A Ridiculous Omen

The Vignette Gazette Edition #37 | ridiculous

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The Adriatic sun bleeds orange over Susie’s lavender field in Croatia. Each purple row is a fragrant scar on the hillside, a project she started to forget the city’s noise. Now, the only sound is the buzz of bees and the frantic scratching of her own hands.

Someone once told Susie to beware of itchy palms.

The old superstition, whispered by her grandmother, surfaces like a stubborn weed. Right palm for money, left for strangers. Both of hers are a fiery, unbearable itch, a ridiculous torment. She scowls, digging her nails into her flesh. Is it the lavender oil, or is the universe playing a cruel joke on a woman who trusts soil and science, not omens?

A car door slams in the distance. A man in a crisp suit picks his way down the path, a briefcase in hand. He introduces himself as a buyer for a luxury perfume house in Paris. He’s been searching for the purest Dalmatian lavender.

“Your field,” he says, his eyes sweeping over the purple haze, “is perfect. I’d like to make a substantial offer.”

Susie stares, her itching palms forgotten for a single, stunned second. Then the sensation returns, fiercer than ever. A laugh bubbles in her chest, loud and unburdened. It was all so ridiculous. The old wives’ tale, her frantic scratching, this sudden, life-changing fortune — all blooming together in the Croatian sun.

Today’s prompt is given by Karen Schwartz

[embed]The Vignette Gazette Edition #37 For Tuesday, November 18, 2025medium.com

[embed]Fiction Shorts Updated (November) Guidelines Updated November 4, 2025medium.com

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