Photo by David Stewart
This is my story for Friday Fictioneers this week. It’s a weekly challenge to tell a story in 100 words that follows the picture prompt for the week. It’s hosted by the talented and gracious Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. This week the photo was supplied by David Stewart. Thanks David.
Link: http://www.rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/21-february-2014/
The big old dinner bell had hung outside Grandma and Grandpa’s country home for many years. It was there when I was born. After they died, Dad took it down to keep when we sold the place.
Grandpa told me Grandma would ring it to call him and their five kids to meals.
“Only thing is the dang thing sometimes rings in the middle of the night.” he told me. “It came from an old fire station.”
Dad hung it outside on our back porch and funny thing, by golly, sometimes the dang big, noisy, thing still rings at night.
Musings on Life & Experience 
I guess Grandma likes to get to get you up! I know my Grandma would get a kick out of that.
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Thank you for reading and commenting on my story, Victoria. It could be Grandma or maybe the bell just got used to ringing at night for fires in the old days. It could also be a playful ghost of an old fireman.
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That would be pretty spooky to hear. I’m not sure I would keep it up, though I’m not sure. I wonder if it would ring even if they took out the clapper?
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Thank you for reading my story and commenting on it, David. I don’t know if I’d want to anger that bell by removing its clapper. It could get nasty.
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A haunted bell! How cool is that?!
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Thank you for reading my story and commenting on it, Dawn. I guess it would be cool if you got used to it and it didn’t keep waking you in the middle of the night.
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Yes, I wouldn’t like that part.
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absolutely spooky! i’ll probably get rid of it. but the characters seem like they’ve grown to love it 🙂
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Thank you for reading my story and commenting on it, K.Z. I guess the characters do have an affectionate feeling toward the old bell being it’s been in the family so long.
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We were on a same bell track this week, although mine didn’t stray into spookly.
janet
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Thank you for reading and commenting on my story. I guess with so many people writing about the same photo that’s bound to happen once in a while. It’s actually amazing to me how many different types of stories are written with one picture. prompt.
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I wouldn’t have put it up if I were Dad. Really spooky!
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Thank you for reading my story and commenting on it. I probably wouldn’t have put it up either, but people in stories always do things like that. The dad might also have ignored the possibility of anything spooky. He might have been in denial.
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Ah,guess Grandma still likes to recall the old times ;-)A cute take on the prompt,loved it:-)
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting. That could be it. Let’s hope it’s just that. No harm ever came to Grandpa and Grandma and their family from the bell ringing at night. They got quite used to it.
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Yes,thankfully her spirit seemed to be just playful-possibly she misses being with them-cool take 🙂
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Ah.. wonder for whom the bell tolls—
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it Bjorn. We may never know. Grandpa and Grandma never found out why it rang at night. It’s kind of a mystery.
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Dear Patricia,
Aw. A sweet story with a paranormal edge. .I enjoyed it.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you Rochelle I’m glad you liked it. I appreciate it.
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I love where you went with this. The nostalgia with the family and the actions retained by the bell are just right.
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Thank you for reading this story of mine and for you comments. I think there needs to be no worry about that bell. The grandparents never had a problem with it. Their son seems to have inherited their lack of worry about its strange behavior since he tranferred it to him own home.
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I’m with you on that. The bell is not creepy.
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Any chance there’s a heavy wind blowing the nights when it rings? Actually, it’s kinda cool that the tradition followed the bell–keeps pleasant memories alive.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it. A brisk wind could account for the ringing sometimes, but apparently Grandpa didn’t think that was always the case. His son wasn’t worried; probably that was because no harm came to his parents from this bell with a mind of its own.
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I can see it would be annoying to have the bell ringing in the middle of the night, but the characters seemed to also feel a strong connection to the past through that bell. I loved the warm mood you’ve created here, Patricia.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting, Karen.I guess since it never caused problems for the grandparents, the family doesn’t worry about it. They’re willing to put up with it ringing at night once in a while. They feel warmth toward it because of the family connection.
