The house welcomed you with three sphinxes at the front gate...an androsphinx (lion with a human head); a criosphinx (a lion with a ram's head); and the hierocosphinx (a lion with a hawk/falcon's head)-leading down a long gravel path past a row of mulberry bushes. After that part of the entrance, the towers of the home greet you as if you have stepped into a period clashed between a grandiose Victorian home, and a mix of modern style- where the house had more open space on the first level with light coming through the textured iridiscent wooden framed glass window.

The sitting area/space in the house on the first floor has an entertainment system with a smart telly which can slide back and forth into a space in the wall with one click of a button. For ultimate comfort the couch potatoes who stay (at/) chez Chessington('s), the seats come with a seat warming setting with another click of a button (this one at the side of the chair that can also recline).

Most of the days the house is left to take care of itself, and even the master bedroom on the first floor is usually not used for the majority of the day (Mr and Mrs Chessington leave their place before the crack of dawn to attend to their jobs for the Ministry of Chronomancy).

But then this place is not always left abandoned. A young little boy spends most of his early infant days/times with someone dear to him...not too long ago... on a clear, bright, and sunny day...

Theobold ran spiraling up the redwood staircase in his cashmere hoodie. A pair of knoblly hands grabbed him pulling him in one swift motion that surprised Theo. He did not expect his nanny to always manage to keep up with him. In the back of his mind he surmised that she must have been a witch. Especially with the black dolman that she wore everytime she was in charge of taking care of the lad.

Theo and his nanny spend most of their hours of the day (well, Theo lives there more so than she does...for now) at 219 Leynah drive. Almost every home in the neighborhood looked the same: with a massive black gate around the perimeter of the home, the back of every home had an olympic sized pool, including a garden full of...roses, chrysanthemums, countless ferns, plus a small pond that had some black as the midnight sky and red like the jupiter sun koi fish. The only difference was the other houses did not have Theo, or the pleasure of being in his nanny's presence. If you asked Theo's parents about what they thought about her they would respond with one word: darb.

The young lad's toosh was dragged along the jewel onyx coral polished porcelain floor tiles. His caregiver turned to face him, and wagged her finger with her free hand at the lad. His curly reddish-brown hair covered a section of the left part of his face. She bent down to brush the young one's hair right behind his ear, but it was stubborn like an untamed wild pony/stallion.

The nanny took a long deep breath, and sighed. This kid had so much energy, she smiled and thought to herself how his older sibling, Kweenie, who was in boarding school at the School of Arts, Magick, and Necromancy (SAMAN) was the polar opposite. Theo's older sibling was like a gentle young quiet tigress who would rather work on completing a puzzle before heading to explore mother nature, whereas Theo would want to spend most of his time outside enjoying trying to catch one of the morpho butterlies, and dipping his hands into the tiny pond to get his hands on one of the koi (at this point he would have to be taken back indoors).

His nanny lifted the child into her arms, and then hoisted him onto her broad shoulders. She took off with a slight gait down the stairs. The eyes of Theo's parents (Mr and Mrs Chessington) from the pictures on the wall along the staircase seemed to be disapproving of the current method of play between the nanny and Theo. The caregiver did not pay attention to the pictures on the wall as her mind was focused on enjoying her time with Theobold Chessington II.

#ChezChessington. (c) Octobre 25, 2022.

Your mistakes do not define you.

Your mistakes do not represent all of who you are.

You're much more than your situation, your problems or your mistakes.

Never give up.

For a few people on prose who have seen my post on creating this challenge, it's no surprise that I think estherflowers1 is a know it all. Even though she claims she is more of a know nothing, which is exactly what a know all would say. I always find something to learn from her posts and challenges. She makes me use the dictionary a lot, which is a good thing since English is practically not my first language.

Another person I think is a know all is danceinsilence but in more of a wise way than a smart way, if that makes any sense. I appreciate his comments the most. He is always so encouraging and insightful and seems to always know what to say. He does crack a lot of dad jokes though. So there's also that.

