The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Business Venture 
by Rie Sheridan Rose

It made good sense. When I got back to Kansas and found that the farm was in even worse shape than I remembered, I did what I could. I hocked the ruby slippers, and paid the mortgage for a couple of months, but when that money ran out, I wracked my brains for something else I could do.

Auntie Em was having trouble sleeping—what with all the worry and stress—and I remembered. Who knew where there was a field of magical flowers that would put you right out? This girl!

Scarecrow had told me before I left I could keep in touch via the crows, so I sent him a message proposing a business venture. With his brains, he could see the upside immediately.

A couple of days later, a big box of poppies appeared in the front yard. Lion had come along to help make sure everyone got their cut and no one tried to pull any funny business.

I picked one of the flowers out of the box, and even a single sniff made me a bit woozy. This would work!

We ground the flowers up for easier transport and packaged a single bloom’s worth of powder in each envelope, labeled “Dorothy’s Dream Dust.” Even at a dollar a piece, we soon sold out as word of mouth spread.

I paid off the farm and bought twenty acres out back. Our next expansion is to see if the poppies retain their magic if grown here in Kansas. If not, I guess I’ll have to see if the Professor wants to sell his balloon…

Fiction © Copyright Rie Sheridan Rose
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Rie Sheridan Rose:

Overheard in Hell:
Dark Poetry

Poems exploring hell and damnation. Tales of sorrow, vengeance, betrayal, and redemption. Ghosts, ghouls, and demons stalk these pages. Don’t read in a lonely house…in a darkened room by a single candle…

…unless you like the touch of an icy finger up your spine.

Available on Amazon!