Every Wednesday Randi Wisoff-Fields posts a picture prompt challenging writers to create a 100-word story, poem, or whatever works for you. After posting your work on your blog, go back to her site and add your link on her Friday Fictioneers post. Place. Page.
Give it a shot. I prefer to stick to 100 words, but she doesn’t mind either way. Not everyone has the time to sit and write, revise, edit, revise, edit, etc. until getting it down to 100 and telling everything you want to tell. I know it’s only Wednesday, but everyone else seems to be in such a hurry, so…
Please see the notes that follow the story.
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The Light
Wig secure, colorful nails cemented, microphone gripped. She paces the stage. Audience, eyes watching, waiting. They come for her “presence.” Commanding the stage. Words magical, mystical. Sure, they’ve seen her on television, but live? Oh, her live performance – a pure blessing.
A single light over the stage embraces her, follows every movement. Her personal halo, as she ordered. One Great Light, like no other, above the stage, watches, judges. She begins.
“I’m getting a name,” dramatic pause, “starts with an S.”
Over half the audience clenches armrests.
They think – Mom? Dad?
She thinks – Cha-ching!
One Great light thinks – Really?
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100 Words
Back in the 70’s, there came a guy who called himself The Amazing Randi, and he would occasionally perform psychic tricks. What was different, however, was afterward he would explain how it really was just a “trick.” He offered $1 million to anyone who could actually perform a provable (or, not DISprovable) psychic feat. He never lost that check.
I despise alleged psychics like Theresa Caputo who peddle the false notion they can speak to your loved ones who have departed. I despise the false feelings they provide. I believe that if anyone truly were able to talk to the dead and communicate back to the living, the “power” would be so overwhelming that they would not charge money for such a thing but would be happy to do so because that power would truly be a gift from God. And I don’t believe God would give someone that ability in order to cash in on it.
Feel free to disagree.
brainsnorts inc. 
I fully agree with your sentiment – in fact, there’s a bit in the book of Acts where St Paul is documented as making someone go blind for a bit because they want to use the Holy Spirit to cash in!
jab him in the eyes with knitting needles!
Totally agree. I believe some people are clairvoyant – that is, they can perceive mental sensations from other people that most people cannot, but nobody talks to the dead or predicts the future. And interestingly enough James Randi is still around at 85.
he is? wow, i assumed he was dead. my apologies to randi and everyone who looks like randi.
Two weeks in a row? You wild and crazy guy. Glad you’re back, though. I like this a lot. You completely characterized her and set the scene in these 100 words. As for psychics, I’m with you. My favorite psychic story is when one called our house. Bill answered and the psychic asked who it was. Bill said that if s/he were a real psychic, s/he would know. 🙂 That was the end of that call.
janet
end of the call. i have a relative who claims to be psychic, so this is difficult for me because she sat my family down one day and spent three hours telling us things about our mother, who died about 28 years ago. i kept saying to myself, “but you knew her, you’re my cousin, so …” and then i thought of something that only my mother knew, and i was going to ask my cousin to ask my mother and get the answer, but i couldn’t because i didn’t think there was any way she could get the answer, and i didn’t want her to feel foolish. so i just listened to everything and said, “yeah, that’s nice. thanks.”
as for wild and crazy, it was a striking image that made me think. and i have some reading to do…
I believe that there are people who are hypersensitive and I believe that THEY believe they can communicate with the hereafter. As far as your story, this could be any charlatan; and you have done a nice job of bringing her into our living room with a mere 100 words.
then please kick her out of your living room, board up the windows, and call the cops! thanks very much for checking her out. it out. the story. >.<
Great story! And I totally agree. God is for Truth and Healing, chicanery or personal pocket lining .
thanks very much for reading and commenting
You have got a lot of information in this 100 words. I agree, it’s hard to believe someone would receive this privilege just to make some money.
thanks for noticing my goal – pack as much as i can into 100 words. usually takes me at least an hour to write these because i start out with about 120 words, then i have to trim it down. thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Dear Richsnorts,
You’ll get no argument from me. You presented your case well in the story form. In fact I jumped up off my chair to change the channel. 😉
Shalom,
Randi
in this case, changing the channel is a good thing. thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. happy (actual) friday.
Hi Rich
It’s good to hear from you again, missed you and your insightful comments.
Your story reminded of the time after my mother died, when my sister persuaded me to go along with her to the local village hall where a psychic was due to give an ‘audience’. My sister was struggling with her grief and couldn’t let mum go.
I sat there among the large crowd, listening and watching, as people hung on her every word. You describe it so well.
My mother and I had a conversation about belief in hereafter and spiritualism and she said ‘when my time comes,if there is anything out there I’ll get a message to you’ so far I’ve not heard anything.
Unless my wires are crossed…
Great writing, as usual
Take care
Dee
thanks very much for reading and your kind words. i’m very certain that as far as your wires are concerned, they are all perfectly in place, just like the rest of you.
happy friday 😉
That was incredibly deep and quite impassioned. Very nice take on the prompt and well structured indeed.
thanks very much. i was actually expecting this to not be very well received, so i’ve been surprised by the responses. sometimes it’s good to be wrong. thanks!
