Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt – “Pitch”

~ John W. Howell

A picture of a string with drops of water- the logo for SoCS

Thinking of the pitch made by the guy selling the coffee machine. He said, “It will anticipate your needs before you know them.” It is a wonder, then, why the touchscreen remains dark. My need is a cup of coffee, and if the machine knows that, why not deliver? In desperation, the machine is given a good thump, and like magic, comes to life. Say what you want about technology, sometimes the old methods work best.

The first sip calms the drum line beating of the Fightin Irish marching band in my head from caffeine withdrawal. The second (as we have come to know) is accompanied by the Westminster chime of the doorbell in duet with the “To St. Louis” barking refrain of Twiggy and Tempeste. A quick toss of two new toys into the soundproof room, followed by a slam of the door, brings a kind of hush over my world.

A glance at the security monitor shows Daffy Duck on the porch with an envelope and clipboard. My knowledge of characters on the front porch means one thing: the security system needs to be shut down.

The B-2 bomber squadron and the F-35 escort must be called off. One call does it. The tank corps and gunboats are told to stand by. The Apache helicopters are rerouted. The electric shock fence is turned off. The drawbridge over the quicksand is lowered. The robot attack dogs returned to their charging station. The laser-guided machine guns on the roof are set to caution. The nest filled with rattlesnakes put away. The bucket filled with 1000 marbles is locked down. The tear gas canisters shut off. The electrified welcome mat set to off. The fall-away sidewalk into the pit filled with spikes is locked. The hornet’s nest closed. The water cannons are set to safety. Bear traps are set to off. Peregrine Falcons perched on the roof above front door fed. The vat of boiling oil set to warm. Monty Python’s Harmless Little Rabbit’s cage is closed. The front door is opened.

Daffy hands me the clipboard and envelope. Passing the clipboard back with a fiver brings a smile to Daffy’s face. One inside the envelope from Linda Hill has the following message: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “pitch.” Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it the way you’d like. Have fun!

To see what others have done with the prompt, visit Linda’s post. Here is the link:https://lindaghill.com/2026/10/16/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-october-17-2026/

Pitch by John W. Howell © 2025

“Well, you got the prompt out of the way pretty quickly.”

“Yeah,  was rather proud of that.”

“I thought you would go to a sports theme.”

“Why’s that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You know, like, Ten Things Not to Do on the First Pitch of a Baseball Game.

“You know, I’m not a big sports fan. When I was a kid, the Detroit Lions and Tigers scarred me for life.”

“Scarred how?”

“They never won.”

“Oh,  I see. So winning is everything?”

“To a kid? Yes.”

“Well, we are winners today.”

“Yeah, how?”

“You know that Okragly guy?”

“Of course.”

“He found us a terrific Uber.”

“Where is it?”

Right over there.”

Image courtesy of Tom Okragly

“What is that?”

“A Ruxton Front Wheel Drive luxury car came out in 1930, with only 96 produced. The Great Depression bankrupted the company, and it became defunct. Only about 40 were sold as new cars to customers; some were given to debtors, but most of them ended up in wrecking yards.”

Alright. What’s the catch?”

“Oooh, opposite of pitch. I like it”

“Come on.”

“Okay, no catch whatsoever.”

“Let’s go then.”

“Right behind you.”

 

 

”

 

 

62 thoughts on “Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt – “Pitch””

  2. Daffy was always one of my favorites. Today’s cartoons for kids are not even close. I feel sad for them. But they don’t even know what they don’t know.

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  4. It’s like raising a kid when we were kids, Kohn, sometimes we learned our lesson after the old man gave us a good thumping. I’m not a proponent of thumping but when you’re waiting for coffee, you do what works.

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  5. Now that is a car! What a beauty… still amazed there is no catch, though…

    By the way, I know you were frustrated with WP, but I love that your text is now easily readable in black 😉

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  9. Disabling an entire military arsenal just to pick up the mail from Daffy Duck is peak SoCS brilliance. Honestly, sometimes a classic ‘thump’ is the only thing that works on stubborn technology, like we used to do with TV Remote.

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  13. You have wooven another great story around the prompt, John! Thanks for sharing. I also love this wonderful car. Best wishes, Michael

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  16. I suppose it’s the whole Halloween thing, but pitch black is a good description of my mind right now. Devils and pitchforks are stabbing through. Okay… super love the Uber today. Or, maybe that there was no catch was a relief (pitcher).

    🎃𝖃 🎃𝖃 🎃𝖃

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      1. LOl!
        Hopefully now you are set with the new theme.
        You know, the block editor is a lot of fun. It only takes a few posts and a bit of experimenting with options.
        OX OX

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        2. It starts simple.
          For a paragraph, even if that paragraph is 1 sentence, just click new block and select paragraph. Do that for each paragraph.

          If it’s a pic, select image. You can size the image by dragging its sides. OX

          Liked by 1 person

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