Six Sentence Story: Trust

He pushed aside a couple of old picture frames and a dilapidated box of Christmas lights and grabbed the bottle he had held earlier, uncorked it and set it down, then began twisting his wedding ring, something he always did when he was worried or nervous; he had reason to be nervous, he felt that he was testing his sanity.

The Djinn appeared, which at once relieved him because it meant he was sane, and made him more nervous in a different way, especially when the Djinn smiled an imp-like grin and said, "Well, that didn't take long, you didn't even take time to eat some of the breakfast you were preparing for the family!"

"How..." he started to ask and the Djinn cut him off with, "Oh, let me tell you, we Djinn have ways of knowing things that beat your internet all hollow."

"Then you should be able to answer some questions for me," he said, to which the Djinn replied, "Perhaps I can, and perhaps I'm sworn to secrecy by the previous holder of the bottle, and perhaps I'm not to be trusted."

"Believe me, I don't fully trust you, at least not yet."

"And yet you want to be able to trust me because you need answers, and that puts you in a dangerous place indeed."

Linking up with Uncharted Blog and Six Sentence Stories, where the cue is Ring.


Today is:

Alcatraz Day -- the first prisoners arrived this day in 1934

Day of Honor for Oddudua -- Santeria religion (cognate of the Roman Catholic St. Clare of Assisi; credited with the creation of humans)

Dog Days end -- yes, supposedly, in this heat

Feast of St. Attracta -- Irish Catholic Saint (founded a hospice and convents, and supposedly slayed a dragon; Patron of Achonry, Ireland; Men of Lugna)

Great River Tug Fest -- Port Byron, IL, and LeClaire, IA, US (the only tug-of-war across the Mighty Mississippi, this year's theme is "Safari" and the cause supported is King Harvest Pet Rescue; festival through Saturday)

Hope Watermelon Festival -- Hope, AK, US (if you've never had Hope watermelons, you've missed the best!  Through Saturday)

Independence Day -- Chad(1960)

Ingersoll Day

Jersey Battle of Flowers -- Jersey, Channel Islands, UK (two days of floats and family fun)

"Li'l" Margaret's Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival -- Leonardtown, MD, US (bluegrass music, crafts, old time tractors and cars, and home-cooked meals; bring a lawn chair!  through Saturday)

National Hobo Convention -- Britt, IA (held each year since 1900, gathering for migrant workers who are proud to call themselves "hobos" and make a living through working where they choose and travelling where they want; through Sunday)

National Raspberry Bombe Day or Raspberry Tart Day -- whichever one you like best, or both, if that's the way you roll

Play in the Sand Day -- as per many internet sites; yeah, like at the beach, nothing like sand in your shorts, i get enough of that on vacation, thank you

Presidential Joke Day**

Skowhegan State Fair -- Skowhegan, ME, US (since 1818, ten days of grand fun; through the 22nd)

Son and Daughter Day -- the day to give your son(s) or daughter(s) the gift of time

St. Clare of Assisi's Day -- (Foundress of the Order of Poor Ladies [Poor Clares] Franciscan nuns; Patron of embroiderers, eyes, gilders/gold workers/goldsmiths, good weather, laundry workers, needle workers, telegraphs, telephones, and television writers; Assisi, Italy; Santa Clara Indian Pueblo; against eye disease)***; related observance
     Fiesta de Santa Clara -- Santa Clara Pueblo, NM, US (Native American celebration of St. Clare of Assisi, their Patron saint, with a corn dance and prayers for rain)

St. Philomela's Day (Patron of babies, children, desperate causes, forgotten causes, impossible causes, lost causes, orphans, poor people, priests, prisoners, sick people, students, test takers, toddlers, young people; against barrenness, bodily ills, infertility, mental illness, sickness, sterility)

Turku Music Festival -- Turku, Finland (music from medieval to modern, by world-famous artists in the historic venues of Finland's oldest city, in historic buildings all over the city; through the 20th)


Birthdays Today:

Will Friedle, 1976
Ashley Jensen, 1969
Viola Davis, 1965
Joe Jackson, 1955
Hulk Hogan, 1953
Stephen Wozniak, 1950
Marilyn vos Savant, 1946
Joanna Coles, 1944
Anna Massey, 1937
Arlene Dahl, 1928
Mike Douglas, 1925 (Note: he also died on this date in 2006)
Alex Haley, 1921
Carrie Minetta Jacobs-Bond, 1862
David Rice Atchison, 1807
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, 1667 (Last of the Medicis)


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child(Film), 1989
"Die Harmonie der Welt /The Harmony of the World"(Opera), 1957


Today in History:

First day of the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar, used my the Maya and other pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, BC3114
Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation, BC2492
Battle of Artemisium, naval battle of the Greco-Persian War, fought at the same time as the Battle of Thermopylae of the same war; Leonidas, King of Sparta, dies in the land battle, BC480*
Papandayan Java volcanic eruption kills 3,000, 1772
Charles Lawrence gives expulsion orders to remove the Acadians from Nova Scotia beginning the Great Upheaval, 1755
The world's first roller rink opens in Newport, RI, 1866
The first civilian prisoners arrive at Alcatraz, 1934
Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi, 1942
A bomb explodes on Pan Am Flight 830, en route from Tokyo to Honolulu, killing one teenager and injuring 15 passengers, 1984
NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history, 2003
A new species of a giant carnivorous plant, Nepethes attenboroughii, is discovered in the central Phillipines highlands, 2009
Jamaican runner Usain Bolt wins his third gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012


*some historians give different dates

**because presidents have a sense of humor, too, as shown this day in 1984 when Reagan thought the microphone was off and joked about Russia being outlawed

***why tv? because when she became too ill to attend mass at the end of her life, a miraculous image of the service would display on the wall of her room