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Rachel Nel

@redsaid1.bsky.social
453 followers 405 following 811 posts

South African inventor of the limesick (an ill-composed limerick) and writer of tiny tales of exactly 140-characters long for #vss365. Every doggo is a friend.

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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 11h
The last cloud vanished. The animals left. When a naked mole rat went by, Noah realised that he'd mistakenly picked a pair of first cousins. #vss365 #vss #cloud
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
She wedded an old, rich man with no kin. After his death, she learned that he'd made no bequest to her. Instead, his sole heir was his cat. #vss365 #vss #bequest
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"What do we do with heads of state who are so evil, not even the oceans will purify them?" we ask. "Stop voting for them," the sage replies. #vss365 #vss #purify
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Every payday, our hunger is the worst. We barricade our doors and wait. Like gathering storm clouds, Dad's drunken return home looms large. #vss365 #vss #hunger
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Spurred on by a primordial desire, I embark onto ships, planes and trains to travel beyond the horizon, hoping to both find and lose myself. #vss365 #vss #embark
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Before I took the helm, Mom taught me about Crux and Polaris. After surviving stormy seas, like mariners of yore, I let them guide me home. #vss365 #vss #stormy
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
From afar, some call it a "conflict". But for us dodging mortars, bombs and soldiers shooting civilians for fun, it feels like being erased. #vss365 #vss #conflict
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"You are big boned, not fat," her mom said. Years on, archaeologists dig up her remains and marvel. Not even in death has she become dainty. #vss365 #vss #marvel
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Her russet hair, golden skin and brown eyes are autumnal. Yet she radiates summery warmth. And even in mid-winter, she's a breath of spring. #vss365 #vss #autumnal
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
West, North and South boast about their sunsets and auroras. "Why are you so sanguine?" they ask East. "For I get to bestow every new day." #vss365 #vss #sanguine
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Ashamed that he finds his six-year-old's schoolwork too esoteric to grasp, he hides his illiteracy by pretending to be too busy to help her. #vss365 #vss #esoteric
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
In person she struggles to communicate: stuttering, stammering, her voice too high pitched. But on paper, her eloquence renders others mute. #vss365 #vss #eloquence
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It must be intuition. Before I can even say the words: "I'm afraid I have bad news," they're already crumpling onto the waiting room floor. #vss365 #vss #intuition
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
On moonlit nights, she walks along the beach and watches the moonglade, wishing it were a real path that would allow her to cross the ocean. #vss365 #vss #moonglade
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
"The Ten Commandments are gone." "What do you mean? Did you break the tablets again, Moses?" "No, I accidentally rewrote it on palimpsests." #vss365 #vss #palimpsest
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
"He had green eyes. A scar," the victim says. Under her adroit hands, the composite sketch artist is shocked to see her own husband appear. #vss365 #vss #adroit
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Way past bedtime, a silhouette appears in the doorway. Tonight he's in for two surprises. I'm not whom he has come for. And I have a knife. #vss365 #vss #silhouette
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
To try and retain our dewy complexions, we drink elixir from the fountain of youth. Unaware that Father Time has spiked it as a little joke. #vss365 #vss #elixir
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Some say she's eccentric. Others call her mad. But they're unaware of how wading into the lake in the depths of winter can heal and console. #vss365 #vss #console
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
"According to family lore, our great-grandpa eloped with a circus gal." "Then why aren't we flexible?" my sister asks while I wax our chins. #vss365 #vss #wax
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Upon our first encounter, we knew we'd walk down the aisle. And now, years later, I also fit her daughter like a glove when she tries me on. #vss365 #vss #glove
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
"How can you be so sure that she killed her husband?" I ask my fellow detective. "Because after she wept into the tissue, it was still dry." #vss365 #vss #tissue
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
As he puts a pillow under her head, their lips touch by accident. Her eyes flutter open. "My prince!" "No! I'm the butler, Sleeping Beauty." #vss365 #vss #pillow
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Momma was so law abiding, she never even broke the speed limit. After her death, we find a poster of Mom in her youth, wanted in all states. #vss365 #vss #poster
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
