Flash Fiction for for Aspiring Writers is a writing challenge hosted by Priceless Joy. The challenge asks us to write a piece of fiction from the photo prompt provided in around 100- 150 words – give or take 25 words. It encourages participants to comment, constructively, on other entries, so supporting each other’s writing. If you’d like to join in with this challenge, follow the link in the title of PJ’s, blog: Beautiful Words to see what to do. The challenge runs from Wednesday to Wednesday every week.
Here is this week’s prompt, kindly provided by Ellespeth’s friend:
. . . and this is my story:
Hot sun, golden sand, warm sea… What more could a guy want for a week with a gorgeous blonde who just oozed sex appeal? Those curves were enough to send any man crazy.
And ‘crazy’ just grabbed hold of me – and I grabbed Doreen a little too amorously as we frolicked in the surf. Her bikini top somehow came undone, and pink polka-dots were suddenly floating out to sea.
Doreen’s shrieked profanities needed no amplifier and, not satisfied with that, she proceeded to hammer me with her fists!
Jeers and hoots halted her swings. Belatedly overcome with modesty, Doreen bobbed down, neck-deep beneath the brine. I stared at the group of school lads, their muscles flexed, mocking our one-sided brawl. But their eyes were fixed on Doreen, waiting to ogle her wading to shore.
Realising her predicament, Doreen’s rage soared. Another swipe knocked me senseless before she swam after her polka-dot top.
The lads were my saviours that day – and I never saw Doreen again.
My bruises faded in a couple of weeks.
Word Count: 175
If you’d like to view other entries, click the little blue frog below:
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For any one interested, here are a few facts I found ( mostly from Wikipedia) about the bikini:
A bikini is a woman’s two-piece swimsuit. The design is simple: two triangles of fabric for the top and two triangles for the bottom. The size of the bikini can range from full pelvic coverage to a revealing thong or g-string design.
Although we think of the bikini as a relatively recent design, two-piece swimsuits actually existed in classical antiquity:
The modern design first attracted public attention in Paris in 1946, although a fuller, two-piece swimsuit was not completely unheard of prior to this time:
The actual term, bikini, was coined by Lois Réard, a Parisian mechanical engineer who took over his mother’s lingerie business. He named it after Bikini Atoll, where the testing of atom bombs was taking place. Due to the controversial design, the bikini was slow to be adopted in many countries and was banned from beaches and public places. The Holy See declared the design sinful, but it became part of popular culture when film stars like Brigitte Bardot, Raquel Welsh and Ursula Andress began wearing them on beaches and film sets. I’m sure most of us know of, or have seen, Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC and Ursuala Andress in the James Bond movie, Dr. No.
By the 1960s, the bikini design had become common in most western countries as beachwear, swimwear and underwear. By the late 20th century it was also used as sportswear, e.g. in beach volleyball and body building.
Various styles are common today, from skimpy thong designs to fuller, skirted ones. It’s not unusual on beaches worldwide to see women wearing them with pride – whatever their size.
Millie Thom 
Well I am so glad the bruises faded but what happened to Doreen, was she taken by a great white as swam out after her top? What ones does to preserve ones modesty…..great write Millie gave me a smile on this cold morning…..
I’d like to think that Doreen’s fabulous fists could deal with a great white, Michael … but that could be stretching the imagination a little too far. 🙂 Let’s just hope that the top hadn’t washed too far out and Doreen made a hasty retreat while the ‘guy’ was out for the count. Thakk you for that great comment. Hope you warm up during the day. 😀
This is such a hilarious story. You made me laugh until tears came out of my eyes. 😀 Oh and thanks for the history lesson on bikinis. It was a fun read. 🙂
Thank you, Yinglan! 🙂 I know the story’s rather daft, but it was the only one that got fixed in my head! 😀
It’s a good one. 🙂
❤
Very funny and as usual, I like the history attached. I was aware that they named the piece after the area where the nuclear bombs were tested, but not about how far they went back.
Thank you, Francesca. I’m glad you like the little snippets of history because I really like doing them. I know it won’t be possible for some stories, but I’ve managed to find something for the last few weeks, at least. Yes, Roman girls certainly knew how to enjoy themselves.
Very amusing story, and it sounds like everyone was amused but Doreen! The lads certainly had a story to tell that day! I enjoyed reading about the history of the bikini.
Doreen was far from amused, as the man’s bruises illustrated! And those lads had a good laugh at it all. I found the history of the bikini interesting, too. I knew about the Roman ones because I saw frescoes with them on when we went to Pompeii. So the idea of a two-piece suit isn’t new, just the actual name. Thanks, Jessie.
