As Cora Green stared out her dining room window, contemplating whether her husband Derrick was having an affair or not, noisy lawnmowers could be heard in the neighborhood, and yellow butterflies were still flittering around her lawn, even though the pin oaks had been spitting hundreds of acorns now for the last three weeks. Texas seemed to want to hold on to summer as long as possible, of course, so did Cora. She could handle Autumn ok she guessed, yet the cold brutality of winter made her bones ache, and she dreaded the thought of having to wear so many clothes. She might have been in her late fifties, yet if it were up to her, she would live where it felt like summer year-round. It was the beginning of fall, hard to believe the holidays were around the corner when it was eighty three degrees outside.

Derrick had been working lots of overtime, claiming there was a new project going on at work, a job he hated. He'd been coming home at midnight or not at all for the past two weeks. Cora knew that a lady he sort of fancied from his old job lived in the city where he worked, about thirty minutes from their home. As Cora continued to stare out the window, listening to the traffic busily racing down the main drag, she wondered why they had been growing so distant and was any of it her fault. Of course, she was quick to blame herself, that was just her nature, but had she been neglecting him? Or was he just stressed out from work and family problems. She could not believe he would really cheat on her, not after the last time so many years ago...maybe. The chimes were tinkling next to the empty bird feeder hanging on their iron post in the front yard. As Cora watched, the next-door neighbor walked ou to the mailbox, reminding her she needed to do the same.

The weather had been so wonky the last three weeks, in the fourties and raining one day, sunny and seventies the next. Mother Nature seemed confused as their were brown leaves on the still-green grass, acorns piled in the flower beds, and the soft, damp eath made the job of pulling weeds a breeze. She came back in from grabbing the mail from the box and decided to go out back and do just that, pull some old flowers and weeds from the corner bed. Maybe her mind would go somewhere else if she turned on some tunes and tried to focus on the holidays, events, and concerts that were filling up her calendar so quickly. As she began to attack the job however, her mind went right back to Derrick. No matter how many times she told herself she wouldn't care if he really was having an affair, she couldn't keep from thinking about it.

She may not have been giving him enough attention in the bedroom, yet he didn't seem to be in the mood these days. Every time she brought it up, suggesting they "get together" before they were both to full or tired to enjoy it, he made some lame excuse or brushed her off like she surely wasn't serious. These actions only fed her wonder as to whether he was really working hard at his job, or losing the passion for her he once had. She didin't want to push him, yet she felt like he was lingering in the relationship like summer seemed to be unable to transition to fall. She was aging sure, but she still looked good for fifty seven, her figure was trim and she worked hard to maintain it. Was there another lady in his life that was giving him something she could not anymore? Her mind just kept going back to the whys of it all. Why would he want to get physical with someone else if he was too tired or unable to make love to her lately? Why, if his sex drive had wained, would he be hot for a new love? Was she boring to him now?

She was driving herself nuts with this, she thought as she ripped weeds with painful stickers growing out of the leaves, the leaves! from the ground. She decided she could not sit and contemplate any more, tonight when he got home, after he got a few beers down, she would come right out and ask him. Okay, but what if he was innocent? She was back inside now, watching the leaves falling like rain and then blowing into the court. The cul-de-sac they lived in was so quiet, they knew no one, and she could sit and watch cars come and go, squirrels scurry around trying to gather nuts for the sure-to-come colder weather. It was almost time to go pick him up from work, maybe she would think of a way to talk to him about it on the drive home, or maybe she would continue to wonder.

#Challengeofthemonth

1-8-17 Bluebeard Dream

Kids and young teens from all over were captured by Bluebeard. Before, a girl was writing notes with her classmates when she noticed strange writings being written in her journal. They were very creepy. Her friend thought so, too. Bluebeard had kidnapped the classmates, too. He makes a game out of this; whoever answers a question, or something, right then they move on tto the next round. The girl then noticed her hair was turning blue and some of the other kids, too, had blue hair. One boy with blue hair said to the girl excitedly, "You were chosen, too!" Those with blue hair were considered favorites of Bluebeard, those he liked the most. The girl had to do something before her hair turns all the way blue. She then makes a deal out loud. "If I win then you have to let everyone go!" Even those eliminated. Bluebeard was amused, so he accepts the deal. Other stuff happens before Bluebeard came, but I don't remember. Maybe a library?

Hi everybody. I would like to suggest that any and every time someone writes a piece containing erotica or mature themes that they label it as such. As our fellow writer Mrjdhyde put in his piece "How it works on prose." there is no censorship of content.

A lot of you do mark your pieces for the Romance & Erotica portal or put a warning at the top. I appreciate that. But I've noticed many people tend not to for one reason or another when they post something that contains erotica for the weekly Prose Challenge.

I mentioned this in the survey Prose sent out, but there is no reason we cannot implement this ourselves without their request we do so. After all, we are the partners and writers on Prose, providing the content. Let's save the hardworking Prose team some trouble.

I believe in free speech and am not in any way against writers or readers of erotica. But I'm also a mother to a young son. Anyone else started to read what you thought was an age-appropriate piece out loud to your kids or young audience, only to have to stop partway through and they ask why? Awkward!

We all know what chemistry between two people is. It's important, or you wouldn't be here to read this and I wouldn't be writing it, obviously. I'm not saying we should ignore that.

All I'm asking is that it be labeled. Why? (1) So people who aren't looking for it won't come across it and be unnecessarily inconvenienced or offended and (2) So people who are looking for it will find it.

If we did this, I feel parents would be more comfortable with Prose/letting their kids use it. And why should we not make it that way? The younger generation is our future, and literacy is more important than ever in the soundbite world we inhabit. This would make Prose more user friendly by more people.

Prose is a great place. Let's make it a great place for everyone.

Please tag me in the comments (or send me a message should that make you feel more comfortable) if you agree/disagree with this, have a different viewpoint you'd like to present, or want to contribute any thoughts in general regarding it. I'd love to know how you fellow writers feel about this topic and get some feedback.