With a sponge and brush I create a fantasy version of myself. When I add lipstick, my son enters. "Why are you looking like a mommy, Daddy?" #vss365 #vss #sponge
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I am bored, so I use a razor to shave my head. Afterwards, I feel light and free. Until he yells from below: "Rapunzel, let down your hair!" #vss365 #vss #razor
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
I see on TV as they comb the city for me, and as my parents beg for my safe return. But I've already been saved by him and his other brides. #vss365 #vss #comb
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I long for the days when we could control most of the sounds in here. Like our curated playlists. Why does a newborn not come with a remote? #vss365 #vss #remote
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I undo even the rational. Some push me aside to get on with it. But I cling like a shadow. I take many shapes, but have only one name: fear. #vss365 #vss #cling
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
News about the hunted serial killer terrifies her. From the garden, he looks through her window and sees her fear at the sight of him on TV. #vss365 #vss #garden
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
While I'm looking at the amulets and charms, the shopkeeper hands me a necklace. "To ward off evil," she says and glares at my new husband. #vss365 #vss #evil
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I furtively pop a grape into my parched mouth. The farmer yells at us to toil faster. My unborn child kicks upon hearing his father's voice. #vss365 #vss #toil
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
He fights the urge to go where life's sharp edges blur. His phone beeps. "We need diapers and milk." He enters the bar and orders his usual. #vss365 #vss #urge
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Mint and other herbs sprout on the sill. The table heaves under fragrant fare. She cooks as if we're kings; as if this isn't a soup kitchen. #vss365 #vss #sprout
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
"One example of divine intervention's when Athena turns Odysseus into an old beggar to protect him. Name another one?" "Passing this class." #vss365 #vss #divine
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
"Eww! This is so sour!" she puckers her lips. "Which fruit did you eat?" She points at the lemons. "That is the wrong tree, Eve," he hisses. #vss365 #vss #fruit
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
"You look beautiful," he says as we dance. I'm amazed that he can't tell my dress is a hastily homemade creation and my shoes made of glass. #vss365 #vss #creation
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
"I'm Eve," she says. "Will you please lead me into temptation?" he clutches his chest. "Funny," she winces. "NOT. And no, I have a Samsung." #vss365 #vss #temptation
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
For months, I saw a chaplain and CNO arrive at other homes and heard the wails. Now that they're outside my house, I will not open the door. #vss365 #vss #arrive
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
He vowed to show her the coast one day when they could afford a vacation. All her life, she painted seascapes without ever seeing the ocean. #vss365 #vss #coast
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
She clings to stair railings and will never summit mountains. But she has fearlessly visited the top of the Burj Khalifa and the Taipei 101. #vss365 #vss #summit #autobiographical
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
My blind date doesn't hide his displeasure with my size. "Let's walk," he says, spitefully. We ascend a hill and I reach the top before him. #vss365 #vss #ascend
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
He knows a shortcut, he said. Now we are stuck on an isolated road with no phone signal. I want to divorce him right here on our honeymoon. #vss365 #vss #road
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
He sent emails. I sent money. I'm early in case they catch a tailwind. Long after learning that no such man had been on the flight, I wait. #vss365 #vss #tailwind
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
There's never enough hot water for everyone. When it's my turn to shower, I shiver and grit my teeth. Only ten more years until my release. #vss365 #vss #turn
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
We breach the door. Inside, a woman in a hijab, a tot balanced on her hip, scrambles away. Later, I realise that we're at the wrong address. #vss365 #vss #balance
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
I sprint outside as it cascades down, empty jar aloft. When my mom and I left our hot homeland, I'd promised to send my cousins a snowflake. #vss365 #vss #sprint
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
I'm more of a night owl, only gaining momentum way past noon. After oversleeping yet again, my farmer boss replaces me with another rooster. #vss365 #vss #momentum
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
They depart audibly. Tyres squeal. Tin cans, tied to the bumper, clatter. The bride wails as her groom drives off with the best man instead. #vss365 #vss #depart
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Rachel Nel @redsaid1.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
They depart audibly. Tyres squeal. Tin cans, tied to the bumper, clatter. The bride wails as her groom drives off with the best man instead. #vss365 #vss #depart
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