Wow, we were really on the same wave length, weren’t we?! lol
It was that picture. I mean the flexing of the “muscles”..right?
I think the stance of the lads definitely made me wonder what they could be jeering at. I was trying to get away from the idea of the picture as a photograph. I had the man and woman just having a sparring match at first, and the loss of the bikini seemed to follow on from that. 🙂
My lady lost her bikini top just so I could wrap the story up. lol
That’s as good a reason as any with FF! 😀
Haha! I loved this story! The boys on the beach certainly got a lesson that day! Hopefully she was able to find her bikini top and too bad about the protagonist getting dumped! I also enjoyed reading the history of the bikini. 🙂 You knocked it out of the park Millie.
Ye, I suppose my story was a little bit out of the box this week. I didn’t set out to do something funny but it just went that way as I wrote it. Hope you don’t mind me adding the little ‘extras’. People don’t need to read them, of course, if they just want the story.
I’m glad my story made you laugh, anyway. Thanks, PJ 🙂
I really did enjoy reading it Millie and it is always nice to get a good laugh. I really did enjoy the history lesson at the end.
Thank you – just as long as you don’t mind me adding those bits.
No, I don’t mind at all.
😀
:o)
You are also welcome to talk about your book if you would like.
Well… I’m not sure anyone woud want to read about my books after a story about something else. I try to do little historical extras linked to the story I’ve written. It was a lovely thought, PJ so thank you for thinking of it. ❤
You’re welcome. Who knows, there may be a story come up for you that gives you the opportunity to talk about your book.
In which case, I shall happily write something. Perhaps one of the prompts will inspire me to write a Viking story. 🙂
Yes! That would be great!
Ha ha, Must have been before they could go topless! Lovely “dramatic” story. The bikini is also something I still remember. I had one with an fuller bottom. Those stars were so sexy in their bikinis.
Thank you for liking the story, Scrapydo. I remember my first bikini well. In fact, I have a photo of me wearing it … in 1969, I believe. I don’t think I’ll be putting it on my blog though! lol. I don’t think I’d compare well to those film stars! 😀
I also have one photo. Not that good at all but still we had to wear it because it was in fashion that time.
I hate any pictures of me, and I’d be too embarrassed to show me in a bikini – even if it was well over forty years ago! And you’re right, I bought one because eveyone else had them. Thank you for sharing that. 🙂
Her bikini top “somehow” came undone heh heh 🙂
Ah, yes. I left that one open to the imagination! I can’t give away all the facts, can I? Thanks for the comment, Ali. 🙂
Poor Doreen. That water’s cold! (She’s actually pretty lucky, a big crowd of teenagers without a single cell phone to snap pix?)
Yes, a couple can’t have a decent fight nowadays without some idiots snapping away. lol 🙂 You’re right, though, not a phone in sight. I’ll have to go with the idea that they weren’t allowed to have them at school.
LOL! That did make me chuckle! Thanks Millie 🙂
I’m glad you liked it, Bekki. I’d been feeling in a silly mood all day when I wrote it. It must be the sight of that yellow object we occasionally see up in the sky. 😀
It was absolutely brilliant. Loved it. We’ve had drizzle all day and the sun is only just coming out. Not that I’m supposed to be talking about the weather.
Good thing is his bruises faded away. Another good thing is he was dumped otherwise another situation and he would have had a few more bruises. An amusing story. I also enjoyed the history of bikini. 🙂
Yes… I don’t think his intentions were too innocent for the rest of the week. He was a bit of a rogue (a rum’un, in colloquial English). 🙂
Thank you for liking the little bit about the bikini. I liked the idea of the Roman bikinis. There are other frescoes around Pompeii and Naples that show similar figures, too. 😀
I too liked the Roman hotties. I had seen the girls from Pompeii in some drawing long time back – and i just remembered, now that you have mentioned.
Love that phrase – ‘Roman hotties’. Pompeii’s a fantsatic place, but next time we go (make that an if) I’d like to visit the museum in Naples where they display a lot of the artefacts found there. I really need to win the lottery! 🙂
Thanks, I just added to your Roman. 🙂 Don’t worry about that. One word for that would be – visualize. 😉
🙂 😀 🙂
I am happy she stood up for herself.
I agree. Doreen was no shrinking violet. (I had that line in before she shrieked, but deleted it because of the word count.) Word counts can be a pain sometimes. LOL Thank you for the comment. 🙂
Wonderful narrative! Made even better by bikini pictures! (silly smile). Hope Doreen made it out of the water safely, bikini top safely in hand.
