Blog Hop Photo Prompt Reveal – No use for society

Gloria made her way carefully down the mountain using an old path  that most people didn't even know was there.   It had long since been over grown with weeds,  rose bushes and blackberry vines lined the sides making it hard to see.   Reaching a clearing, she saw a rickety old house on the river  2 old houseboats sat next to it in just as derelict a condition as the house.

"James" she called loudly  then waited....  "JAMES"  she called again when there was no response.  Gloria new that the old man was slightly hard of hearing and, also, new that he didn't like being taken by surprise and didn't take kindly to unexpected guests.  But he seemed to enjoy her company.  Of ten times they would sit and talk for hours about all sorts of things including things about the Lord.  There didn't seem to be anything that James didn't know about the Lord and about the bible.

Many people saw James as a decrepit  old man with little use to society....  Most people didn't even seem to care if he lived or died,  but Gloria knew differently.  Gloria knew  that underneath the withered old body  and a mind that was starting to slow with age there  a man who was quick witted  and a wealth of information.  James had a way of sharing information and telling stories that would make people laugh  (if they'd only take the time to listen). James held several degrees (including Theology, Psychology, and Education).   And had once  been the assistant pastor at a small church before his wife died  of cancer.   He had been so distraught over his wife's death that he began to binge, often times drinking himself into a stupor....  He had been at his lowest point in life, rock bottom,  with no where to go when a stranger had given a chance.   James had continued to work odd jobs scrimping and saving till he was finally able to buy the tiny piece of land  that he now lived on.  The two houseboats, that sat by the house, had once been in prime condition and he would often rent them out to vacationers.   It didn't bring in a lot of money, but it did pay the bills and put food on the table.  But the effects of years of drinking had paid their toll on James and as his health declined, unable to put forth the physical effort of upkeep, so too did the houseboats and house.

Gloria wanted to find a way to help James, but he was a proud man  and she knew he wouldn't take kindly to charity or hand-outs "Honest work for honest pay." He often said.  He wouldn't accept anything but that he earned it.  She had come up with an idea the night before.    The small community was in need of a tutor  to help some of the kids that were floundering....  Perhaps James would be interested in helping those youngsters to learn and grow.

(yeah - I know, I went over the 500 words)

This week’s words are:

laugh

saw

lord

degree

binge

Blog Hop Photo Prompt Reveal - Rainy Day at the Donut Shop

Aerial, Fare, Rain, Sale, Profit

"Ughhh, look at that rain" Monika complained as she re-arranged the assortment of donuts in the display case for about the fiftieth time that day, Monika.  There didn't seem to be anything better to do.  She'd already wiped down all the counters and cleaned the backroom - twice.  All the donuts had been finished and the outgoing orders had been filled  & delivered.  In fact the driver had gone home hours ago.    

When Monika had arrived into work that morning, her boss (and best friend) had warned her that it would be a busy day due to the aerial show taking place that weekend.  Munchkin Donuts, Where Monika worked, was also offering the choice of an all day - allzone  bus fare or a $5 gas card with the purchase of two dozen donuts.  Unfortunately one of the other workers who was suppose to be coming in that day had had to call in because her daughter had come down with the flu, so it was only going to be Monika and her boss working today along with the baker (who had also left a few hours earlier after he'd finished with the baking.

 

Steady rain had been falling since early afternoon and the influx of customers they had that morning had begun to trickle till there was hardly anyone coming in the door.  The morning had started out pretty good and sales had been high, which was  a good thing because they were definitely falling this afternoon.  At present her boss was in the back working on paperwork for the nights deliveries.

"Look" Monika's boss (who had just come up front from the back office) stated, "The rain's stopped.  Just then a whole bunch of customers came through donut shop's doors.  "Maybe now we make a profit huh?!" He replied as he took the first customer in line.

"How can I help you ma'am?" she asked of the next customer in line as she shot a quick smile to her boss.

Blog Hop Photo Prompt Reveal - Home-Made Business

 

Beverly watched from her kitchen window as her son, Jason, headed towards the path that he always gook when waking the families only dog. They had had two dogs but the other had died recently due to Iron Poisoning. Beverly couldn't believe how fast her boy was growing up. He was small for his age, but was big enough now to walk the dog to a nearby park on his own. In the small town in which they lived, where everyone new everyone, Beverly felt comfortable in allowing her son to go there on his own. Normally, Bench (whom Jason had named because he had found him, as a small pup, huddled under a bench one full-moon night) would be allowed off his leash to run once at the park. Bench was very well behaved and always came back with just the slightest whistle. But Beverly had given Jason the rule that unless she (or his father) was with him, Jason was to keep Bench on his leash at all times. As far as Beverly knew Jason had always followed this rule. Beverly continued to watch. Soon dog and boy were out of sight. Beverly went back to making another batch of honey-bread. She had been making bread most all morning to fill orders she had gotten both from local town folks as well as some from neighboring towns. Beverly made her special bread using homemade honey from the families very own bees. She remembered being a bit fearful of dealing with bees at first and had let her husband Brian take care of the bees. Beverly was still a little nervous about getting honey from the combs and preferred to let her husband gather the honey. But she had found that, if needed to, she could do the job. Many of Beverly's neighbors and friends had raved about her Honey-Bread saying that she could easily sell the loaves they were that good. Beverly wasn't so sure at first, but figured she had nothing to loose in giving it a go. The first dozen loaves she had made had sold quickly and there had been orders for even more. Beverly began to think that just maybe something would come out of her love for baking. She knew that the family didn't really need the extra money from selling the loaves as they got by just fine on Brian's income, and even had a little left over at the end of the month for a "fun fund". But they didn't have extra money to put aside for Brian to go to college and she figured the extra money from selling the bread could go into a University Fund for Brian to use for just that when he got older.