about the vacant house on the other side.”

“I’m not sure,” Nora answered. “You’d have to ask her that. I know it’s been vacant since we’ve been here. She’ll be back soon, if you’d like to wait for her. I’ve got some hot water on if you’d like a cup of tea.”

“No, thank you,” Claire said. “I’ll pass this time; I have some other errands to run. Thank you for the offer though. I’ll stop back by on my way home and see if she’s back.”

Shaking hands, Nora handed Claire a card. “Here’s our card and number. You can always call her.”

“Thanks! I’ll stop by or call,” Claire said, heading for the door. She had a feeling if she didn’t leave now; she’d be here for a while visiting. That’s how it was when a family ran a business together. Nora was friendly and Claire thought she’d enjoy chatting with her, but when you only had one day off during the week, time was a precious commodity.

Check out the other delightful tales you’ll find at Tuesday Tales.