Loved the first line… set the stage! Haven’t been around much, but when I saw Bruce I just had to click.
i was trying to make it start out as if a great actress were about to give a performance. then it was supposed to evolve into a different kind of actress. either way, as long as the scene was annoying – then it worked out well enough. thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.
A fine piece of cynicism. Well done.
sure is. thanks for taking a peek at it.
Ah, the psychics! And two weeks in a row. See, I’ve been psychically calling you to write FF. And see look…it worked! I’ve believed in a few psychics in my day, but not these loud, sensational ones. They are usually quiet and want to really help. Great story, Rich.
that reminds me, i have a friend who has a sister who – from what i have been told – can sometimes see and talk to the dead. she rarely talks about it, and i’ve sooo wanted to ask her about it. i borrowed one of her life experiences in my story “connecting flight” about two spirits trapped on earth. from what i’ve been told, she has the kind of ability that could make a lot of money, but she is not happy about her alleged ability and would never dare try to capitalize on it.
i don’t know enough to believe her story, but i am fascinated by it. and also fascinated that your plan worked on me! thanks miss.
I love the way you personified the light. I don’t think people can communicate with the dead, but I also think there’s a great big world out there. So who knows, really?
thanks for noticing the personification. took me a while to trim that down well enough. as for what’s real or not, that’s the fun part. nobody can know/prove who is right or wrong – not until it’s too late. thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
These guys, as well as “Faith Healers” like Benny Hinn, etc.. are the most despicable parasites around. I liked your set up, darling — with her putting on her make up, etc… getting ready for the show — because that’s all it is — show business.
show business is right. it’s a show, for which she collects greatly. and i hope somewhere, at another time, she is greatly judged for her deceptions. thanks for peeking.
Like for the comment even more than the story 😉
Great rant there, Tay.
thanks. for me, the comment and the story are basically the same thing, just different ways of expressing it. thanks for stopping by.
Ah you go very deep with this.. I think that most psycic stuff comes from charlatans … and doing it for money just proves the trickery…
thanks very much for the “deep.” and i hope the charlatans go to their proper place when/if they reach the other side.
I am so with you on your dislike of the psychic, charlatans every last one of them. Worse still, charlatans who take advantage of those who are mourning, hurting and in pain. There is a word for them, I won’t muddy your site with it though.
Loved your flash, you always do so well.
thanks very much. love your comments. they make me seem to have done so well! i listened to a radio show last week on which a guy was hawking a book about how he turned himself over to god and was now very wealthy because of it. and desperate people were calling, talking about their unfortunate situations, asking the guy to pray for them. but the author just kept telling everyone, “buy my book, and it will show you how god will bring you whatever you want.” just seemed wrong to me.
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Dear Rich,
I’m still waiting for a psychic to win the lottery. 🙂 I agree that if God gave someone that power it would be overwhelming and they wouldn’t charge for it (or lose their power).
never thought about the lottery part. there’s a test if there ever was one.
Great story. I couldn’t agree with you more. These people are just in it for the money and are using the feelings of others to get it. They would feel ashamed if they had any shame.
thanks for reading, and yes, no shame = no shame.
Beautiful descriptions of our wonderful psychic – her presence is palpable. But One Great Light’s cynicism is stronger still.
Your story called to mind a novel by Christopher Brookmyre – Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks – which is all about debunking psychics, from the point of view of as dead journalist. Well worth a read if you ever have any spare time. 🙂
thanks for the recommendation. sounds intriguing and just like something that should be on my shelf.
just ordered it on amazon for only $4. thanks again for the suggestion.
Enjoy! I only discovered him last year, but he’s one of those writers that I feel I want to read everything he’s written. The other works of his I have read haven’t disappointed. Talking of book-buying, can I go get yours now?
I was so incensed once, I rang up a Benny Hinn show (they encourage you to phone in to ‘donate’) and told whoever answered that I believed they were evil. Of course, he hung up on me. Having said that, I’ve had too many experiences considered beyond the norm not to consider myself ‘sensitive’. However again, ‘out of the norm’ can be some phenomenon currently beyond scientific explanation. And there is the theory of evolution. If we are evolving as a species, there will surely be those at the cutting edge of evolution. Our house in France was ‘haunted’. The ‘ghost’ actually appeared to my husband, an engineer. I could go on! You asked and I won’t deny my experiences. I won’t put a name to these and won’t get up on a stage and try and cash in on them. Believe me though, being this sensitive is difficult.
As for your story, I like the rhythm most of all. Your words pace up and down the stage. 🙂
I loved your story! I thought she was going to be this great, beloved actress at first, and then you revealed the truth. I agree with you about so-called psychics. I hate that TLC show and most TLC shows, for that matter. I call it Trashy Little Channel. It’s pathetic that so many people believe she is talking to their loved ones. And she’s a shyster taking advantage of vulnerable people at their lowest point.
trashy little channel. that’s good. i’ve been calling it “the loser channel.” thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. that same channel attempted to start a similar show with a woman who lives in my town. i’m very glad the show just didn’t seem to go anywhere. didn’t need that happening.