Stream of Consciousness Saturday – Prompt – “Ends with Ish”

A busy Saturday ahead. Need to get everything done by 11:00 am for the TCU/WVU football game. The Producer graduated from WVU, so we enjoy the games. My team, Notre Dame, is on a bye this week. A touch of the two coffee icon starts the flow of soothin’ syrup that will kill this peckish pounding in my head. It’s like the stamp forge at the Ford Motor Rouge plant, from my dangerously low caffeine level.

The first sip quells the factory noise and vibrations.  The second sip, as we all know, is accompanied by the cacophony of the Westminster Chime doorbell, in tandem with the St. Louis-bound baying of Cerberus, a multi-headed hound from Greek mythology that guards the gates of hell, in the form of Twiggy and Tempeste.

A quick toss of a couple of toy fish into the soundproof room, followed by the door slamming, brings back the peace George Harrison envisioned in the song “My Sweet Lord.” A glance at the monitor shows Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent and his pal Beany. Beany has an envelope and a clipboard.  The security system shutdown process is begun.

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.

Beany hands me the envelope and clipboard. Once signed, it goes back to Beany with a fiver in the clip. Cicil gives me a big smile, and the front door closes. Inside the envelope is a message from Linda Hill. It reads: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “ends with ‘ish.’” Find or make up a word that ends with “ish” and use it any way you’d like. Enjoy! To see what others have done with the prompt, visit Linda’s post. Here is the link: https://lindaghill.com/2026/10/23/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-october-24-2026/

Ish by John W. Howell © 2026

“That was a funny one. Cecil?”

“Yeah, I loved those guys as a kid.”

“Was that when dinosaurs roamed the earth?”

“Late 40s until 1952. They were puppets and a live TV show.”

“You had electricity, right?”

“Yeah. The set was an Admiral console with a ten-inch screen. The unit weighed more than the couch.”

“How did you watch that?”

“Well, you had to get close for sure.. Mom was always telling me to back up.”

“The hardships of a childhood.”

“I remember one time she threatened to take me to the eye doctor. That did it. I watched it from twenty feet away.”

“Could you see anything?”

“Yeah. The sound helped, though.”

“Those were the days.”

“I think today’s days are better. Speaking of better, did you call Uber?”

“Right over there.”

“You are kidding, right?”

“No, that’s our ride.”

“Is there room in the front?”

“Yeah, room for three. Why wouldn’t you want to ride in the back?”

“With all that booze?”

“I know it would be a hardship, but you could do it.”

“No thanks. What’s the catch?”

“A couple of stops.”

“How many is a couple”

“Three bars is all, then our pub.”

“That’s not so bad. We could do a Voodoo at each place.”

“Now that’s the spirit. Let’s go.