Jim Tominski didn't concern himself with the stalkings

anymore than he did with the hornet's nests in the shed or the poison ivy along the fence. It was there, and as long as he steered clear of it, the irritants didn't irritate him.

It was the Mrs. that did all the worrying in the family. She would have him knock down those nests--mud daubers, not hornets, to be precise--but they were pollinators, he said, and that calmed her a bit.

---

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---

Her first time out here on the acreage, mowing along the edge of the timber at sundown, she'd discovered the consequences of unknown contact with poison ivy. That stuff could hide. Didn't take much of it either, hidden in the grass, to hit like Armageddon. A mulching mower magnified the effect. She didn't even feel herself get sprayed, ankles to hips, with the ground up leaves and oils. With blisters the size of marbles, she declared war on this native plant that fed the birds, but he just dug it out with a spade rather than blast it with Roundup. Mindy was wild and impulsive at times but she listened when he spoke, which was softly and infrequently. He could reason with her. Glyphosate could cause cancer in humans and might be what was killing off bee populations around the world. Live and let live, that was Tominksi's motto, and it was Mindy's motto too until someone got on her case. Words would get under her skin like the urushiol did from the poison ivy, festering, until she couldn't take it anymore and went off hell-bent and half-cocked.

source

"You cannot reason with insanity,"

Tominksi reminded her. "You could argue your case in front of a jury with all the evidence in the world, and the judge could announce the guilty verdict, and your tormentors would just demand a retrial. They are never wrong, in their minds."

"Well, Bill Jamison is stalking us on social media," Mindy said. "I won't let him get away with it."

"Let him talk. I have nothing to hide." Tominski stood in the light slanting through the shed window, while mud daubers zinged in the high rafters, annexing more of the shed.

"I think they're plotting against us," Mindy said. "You need to hear this."

He frowned at whatever was in her hands. She called up the voices of Bill and Bonnie and some grainy video. "It's that thing you told me not to waste money on," Mindy said, "but you can see for yourself, they were here. That night we had to leave Jarika home alone. She knew it was them prowling outside the windows trying to scare her. I ordered this for her, and she wired it all up herself, and the next time we were gone, she got this."

Tominski stared at the cell phone gadget. It was Bill and Bonnie, all right. You couldn't see their faces very well under the dark hoodies, but Bonnie's voice was unmistakable. Her fair skin contrasted with the shadows. She grew pale: her voice had a harsh note in it. "It was some money I lost under the bridge..."

"Well ya better go back and look again, before the thugs come get you," Bill stage-whisper-shouted.

"That's why I led them here," Bonnie said. "I dropped some stuff on the way here from the bridge, and they'll find a girl inside this house, but you and I will be gone by then."

Tominski roared with laughter.

Mindy grimaced. "Our daughter was terrified."

"Of what, their bad acting?"

"They're deranged!" she said. "What if they do actual harm to our children?"

"Fear mongering. That's their game. They feed off it. They're agitating for a fight, and you always supply it. Just ignore them, Mindy. I'm telling ya, that's the thing they can't stand. They eat upyour attention like sparrows at the bird feeder."

"They're stalking us!"

"So?" Tom glanced up at the 12-pitch roof over the head and the wasps in the rafters. "I don't mind the mud daubers, and they don't mind me. I realize these flying arthropods are more advanced than those two busybodies watching us through their binoculars and yelling at us for looking at the lovely view of their pasture and horses, which is for them to enjoy, not us," unquote, "but just chill. Don't give them the fight they're looking for. Don't reward negative attention. It's Parenting One-oh-One."

Mindy sighed. "You'd better be right about this. Because Jason and Jared were riding dirt bikes in the timber last week, and they're convinced that barbed wire they saw was not there the time before."

"So you've told me, and everyone else who'll listen."

Tominski saw that worried look on her face, and instead of letting her drive him crazy, he smiled, resisting the urge tousle her hair. "You got some edginess on you, some passions you need to vent, and I know how you can vent 'em. Whaddaya say we go take a shower before the kids get home from school."

Mindy swatted him, but her eyes twinkled and she spun around, sprinting back to the house.

---

[photos my own]

Check Out The @FreeWriteHouse Prompt Of The Day By @MarianneWest

... the weekend free write is different. You get 3 prompts and write 5 minutes on each prompt creating one story. Each prompt is in a separate post. No peeking!!

The First Sentence prompt will always have the green graphic.

The second prompt is- The interference. It will direct your story into a new direction. Write for 5 more minutes. The second prompt will always have this graphic with a yellow background.

The third part is a dramatic twist. Continue writing where that prompt takes you but still creating one story. Write 5 more minutes.
The Dramatic twist prompt always has this purple background graphic.

As always, don’t judge your writing and just see where it will take you.
If you have time and later want to polish your piece, feel free.

But remember that part of the 5 minutes deal is to make it possible to do this on a regular basis.

Now comes your Interference.

Prompt 2
She grew pale: her voice had a harsh note in it. "It was some money I lost under the bridge..."

Write this sentence as the continuation of your story
Set the timer for 5 minutes
Write!
Look for prompt 3 - [The dramatic twist (purple).

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Look For The 5-Min #FreeWrite Daily Prompt On @MarianneWest’s Blog