Lastly, TW might be the closest to human I've met on prose. She is as random and inconsistent as humanly possible. She seems to like the most random posts and enters the most unconventional challenges. And then she totally disappears for some time afterwards. Or maybe that's just Prose also being it's usual random and inconsistent self.

But she is such an open-minded person. I like that about her. There is also the fact that she has helped me get past a rough patch before with her kind and relatable words.

Ok, that's it.

This is a test of how much courage you have. Hold your head up, display good posture and carry on as usual. An intimidator feels threatened by you. He/She will eventually stop the behavior or get even more aggressive which is where they make their most critical mistakes. You may have to bring out the "mama bear." It is difficult to do for us mild natured people. As the country song goes, "Sometimes you got to fight to be a man."

Go and carry out the desires of your heart, determined to accomplish the goal with which you have set forth, for if you suffer the weasel of doubt to worm his way into your mind and tell you that you cannot accomplish it, if you attempt with only half an effort, believing that the task is hopeless, it will be as if you had done nothing at all.

I am that fleshy, sinful outer shell of human rubbish, filled with hidden animalistic qualities that operate under the blood-pumping instruction of a fragile, intricate inner-web of veins, arteries, muscles, fatty tissue, heart, throat, kidneys, liver, bones and brain that I am able to make a series of choices throughout the span of my life to dictate the condition and possible outcome of my destiny, which unless fate is truly written in stone by the mightily divine fingers of God, and by doing so has predetermined that of which I am and also that of which I possess the unique potential to be.

“How art thou out of breath when thou hast breath to say to me that thou art out of breath?” - Shakespeare

To say to me when thou art out of breath how thou hast breath, art thou that out of breath? - Sham-spear

For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?” - Shakespeare

Of my bad parts for in love with me didst thou first fall, which? - Sham-spear

“O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.” - Shakespeare

To be known by, thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name, o thee devil let us call. - Sham-spear

I don’t like Aristotle. Aristotle was wordy... he talked too much. One of my many ex-step-fathers’ lived by the credo that if he vomitted enough words, then the law of percentages said that eventually something intelligent sounding must come out of his mouth, so he never shut up. The same is true of Aristotle. It’s true! Look it up! Aristotle had something to say about every... damn... thang.

I will use as an example this quote a friend brought up of Aristotle’s: “No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” Literally taken Aristotle is calling sex and procreation lunacy, but let’s move beyond that. The sentence seems like a simple truth at first glance, but as always with Aristotle, it is too wordy. To prove my point, let’s remove the word “great” from it? “No mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” Doen’t it already make more sense? Is it only the “great” minds which contain a hint of madness, and not all of them? Of course not. A trip to any local Walmart, or a quick flip through Instagram, will easily prove otherwise. Show me the man without a hint of madness, and I’ll show you his corpse.

Aristotle, without mincing words, could have said the exact same thing using half the verbiage... how about: “Madness resides in every mind.” You see? Only 5 words! This is why I am a Socrates man. Aristotle was too wordy. And like Socrates I have questions about everything. For instance, do you think Aristotle threw the word “great” into that sentence because he worked for Alexander, and thought it a good way to call out the boss without getting canned?”

Hmmm... maybe Aristotle was smarter than I think? Or perhaps I’m crazy for thinking otherwise? Damn! If I am a touch madder, does that by extension make me great? Or at least greater?

Hey! You seem a bit crazy yourself! What say you?

Oh, nevermind. Maybe it would be a good question for Plato...

Tonight's the night to wear my fangs.

To knock at the doors with all my gangs.

To gather on candy and sweets and things.

To see what mischief the night will bring.

As we walk to doors in gangs of ten,

I see witches, and ghosts, and little minion men.

I see characters and gremlins and big boogie bears.

I see police and firemen and kids with big hair.

I see transformers, and angels, and devils, and such.

This is Halloween night, and I love it so much.

As the night fades away and it's time to retire.

Our candy is looked over, some thrown in the fire.

But not a bad hall for a night of good cheer.

I can't wait for Halloween to return next year.