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Ouuu haunted bell… Well written
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Thank you for reading my story and commenting on it, Rajlakshmi. I’m glad you like it.
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I wonder if it is the wind or old spirits that make it ring at night!
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Thank you for reading my story and commenting on it, Anjana. It could be the wind part of the time that causes it to ring, but the rest of the time it probably is haunted.
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Good story. Family ghost that follows the family.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting. That ghost is either following the family or the bell. Maybe both.
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Patricia, I’m glad someone went with the dinner bell theme. I thought on it and couldn’t seem to pull any dinner-bell stories together. This is nice. Reminds me of the big bell that hung in the grape arbor at my Great-Grandma’s house. That one would sometimes ring in the middle of the night because of storms that chased across the Kansas Flint Hills.
Thanks for the memories!
Marie Gail
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Marie. Thank you also for your memory. My dad put a bell in our back yard. We lived near a small lake and could ring the bell for someone out fishing to come to the house. There were no cell phones then.
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I still wouldn’t bring a cell phone along on a fishing trip. 🙂
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Every old bell has a story. That one was a real ding-a-ling 🙂 (excuse the bad pun)
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting, Russell. I always know that your comment will be a real ding-a-ling. Congratulations again on your recent successes.
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I understand what you’re saying, Marie.
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Aww how spooky but sentimental at the same time 🙂 well done
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Thank you for reading my story and commenting. Yes. You could say it’s both. I’m glad you liked it, Lelia.
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Looks like grandma’s still hanging around…cooking up a storm.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting. It could very well be Grandma. Anyway, it seems the ghost is not harmful, just a bit playful.
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it could be the ghost of the past calling.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it. It probably is a ghost that travels with the bell. Some readers think it’s Grandma. It could also be a past fireman’s ghost since it originally came from a fire station.
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Not really scary for me, just actually neat! Why not? Good job!
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting. I’m glad you liked it. I guess it wasn’t threatening because it never caused anyone real trouble.
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No problem there.
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Nope.
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Lovely piece of whimsy.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting, Patrick. I’m glad you liked it. I wrote it to be a bit whimsical.
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Good reminder of Grandparents who can never be replaced – spooky or not.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Alicia. Yes, grandparents can never be replaced. I think you’ll agree that none of us can be as we’re all originals. That’s what makes life so interesting.
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I like the idea of a bell being rung for dinner. Maybe it’s a ghost or the wind ringing it a night. Nice story!
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting, Amy. It could very well be the wind on windy nights. Other nights even if the bell is haunted, its never harmed anyone.
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Such a wonderful, authentic voice here. It just takes you along, and brings the magic in as easily as conversation. Nice job!
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Thanks for reading and commentating on my story, Dawn. I’m glad you liked it. Thinking of the people talking usually works for me. They become real for me for a little while.
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Yes! It’s putting yourself in there… and finding the rhythm. Really great job on this one. Two hours later, the character’s voice is still alive in my head– always a good sign!
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Thanks again Dawn. I want to complement you on your use of dialogue and the voice in your stories. In addition, I thought your photos were great.
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Awww, thanks Patricia. You are always so positive and supportive. I really appreciate that. 🙂
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You’re welcome.
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I hope it’s not the wind and is communication from the beyond! Cool story and I loved it! Cool, Cool, Cool! Thanks for the read! Nan
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Nan. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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ah, the mysterious bell ringing…guess it’s better than roosters crowing. ha-ha. great family scene you set up.
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Sun. I appreciate it. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
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I really enjoyed this – love the ambiguity surrounding the cause 🙂
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Thanks for reading my story and commenting on it, Joanna. I guess I could make a mystery out of it couldn’t I? I’m glad you enjoyed it. Probably these days a lot of people would be disappointed if the boy “didn’t” turn out to be a werewolf.
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