blood bloated tick
fresh from Henrietta’s neck
breakfast of champions
“Are we prepping for Halloween?” Urania’s wrinkles dripped disapproval for Tal’s haiku.
“That’s humor Nia. It’s funny!” Indignance flashed across the Muse of Wit’s features. “Why must you always be so rigid?”
“Why must you always be so flippant?” the Muse of Determination fired back.
Calliope entered the toasty, furnace-fed studio with a tray of coffees and cherry-almond scones. “Ahhhh… Sunday. I think it’s lovely that the two of you can argue with vehemence and still love one another so completely. Role models… that’s what you are.”
Tal and Nia shared a look of… Has she been eating mushrooms again?
Cal continued, “The photo was Typist’s idea. On Friday at open mic Anya shared sketches she’s been drawing for inktober. The prompt for one of the days was “tick” and our friend decided to draw a clock. Typist thought it might be fun to send along a different kind of tick photo.”
Fire and Ice (I’ll let you decide which is Tal and which is Nia :)) picked up their mugs and eyed the scones to see which was the biggest.
“I want to tell the readers about the movie we watched yesterday,” Cal continued.
Quietly slurping and nibbling, Muses of Wit and Determination nodded their agreement.
“It was an oldie — Awakenings with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro — based on a true story about a doctor who experimented with a drug that woke 15 patients from rigidity in the summer of 1969. Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps… I found it sad that the patient’s freedom didn’t last. But… the final scene was beautiful. The human spirit is stronger than any drug.” Calliope gazed out of studio’s window. “And that is what needs to be nourished… with work, play, friends, and family. The simplest things.”
I admit "clock" would not have been my first response to "tick"; otoh, I would never have been brave enough to hold one in my hand long enough to photograph. My photo would have been, "See the big blotch of blood on the paper towel? Used to be a tick!"