Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 87

This is week 87 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. My friends have been here much of the day helping me to get organized for my niece's visit next week, so these have been done very hastily. I hope they make sense. I'm not happy with any of them, to tell the truth, but I'm too tired to fix them and my friends will be back shortly with dinner supplies, so.... what I've writ is what I'm posting. Sigh. My apologies to Florence Nightingale. I spelled her name wrong last week. I've corrected it here.



The words for this week's ten word challenge were: plumber, autograph, Florence Nightingale, a chill wind’s a blowing, watering hole, sleek, triplets, backwards, surface tension, parrot And for the mini: Free estimates,French fries, carpet, Braille, silver-tongued bandit



This week's mega challenge:

"A chill wind's a blowin'" thought Florence Nightingale glancing anxiously backwards over her right shoulder as she entered her favorite watering hole in hopes of escaping her sense of loneliness and impending doom. But the fates were apparently not in a mood to be kind. The triplets were there - Harry, George and Martin - parroting their usual inane pick-up lines and asking for her autograph as though they thought she as the real Florence Nightingale. Harry, who fancied himself to be a charmer(a silver-tongued bandit he would say), sleeked back his hair and sauntered over to her. "Hey, babe, ya miss me?" "Not at all," she replied, trying to hold the surface tension of her emotions firm so that her anger and sorrow didn't bubble over and fly out to wound him. He was a jerk, but he meant no harm. Next came George, a plumber by trade. He was always offering to give her free estimates on his services, half serious, half double entendre. He was her least favorite. Then there was sweet Martin. If only he hadn't come with replicas, she might have been able to enjoy him. She smiled in spite of herself as he shyly offered her some of his French fries and a mug of her favorite beer. His shaggy mop of hair always made her think of a woolly carpet for some reason and there was something sweet in the way he anxiously fingered the table top as though he was trying to read some hidden message in Braille. She didn't feel there could be much of a future with him, though. He came with the other two and that would never change.



Mini Challenge:

Free estimates, Free estimates the sign shouted. Alas, for many potential customers, it shouted these words in Braille. Greg, the blind carpet salesman, couldn't understand why business was so slow these days. Alas, he had fallen prey to the slick sales pitch of the infamous silver-tongued bandit "French Fries" Freddie, who had never met anyone he couldn't find a way to swindle. That Greg was blind, bothered Freddie's conscience not a whit. Years later, Freddie got his come-uppance when Greg's nephew was able to set him up with the help of a half dozen of his former victims and finally get him thrown into the jail cell where he had long belonged.



10-word Challenge:

Nurse Francine McTavish had been such a great admirer of Florence Nightengale that she had seached high and low for all kinds of memorabilia about that great woman's life. Her most prized possession had been a vintage copy of Notes on Nursing purportedly autographed by her heroine. She had named her triplets - two girls and a boy - Florence, Gale and Night after her heroine, something they had never quite forgiven her for, especially poor Night who took much unmerciful teasing from school mates and friends throughout his whole life. Her parrot was also named Nightengale. It had previously belonged to a plumber and had a rather odd vocabulary which included such phrases as "a chill wind's a blowing," "I'm concerned about the surface tension," "The Sleek Geek is my favorite watering hole," and "Is this thing on backwards?" Hard as Francine tried to teach the stubborn bird nursing terms or phrases like the Lady of the Lamp, it refused to budge from its original vocabulary... with one exception. Night had taught it with bribes and determination to sing - not say - a little ditty which he called "I hate Florence Nightengale." He inherited the bird after his mother's death and continued to take delight every time it sang that little song. His sisters - neither of whom would have anything to do with nursing - got the book - which they promptly sold at auction. They had loved their mother and mourned her passing, but they considered the lady of the lamp to have been a life long rival for her affections and were glad to see the last of her in their lives. Although they were now in their 40s they had briefly considered legally changing their names but decided they would stay as they were since the damage had been done long ago and learning new identities would just be more effort than it was worth. To their own children they gave very traditional names and told them early on that they could change them if they didn't like them.



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Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be:  Cute,
come with me to the Casba, bloodhound, respiration,
Facebook, Canada Geese, modern, gravity,
spider webs, sea shells

And for the mini: curiosity killed the cat, charming Victorian,
railroad tracks, tower, salt and pepper

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!!!!!