In 2018, I put together a simple draw to challenge myself (and anyone else who wanted to try) with flash fiction prompts made up of three suits of cards, shuffled and drawn. The clubs denoted a genre, the diamonds were an object, and the hearts were...
The final draw for December. Once there was "field of poppies" and "broom" I could only think of one thing, but it reminded me of an idea I'd had for a YA novel a while back, about the grandkids of some pretty amazing young adult characters, and so I ran with it, deciding to go for a chuckle or two along the way to make it a comedy.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The Pevensie Academy Boys
Once the wind died down, and the woodshed stopped spinning and lurching, they let go of each other and rose shakily to their feet.
"You okay?" Leo said. His voice wobbled, and he could hear his gramma's voice. You're named for the bravest person I know. He cleared his throat "Henry?" That sounded better.
"Yeah." Henry sucked in a breath. "Was that a tornado?"
Leo hoped not. He'd had enough of those back home. He stroked the patch on the pocket of his suit jacket. The crest of the Pevensie Academy had always felt like good luck.
What else could you call inviting a sixteen-year-old American to upper-class British boarding school, all-expenses-paid?
"We should go back," Henry said.
Leo looked at him, and Henry was grinning.
"What?"
"That was some kiss, Kansas."
"Yeah, well..." He blushed. Sneaking off to "snog" (as Henry had put it) had been kind of amazing. Until the weather had turned. Who knew England had storms like back home?
Leo made a grand gesture at the door. Henry laughed, and passed by him, opening the door and stepping outside, but stopping so abruptly that Leo walked into him.
"Hey, what—" Leo started, but stopped. The 'what' was pretty apparent.
The shed was in the middle of a sloping valley of poppies. They were beautiful, waving in a soft breeze. There was no sign of the large stone boarding school.
Leo stared. The sky was an intense shade of blue, brighter than any sky he'd ever seen. Despite himself, he sucked in a breath at the beauty.
Then reality hit.
"Uh," Leo said. "Where are we?"
Henry turned. "It wasn't me."
"What?" Leo said, frowning.
"I don't work this way. This is all you, Kansas."
Leo blinked. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
Henry frowned. "Wait. You don't know? You're a legacy."
"So everyone keeps saying," Leo said, eyeing the poppies. Was it just him, or where they all leaning towards them. He yawned, surprised he felt drowsy in the middle of what was, undoubtedly, a massive hallucination.
