Stories

Six Words: Blackmail, Marketing, Dictate, Window, Retain, Minimum

You may have seen at least one movie that involved someone seeing something through a window that they thought they could use for blackmail. Among the first things that is usually done is to take pictures. Then informing the victims and threatening to market or reveal the pictures or videos. The blackmailer will determine a minimum price or conditions for destroying the pictures. They’ll dictate the terms for the exchange. But we know that they will always retain the original files.

One famous movie along those lines was Rear Window. It was released in 1954 starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Raymond Burr. There are many others. ChatGPT can give you a list of titles, but it will keep the endings a secret.

Six Words: Value, Tactic, Frighten, Accessible, Echo, Designer

The designer of the Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7 did not value the lives of the Hamas attackers nor of the residents of Gaza either. His tactic knew that Israel does value life, and the attack was intended to frighten everyone that heard about it or saw the videos that the attackers themselves broadcast.

The designers try to make themselves inaccessible by sheltering underneath the largest hospital in Gaza City, hiding behind patients and doctors, the young, the old, and those in-between. But even as they hide, they can hear the echo of Israel’s retaliation and the purging of Hamas from Gaza. They hear the sound of the words of Psalm 121: “the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps”.

Six Words: Appearance, Limit, Donor, Acute, Planet, Filter

Prior to the 20th century people observed the appearance of a planet closer to the sun than Mercury. Acute observations, limited by the technologies of the 17th through the early 20th century, seemed to reinforce those observations. Unexplained variations in the orbit of Mercury donated to the theory.

Eventually, filtered by better equipment and Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, the existence of the planet was disproved. It did gain renewed life with the development of the Star Trek series. The theoretical planet was named Vulcan and we all know that that was the home of Mr. Spock!

Six Words: Relief, Shoulder, Housing, Brilliance, Displace, Entitlement

Sometimes we all need a shoulder to lean on, something or someone that gives a sense of relief. Sometimes that relief involves providing housing, like when an adult child needs to move back home. Of course, when that happens, you’ve probably already displaced everything that was in their room. Not only displaced it, but actually gotten rid of it and replaced it with brilliant new things, destroying your adult child’s assumption of entitlement, and that your life has stood still while theirs moved on.

Six Words: Ideology, Vision, Hunting, Decay, Consultation, Format

When choosing who to vote for in an election, one approach is to consider the ideology of a candidate. To consider whether the candidate has an ideology – or even knows what the word means. Does the candidate have a vision, and does that ideology and vision align with yours. You may hunt for evidence of the candidate’s ideology and whether there is any consistency. You may consult with others.

With some current candidates, you may discover that rather than a noble ideology, you find decay. And then, just like on a digital camera where you want to start with a clean slate, it seems like the world would be better if you could just press a button and reformat their minds.

Six Words: Ample, Subway, Pleasant, Harmony, Coffee, Suffer

The rapid transit system in Dallas is known as DART and only part of it is a subway. The rapid transit system in Chicago is the CTA and that includes the rail parts that are the L and the subway. Part of both is at ground level too. Riding the systems can be pleasant, as long as there is harmony among the passengers, ample room and seats, and no one suffers from having coffee spilled on them.

Six Words: Endeavor, Enigmatic, Whimsical, Serene, Allure, Dilemma

I’ve had a dilemma this week. I missed last week’s Six Words Forum and I had to make a decision. Did I want to spend a serene week and Saturday afternoon ignoring the challenge writing something for today? Did I want to endeavor to get this week’s words. I always try to write something at least a little bit whimsical when I do participate, although sometimes you all have thought they were enigmatic. As you can see and hear, the allure of your company and of your creativity enticed me to join you once again.

Six Words: Quarter, Forum, Nonremittal, Proportion, Position, Discreet

The Six Words Writers Forum expected its members to make a contribution to the organization at least once each quarter. Although the Rules Committee was discreet, it was their position that nonremittal results in penalties. Penalties that are in proportion to lack of participation — up to and including forgetting their name!

Six Words: Rally, Disturbance, Coverage, Citizen, Crossing, Cooperation

As usual, there was a disturbance at the rally. Knowing there would be TV coverage ensured that there would be citizens crossing paths, some supporting and some opposing, the reason for the rally. Some don’t even know what the rally is about. The organizers arranged for security and enlisted the cooperation of the police. Who would have believed that a rally opposing “junk fees” would attract people who support them? They should have made tickets to the rally free, but included a voluntary ticketing fee of $15 to see who volunteered to pay it. That could prove that, sadly, there are some troublemakers that show up just to create a disturbance.

Six Words: Fascinate, Morsel, Body, Witness, Leader, Linger

I’ve never been fascinated by horror stories or movies. Well, except for The Exorcist and except for The Devil in Miss Jones and except for The Blair Witch Project and except for The Birds and except for Silence of the Lambs, but other than those I’ve never been fascinated by horror stories or movies. There’s almost always a body. There may be a witness who is reluctant to get involved. When the police get involved, their leader may be competent, but not always. If there is a cannibal in the story, or a shark, than there will be morsels of flesh consumed or stored in the freezer.

Most of us remember a movie where a woman’s body is stored in a freezer, though, and that movie is comedy. Or another, where a body is propped up during a party and lingers that way over an entire weekend and no one notices that it is a dead body. Of course one of them is simply titled Bernie, and the other Weekend at Bernie’s. Those are horror movies I can identify with.