Thank you, Jack. I enjoyed finding the pictures. I wanted Raquel and Ursula to grace my page as well, but I couldn’t find a free image! Never mind. As for Doreen… As Michael said in his comment, perhaps she was eaten by a great white! I’d like to think she made it back safely and scarpered before the ‘boyfriend’ regained consciousness. Who knows?
Good to see you back on WP. I imagine you’ve been working hard on your book. 🙂
Welcome, Millie. I was not cheering for the great white shark scenario and I hope Doreen found herself a new boyfriend. Yes on working hard on the book. Have completed three more chapters in the manuscript and am happy with it. Also, I’m in the third chapter of your book 2 and it’s just as great as the first one. How’s book 3 coming along?
Hello again, Jack. I’m just in the middle of reading your Anniversary Post, so I’ll get back to it in a moment. I’m glad to hear your writing’s coming along so well. Mine is still rather plodding, and I think I’ll be slowing down my blog posting even more in a week. We go to Wales for a week on the 15th, so that’s a good time to close down for a while.
Thank you so much for liking PoV so far. I’ll be interested to hear what you think of the book because some people like it better than Book 1 whereas others prefer the first book. Book 2 is more about Alfred than Eadwulf.
Well, must get back to D Day… 🙂
I think I’m going to enjoy both of them, Millie
I really hope you do, but it’s a question of ‘we shall see’. 😀
Well, we shall shan’t we? (Don’t get to use that phrase very often in a conversation anymore! And after reading it, I can see why).
Hahaha… I couldn’t agree more. It sounds rather priggish, doesn’t it?
That could easily happen also if there were lots of waves, haha… Liked the story, bikini facts and the comment where another blogger comments that the teenagers on shore had no cell phone cameras! 😉 I didn’t know bikinis were worn in ancient times!
I’ve seen the Roman picture I put on the post a few times, as well as other frescoes from around Pompeii and Naples. There’s one in which one of the goddesses is wearing a two-piece, (Can’t remember which goddess at the moment.)
Yes, this story’s just a bit of fun. I was feeling in a silly mood when I wrote it! 😀 Thank you for liking it!
Lol. funny take on the prompt.
So funny. Only you could weave a pink polka-dot bikini into that story. Love the bikini history lesson too. Great job. 🙂
Thank you for that really lovely comment, Susan. 🙂 My story was a bit outside the box this week – and the polka dot idea just came as I was writing. I’ll have to find something more serious next week. 😀
Bikinis can be perilous things, I certainly attest to that! That was a great read Millie, I really enjoyed it 🙂
I think many of us have had ‘mishaps ‘ with bikinis. I’m not sure how often they come completey off though! Only in fiction, perhaps. lol Thank you, Az. 🙂
Hahaha! This is so great, Millie…the top ‘somehow’ coming off 😛 Reminded me of being 20 and a Pacific Ocean wave knocking my entire bikini down to my ankles. Oopsie!
Ellespeth
It was rather unsociable of the Pacific Ocean to do that! I hope you emerged with your dignity intact. lol But yes, bikinis are best kept out of the water, if you ask me. They’re OK for sunbathing, but give me a one-piece for swimming in any day. Thank you for sharing that snippet, Ellespeth, and for enjoying my story – silly as it was! 😀
Hi Millie! You probably know by now that occasionally I will stop by and express my appreciation to you for participating in the Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. I look forward each week to reading your stories and I know the others do as well. This is my thank you for your continued friendship and loyalty!
I’ve enjoyed participating in your challenge, PJ, as I do enjoy writing flash fiction. But I’ve already had to stop both the Monday’s Finish the Story and the Friday Fictioneers due to the time they were taking away from my writing. And I have to put Book 3 of my trilogy first. I’ve been considering closing my blog down altogether, but I hope I can keep it going. I’ll try to keep the FFfAW going, if I can, as it’s the only ff I do now. But in the weeks ahead, I can’t promise I’ll make it every week. Next week we’re away in Wales, so my only posts will be historical ones about Wesh castles. I won’t manage a ff while I’m away.
Thank you for the nice things you have said about my stories, and I will try to do as many as I can manage. Millie
I completely understand Millie! Thanks for reminding me. 🙂
Great story! Poor Doreen! And I adore the tidbits about the bikini! Great post!
Thank you, Lori! I’m afraid I get a bit carried away with the extras! I always seem to find something in my stories that I can do a little historical piece on. I love history, so I suppose that just explains it. 🙂
you are most welcome — Oh keep it up, Millie.. the historical parts are the most interesting sometimes 😀
Will do! Thanks Lori.
Any time, Millie 🙂