Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 18

It's week 18 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. I wish somebody else was to blame for the selection of words and phrases because I really hated this week's collection and had an awful time coming up with anything coherent. Hope the rest of you did better than I did.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: solitaire, pathological, grackles, alternative life style, manifest destiny, polarization, ugly duckling, folding chairs, flibberty-gibbet, hand grenade And for the Mini Challenge: marathon, the butler did it, curtain, hand cream, flatulence

Here's my ten-word offering for this week.

Samantha wished she had not turned the news on. Listening to the pathological maniac sitting quietly on an old rusty folding chair passionately explain why he had thrown a hand grenade into a school full of young children made her feel despondent and hopeless. He sat there, clearly insane, using phrases like manifest destiny, polarization and alternative life style to explain his "purpose." It made her want to scream. But she was not sure who she thought more vile, the maniac or the media who aired his insanity with voyaristic delight as though it was entertainment and not tragedy. Turning off the TV, she was grateful for the distraction of a game of solitaire and then the squabbling flock of grackles outside her window. "Poor ugly duckling birds," she thought, gawky fliberty-gibbets of the bird world. She had thought them hideous once, but time and familiarity had given her a strange affection for them and tonight, she was more than usually grateful to have them entertain her and remind her that there was more to life than dead children and mad men.

And here's my mini challenge:

Matilda lay groaning on the sofa, her stomach in knots, punishing her with nausea and flatulence alternately. Is this the way the curtain goes down on my life, she moaned? Watching a Columbo marathon? This episode was called “The Butler Did It” and involved a hand cream magnate who was trying to frame the butler (with whom she had been having an affair) for the murder of his wife. "I should have such problems," she groaned again, as perhaps the smelliest fart in the history of farts made it’s way out of her body. She knew it was really, really bad because, Fluffy, her ever faithful poodle, who seldom left her side was quickly disappearing into the next room. This is the way the world ends, she groaned. Not with a bang but a fart.”

And the mega challenge

Having always been an ugly duckling kind of girl and a notorious fliberty-gibbet, Lula May Markey had never anticipated a life different from her humble beginnings. Who would have thought that the daughter of a pathological, lying drunk who thought flatulence was a skill, would one day move from a world of rusty folding chairs and grackles in the “garden,” to such a magnificently alternative life style. She thought about the polarization of the two halves of her life. If she could have thrown a hand grenade into her father’s trailer and blown him up with it, she would have done so gladly, but instead, with her husband’s loving assistance, she had simply closed the curtain on her past. The wonder and joy of her new life was mind boggling a shift from cruelty and virtual slavery to lavish luxury. Here at Manifest Destiny Mansion, if something unpleasant needed doing, the butler did it, not her. What was perhaps more amazing was that her resurrection into a life of hand cream, caviar and solitaire diamonds – more amazing and wonderful – a life of tenderness and love – had been brought about by a big goofy dog. “Marathon, you wonderful goofy mutt, she whispered, rubbing his ear. “Thank you.”

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This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: boob, effervescent, dictator, macadam, monolith, zoom, toggle bolt, macabre, Budget Rent-A-Car, monster, file cabinet

The Budget Rent-A-Car Chevrolet Capri sat dead, hood open on the burning hot macadam of the empty highway. Martin was muttering something about fan belts and toggle bolts and she knew from the way he spoke that he had no idea what he was talking about. Her usually good-natured and effervescent personality was no match for the heat or the endless emptiness that seemed to stretch for miles around them. There was no traffic zooming by, no other travelers to offer solace of rescue. The only hint of civilization was a macabre looking black monolith in the distance. It looked sinister and she thought it more likely to house monsters than kindly farmers. She was frightened, and that made her cranky. “Dim-witted boob,” she muttered angrily. “If you weren’t such a stupid, abysmal jerk of a dictator we wouldn’t be in this mess, Martin, and you may as well stop pretending that you have any more idea than I do how to fix that car. We’re going to die and it’s your fault. “Yes, dear, you may be right.” “Damn.” She hated that about him. He never got upset about anything. Didn’t matter how angry she got or how unfair she was being, he would just smile sweetly. Only once in the 25 years of their life together had she seen him angry - the time early in their marriage - when he had found her rummaging in his file cabinet. She had intended it as a gesture of love. She would get to know about his patients so she could be a more supportive wife. He had raged on about privacy and confidentiality. She had been very young then, and when, taking a breath, he had seen the devastation on her face, he had calmed down and explained more gently. It made her feel tender towards him again and she thought to herself that if she were going to die in the middle of nowhere, she couldn’t have better company. “I love you, Marty,” she whispered, “but next year I plan our vacation.

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: fabulous, aristocrat, tricycle, soft summer breeze, cat litter, silver-tongued devil, curtain rod, lilacs, Abraham Lincoln, garbage can

And for the Mini Challenge: strangle-hold, revelation, dormancy, tripod, space cadet

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!