Lovely drabbles. I especially love Deb's second one and Liese's.

Now, hey, lookit me, how many weeks have I come up dry? And now connie and I are on the same wavelength. 100 words, 101, somewhere in there:

"Hand me the Phillips," says a voice above. I look down into the toolbox.

"The red-handled one?"

"No. The black."

I can't reach it without taking a step, but I shift my right foot over to the left foot's spot and call, "don't move" before taking the step with the left foot. Screwdriver in hand, I maneuver each foot back into place, braced against the skid of the ladder, and hand up the tool. I lean my weight onto the side rails, slowly, gently, technique learned with practice.

Our places may switch, but always, one of us climbs, the other anchors.

Liese, that was lovely. And I love Bev's -- the last line is perfect.

I'm losing my mind, though. This week screwed me up so much, I've been sitting here wondering when we're getting a new drabble topic. Uh, it's Friday. Right.

And this after I just typed something about it being Friday in Bitches.

I think Bev liked the second one because she knows the blond-haired cutie with the ponytail.

I liked the first one a lot better - I have never, before or after that one time, been asked if the man in my world was good in bed. And she was such a sweetie, but so desperately curious and wanting to know...

Ugh.

No, Connie, not just you... But I had to write "I'm sorry for comparing your girlfriend to a parakeet." today so once again, I'm outside the pale.

But is she really like a parakeet?

Well, what I actually said was I doubted she would be offended I don't like her, but if she would, put a mirror in her cage and let her entertain herself. (And, yeah, spiritually, at least. I could picture her sitting in cage admiring herself, anyway. But I still shouldn't have said it. I suspect the wife's rubbing off on me, just a touch.)ETA: Still funny, though. And he didn't really argue about it. Didn't tell me about the blind folks she reads to or anything, you know?

Now, this is just weird.

I recently submitted a query letter to a magazine, along with a SASE for their response. I just got the SASE back, but rather than a rejection it contains writers guidelines. Why would they send me something I didn't ask for? I read the guidelines on their website, and I think my idea fits in. Should I consider myself rejected, or is this just a Thing?

Huh. Maybe there's some other woman going "A rejection? But I've not sent anything yet!"

Hmm. Could be. It's too late to call, since they're on the East Coast, but maybe next week I'll call and ask. Can't hurt.

There wasn't a note on it...because I think I got one with a message once, because they wanted to see my work but that particular piece was outside guidelines.