I asked my friend to give me three random words. She gave me; “cheese”, “duck” and “rainbow”. The story I’m about to write will be created around these words. I have no idea how it will turn out but here’s hoping it’s a good one. If you like it, feel free to comment and make suggestions for three words to start my next story.

I felt a quiet gloom settle on me as I gazed out the window on Saturday morning. The fog had not lifted from the previous day and there were drops of water rolling down the window. The sky was so grey that it might as well have been night; everything was dark and shadowed.

Sighing, I made my way outside, stopping only to pull on a rather unattractive set of overalls. As I set off into what was turning into a truly miserable dawn, I contemplated what today would bring. I was just a three weeks into my new job and already I had learned to expect the worst from it.

Lost in thought, I wondered down the road. It was easier to walk to work, even on days like today, since Rodney only lived at the end of my drive. He’d just recently moved there and I had been the first to respond to his advert in the Post Office asking for help with his animals. He’d seemed nice enough at first, just on old man reluctant to let go of his pets, but not well enough to look after them.

I’d tried explaining things to a couple of friends but, they hadn’t really understood. To put it simply, they’d laughed when I told them I though Rodney was mad.

In fairness to them, when anybody else saw Rodney, he acted normally enough. And the guy had his good days. Yet there were times, quite often, actually, when I worried that Rodney, who was in his eighties, was quite, quite mad.

I arrived in the yard to find he had already fed the ducks and chickens. Relief swept over me; if he was up to feeding the poultry then he must surely be having a good day. And sure enough as I rounded the corner, his two pigs looked up from their breakfast, looking content. A short burst of barking made me look across to the field, and there was Rodney, walking towards the house, his old but vivacious collie on his heels.