The end
March 16, 2018
My writing group, ROW80, posted a challenge a while ago to do a 100 word story. These are fun to write, as little fragments of description or dialogue. Maybe something you'd open a novel with, or slip in between two chapters, or just leave as is.
The challenge -
This time, I’d like to draw your attention to the lovely photo that Elizabeth Mitchell posted to her blog for the First Friday Photo bloghop I’d mentioned last week here: Lapidary Prose and write a drabble (a little 100 word story) with the picture and the cycle of endings and beginnings as integral parts of the piece.
The photo seemed very peaceful to me, a nice place to rest.
The end
I shivered as an early morning breeze blew past me, caressing my neck like spirit fingers.
We'd first met on this shore decades ago, both teenagers. I was an inexperienced camper, she an already seasoned guide from the nearby Reserve. Friends first, the next summer lovers, the next one room-mates at university. Then parents, and then world travelers, following my busy career to exotic lands. Never finding the time, it seemed, to return back here, to her people.
Until now.
I lifted the small carved box, tipped it, and let the wind carry her ashes away.
Finally she was home.
The story and picture are beautifully matched, capturing a tenderness of time and place. Thank you for posting!
Posted by: Beth Camp | March 17, 2018 at 11:14 PM
Thanks. It was in my head for a while, until it was ready.
Posted by: Ravens | March 19, 2018 at 02:23 PM
Here's my attempt at the same challenge, inspired by all your stories:
Native History
No human saw our beautiful lake until a thousand years ago, when these southern shores first held a few seasonal hunting camps. Over time a Wendat settlement grew where the river meets the lake, its longhouses holding many families. Yet soon the village and all its people disappeared, and for four hundred years this lake was returned to the wolves and their prey.
Just 80 years ago, a logging road reopened the south shore to a few seasonal cottagers. Today, a major new settlement is coming, with paved roads and iron fences separating long rows of houses holding many families.
For now, my own family is moving back to the north side of the lake. We wolves are used to waiting.
Posted by: Condors | March 22, 2018 at 10:58 AM
Nice little chronicle, with a good twist at the end. You should put up on your own blog and link back to the group.
Posted by: Ravens | March 22, 2018 at 12:08 PM
It's just fan fiction.
Posted by: Condors | March 23, 2018 at 12:15 PM