Tag: creative writing

  • Elephant Effect

    IMG_3963The Elephants are a new family joining an illustrious body of residents of Avonlea. They are from Cape Town,, South Africa, where English is the official language, which makes them easily acculturated to the new environment. The Elephants are shown here they landed at Montgomery Airport named after the founder of Avonlea, “Lucy Maud Montgomery,” located 3 miles away from Avonlea.

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    This is Mr. John Elephant, the patriarch of the family. Born in September 26th, 1959 to a wealthy family of Old Money (his father was the 5th Earl of Greensleeves Castle in Yorkshire who moved to South Africa upon marrying a beautiful but impecunious American journalist named Judy Shue), John was educated as best as his wealthy father could afford him ) in England by graduating from Oxford University with a B.A. in English in aspiration of becoming a journalist as his American mother used to. However, his innate filial duty that appeared only too well incumbent upon him after his father told him to take care of their assets in the family’s trust fund that had been kept intact for three centuries since their ancestor Earl Richard Elephant set it up following a windfall of great successes in The East India Company  in the 17th Century. With such enterprising blood running in the veins, John has become a successful real estate developer since the 90s and wants to expand his business territory by coming to Avonlea under the privilege of dual citizenship permitted by the South African government.

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    This is Mrs. Rachel Elephant, the efficient secretary of the home office of the family. She is also an excellent homemaker who manages all the affairs concerning the logistics of the household and attends to the care of each family member with Charity, Faith, and Hope, the capital Christian Values  ornamented by her high intelligence fabulously brilliant all the more by her unassuming witty character. Rachel worked her way through college by working at Delano’s Italian Bakery, where she learned how to make the best cannolis and Amaretto cookies, which she sometimes seels at local charity events. She is also an avid reader of nonfiction books, such as essays by the 19th Century writers, history books on the Ancient Near East, the Classical Greece and Greek, and books on supernatural phenomena.

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    Eli Elephant is the first-born child of John and Rachel, so naturally, she basks in their all attentions and expectations. Any child in that environment will often express his stress from such parental yearnings and revolts against the parents even at the early stage of life. But Not Elie, whose filiality is inherited from her father and whose intelligence mixed with a good heart passed down from her mother.  She is also something of a social worker, for anyone she sees so pitiful that the sight of the person is registered in her mind, is in her good care. Elie goes out of her way by asking her father to help the person in distress or in a dire need, such as not raising a monthly rent fee for senior citizens subsisting solely and only on their Social Security Benefits and Supplemental Income Aid.

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    So our Joe Elephant is the youngest but the most adventurous of Elephant Clan. Like his grandfather who used to appear on the east of the Sun one one day, and the west thereof on the other day, Joe likes to venture all things worthy of winning his recognition as well as interest by himself. So it is a family norm to accept Joe’s spirit of adventure as a brilliant legacy of the Elephant Family as aforesaid in the case of Earl Richard Elephant and his Great East Indian Expedition  in the 17th Century. In addition thereto, Joe is adroita at making friends with anyone anywhere without a shade of prejudice based upon a creed, status, or appearance because that is how his parents have taught so far. As the say, “A tree is known by its fruits,” a child is a mirror of  what his parents are and what they want to be. It’s not his peers, or teachers at schools, or actors/actresses on screen that influence a child’s learning and modus operandi of dealing with the everyday life. In this respect, both John and Rachel have been doing great in inculcating the moral and ethical values in their son as well as daughter.

    Now that the Elephants have made Avonlea their new home sweet home. they will continue to live according to their moral principles based upon Christian Values and the family legacy spanning over 400 years. John does not forget to remind himself of the family mottos of “Quand Je Puis,” meaning in French “As much as I can. and “Have patience with all things, but first with yourself,” which is actually a famous quotation from St. Francis de Sales. And with these in mind, John looks to the future with Hope and Faith and is ready to hit a new road again -with his dear family, as a;ways – as ever.

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  • Afternoon at the Museum

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    from google

    Herewith an ancient Grecian urn,
    An ancient spirit of an unknown poet
    Pines for the Divine Mania to inurn
    The Great Four Madnesses as yet.

