Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Third Campaign Challenge



Ok here is the third challenge of Rachael Harrie's Campaign over at Rach Writes.  


Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:
  • that it’s morning, 
  • that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
  • that the MC (main character) is bored
  • that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
  • that something surprising happens.
Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise."   (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).


Here is my entry hope you like it:


Antarctic Morning


The first rays of pink streak the sky and bleed into the sea.  I bend down to test the frigid water with the Synbatec scope.  The little red needle on the instrument panel pegs the 1000ml mark.  Too much Tacise acid, I think.  That's not good for the Antarctic Krill population and whatever affects the krill affects the penguins.  What can I do though?  I'm supposed to be helping here, but there's nothing to do until the mountains of pack ice that hold the sea hostage break up. Our boats can't navigate the 10 miles to the penguin rookery on Torgersen Island.  
 An eerie sound emanates from the depths of the mile thick blue ice.  It creaks and moans like a living being.  I sit back in frustration on the cold little bucket I use as a stool.  An icy breeze whips at my face forming tiny frozen crystals on my eyelashes, but gazing at this landscape of magnificent desolation somehow warms my soul.    
Dr. Martin catches my attention and motions for me to join him farther down the beach.  He crouches in front of a Brown Skua nest.  The pungent smell of fresh guano fills my nostrils and I almost gag.  Inside the nest a fluffy squawking chick awaits the return of his parents.  I gently lift the chick so Dr. Martin can fasten a radio tag his wing.  There are still tiny bits of wastopaneer, from the egg, stuck to his feathers.  I try to pick them off but something slams hard into my back.  I stumble from the impact.  The mother has returned. She dives at me again.  I see her coming and return the baby bird to his nest. She aborts the attack but voices her displeasure by spraying her stomach contents in my face.  


Kathy


I'm Entry # 22.  If you like it please vote for me here!  Thanks :)
The campaign has been a blast!  I have enjoyed every challenge and I love reading the other entries.  You can enter until Oct 24th.  So hop on over to her site and sign up! 





35 comments:

  1. Nice take on the beach! Great images! Going to go vote! Drop by my blog for a visit. I'm #23 in the challenge.

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  2. I like the way the words are used. It made me feel as though they were real words that I just hadn't heard before.

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  3. Eugh! I love how you've used the words as scientific terms. Great job!
    Mine is #25.

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  4. that was stupendous! great twist on beach!
    and an excellent use of the words!
    rave rave rave =)

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  5. Love the imagery Kathy. Well done :-)

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  6. Thanks everyone! I'm heading over to check all of your entries out. It's so much fun to see how others interpret the same rules. :)

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  7. Wow, you had me going! I love the descriptive! Good job! ; )

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  8. This is great! I felt cold during the whole thing, very visual!

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  9. Brilliant! That's what I call a surprise :)

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  10. Nice change of scenery! I like it. :)

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  11. I would like to let you know I think you're fantastic for using the word pungent. It's such an under-appreciated word.

    Great take on the challenge!

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  12. I really love your entry! Fabulous descriptive words and I love anything about the arctic. Nice job :)

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  13. I like how you made the beach a cold one, that was different and great.

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  14. I really liked how you played up the ditchotomy between how the physical weather was cold but it made the MC warm. The mom returning gave me goosebumps!

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  15. I loved the scene of mama penguin protecting the young. "The pungent smell of fresh guano" evoked memories from Paradise Harbor in Antarctica. Great writing!

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  16. I really like the cold beach! Nice job!

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  17. Great piece! Very vivid with your descriptions, and I didn't see the ending coming. :)

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  18. I felt the chill! A refreshingly different take on the prompt!
    (Mine is no.#47)

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  19. I love the way you describe everything and how you used the given words. The ending was gross, but definitely unexpected. ;) Great job.

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  20. Eww, that wasn't very nice of her! Great post. I like that it wasn't your typical beach scene. mine is #56

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  21. I couldn't help but have a hearty laugh at the end! I guess moms of different species are all protective in their own...shall we say, *creative* ways!

    Though wait. I think when I was a kid, my Mom did the exact same thing to someone who tried to kidnap me!

    Or maybe that was just a dream. >,>

    A great story! I enjoyed the hell out of it!

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  22. Great job Kathy! This is cool. Good way to use the words too!

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  23. A frigid beach! Way to think outside the box. This is an excellent final entry. I've enjoyed reading all of yours. :)

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  24. I'm shivering--from cold and because I'm grossed out. Nice Job! Extremely creative on all fronts.

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  25. Highly believable and enjoyable to read, the made up words sounded entirely authentic too. Any story that ends with puke in the face is alright by me! Wonderful entry.

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  26. That was incredible. I could see it all in my mind's eye, as vividly as if I was watching a documentary on television. Well done! (Dratted bird.) And your use of those words was perfect. Heading to vote!

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  27. so original. great interpretation of the "beach" theme. The made up words sounded totally natural too. good job!

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  28. Thanks so much everyone for all the encouraging words! You guys are awesome! :)

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  29. Awesome setting and description. I'll go vote.

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  30. Very well written! The setting and story was awesome. I loved it. I'm #65.

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  31. Really great job! Nice final entry. Loved it.

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  32. This was so well handled; if I didn't know about the challenge I would definitely assume the nonsense words were real. Nice!

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  33. This reads like like an actual event. I seemed so real that when I got to the end I went, "Eeww! I'm glad that wasn't me." And what a different beach from most of the stories. Great job and apologies for taking so long to visit the last of my PB through YA group. Between the campaign and joining twitter, I've been swamped. My entry is number 20. You'll probably get a headache reading it.

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