    Against a Circle of Time ever more,
    His pursuit of the Great Mania restless
    And undead forever haunting thereafter
    Circles an epicycle orb in orb timeless.

    The Religious Madness from Dionysius – He knows no believing.
    The Poetic Madness from the Muses – He looks to elsewhere.
    The Madness of Love from Aphrodite – He experiences no feeling.
    The Pythia’s Inspiration from Apollo – He turns to elsewhere.

    Wherefore the poet runs after the Great Mania,
    The delusion of Perfection still orbits the urn
    In a room of Ancient Gallery of misty panorama
    Of the incessant enthusiasm for the Great to yearn.

  • Farewell to April

     

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    from google

    In a grey muslin veil
    The last maiden of April
    Sheds her tears of farewell
    To earth tolling the final bell.

     

    P.S.: This rainy afternoon of the last day of April disappears into our memory of time, being the experience of the ethos of the time we live in. Goodbye to April, 2018…

  • Good People, Good Food at La Boum

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    It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of technology and information, it was the age of rationalism, it was the epoch of you-could-do-anything, it was the epoch of upstart, it was the season of Hope, it was the season of Despair, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair… That was how Randy Beaver was thinking while  reposing his starving self  at a snack cart on a sunny Tuesday afternoon. Randy had been seeking employment since he lost a job as a warehouse manager of Pony Express due to company restructuring, but the Fates had not seemed to wink at him just yet. Nevertheless, his evergreen positive mindset and go-aheaditiveness made him vigilant of falling into a bottomless pit of despondency. Besides, the fact that he was a head of his dear family kept him going in spite of all adversaries trying to dispirit him.

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    “Okidoki. So what’s new in today’s newspaper? Hmm…  A Mountain lion crossed a freeway through a culvert that was about as long as two football fields in Santa Caritas. That must have been quite an adventure for the guy! What a spirit of fortitude and courage! And what else fascinating? Wait a moment! I can’t believe this!” Randy’s eyes were sparkling with excitement and incredulity mixed in wonder as he was reading a notice section, in which Avonlea’s new real estate developer named John Elephant was selling a derelict building on the 3rd Avenue at a half of the original price.

     

     

    “I have “$50,000.00 in my saving account at the bank, which is enough to buy the building. I can convert it into a nice French restaurant with my being a chef myself. Thanks to my culinary skills inherited from my father who was of a great French cook originally coming from Lyon, I can cook a variety of delicious French meals in homemade style.” Hereupon, the rest of the story became the genesis of Randy’s new and exciting business adventure. What had  once been derelict, nondescript building was a cozy pretty French restaurant named, La Boum, meaning the party in English, which his lovely wife Brenda thought fantastic befitting the menu and the atmosphere they would provide to their customers.

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    Randy’s specialty was Swiss-styled Raclette made with cheese from Alsace, where his distant paternal cousins live and  provide the best of the ingredients for La Boum at honest prices. In this way, Randy could cut off avaricious middle men and become cost-effective, so that he would devote himself to the quality of the menu he afford to his customers who would regard La Boum as a fine restaurant where delicacy of the food would awaken their taste buds in an ambience quaintly and fabulously mixed with urban sophistication and charming rusticity which can attract a variety of different patronage, ranging from urbanites to rural folks.

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    Needless to say, Randy’s first customers were Brenda and Betty, for they’re the best and most discriminate gourmets unafraid of honest opinions of the food they tasted based upon their excellent faculties of taste in combination with spiritual abilities to look into the hearts and souls of whoever makes the food. Surely, Randy’s crepe for Brenda and Seaweed salad for Betty were a feast they wholeheartedly enjoyed. With such delicious menu with fine culinary skills acknowledged by his most punctilious connoisseurs of food, plus a good moral character, Randy’s business success will be a logical consequence, which echoes what Ralph Waldo Emerson addressed to the audience two centuries ago as follows:

    Knowledge, plus a good moral character ensues business success.

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