She looked at his face, a picture of an angel. His hands against the teddy bear she had put next to him. It always made her catch her breath when she saw him so serene and peaceful in his sleep.
He was almost always such a naughty boy when he was awake and she had to scold him often, too often perhaps.
She kneeled down and grazed his cheek with her lips. It did not feel quite right. She stared at him. Something welled inside her as her friends propped her up.
She looked down at him, the teddy bear almost his size squeezed into the carving out of the pine tree she had chosen. She thought it should have been her, more white hairs on her head and many more wrinkles to her face lying in a larger sized coffin with him a young man looking down at her, happy she had lived such a full life though sad to let her go.
It was not meant to be this way. Her throat was still parched, all throughout her an aching fire moved but the tears would not come, not yet.
Tomorrow or someday, sometime it will rain but today there was only the fire and the desolation
It will rain – Bruno Mars
FRIDAY FICTION with RONOVAN WRITES Prompt Challenge #5
Sally liked to eat spinach. She liked it so much that she had it cooked in various types of dishes and toured the world in search of new recipes to try out – not really of course but in her head, silly, or she would probably be eating something else than just spinach.
Sally was lonely. How could it be anything else? If her parents had named her Chappy perhaps she would have been happy or if her parents had made her a boy, perhaps her life would be filled with Joy but no, they had made her a girl and named her Sally predestining her to be lonely. Come to think of it, had she been a boy and had they named her Vlad, she might have been sad. Then again she might also have been glad or mad, which she was most certainly boy and Vlad or not.
Now enough of all that emotional nonsense and back to some fitting and filling food like spinach for instance. As I said, Sally liked to eat spinach and you might even say she was obsessed by spinach to the highest degree. If she were a King – or a Queen for that matter, she had again lost her head would have said the hatter, forgetting that she was a girl after all – she would make sure to issue a decree that spinach be eaten by all and that it be served throughout the kingdom for free.
Sally had no kingdom though or at least none that others could see. Her friend the hatter saw it of course but that did not count any more than the crown on her head did because none could see hatter either. So Sally the lonely – hatter excepted – Queen with a kingdom that none could see sat at her table eating spinach. Of the finest sort it was, the spinach – at least hatter and her were both of the same opinion.
Two is a company you know hatter she said.
Well of course dearest queen and best spinach eater of all my friends
Am I your bestest friend hatter?
You’re my bestest best friend ever.
Do I look like a beautiful queen?
You are the fairest queen ever in this kingdom. Cross my heart with a piece of silver if I lie to you; please my Lady. Times are tough
Sally looked up at hatter but it was not he really who had said that nonsense. He was not used to saying such nonsense you know. Anybody who knew him would tell you that. It was a man standing in front of her table his face looking like it could really do with some spinach to put some colour back into the pale of it which spread everywhere except the tip of his nose that was bright red.
Would you like some spinach, she volunteered
No ma’am
But I am sure you will feel much better
I am sure you will feel better eatin’ that spinach an’ all yerself ma’am and I’d hate to spoilt it for ya
Oh well, I guess you’re right but I don’t have any silver for you, just perhaps a pound or two but tell me what will you do if I give one of them to you?
I should buy me some food ma’am
That sounds reasonable but I still don’t understand why you don’t just eat it right here and now as this spinach is really a treat
The man with the face shuffled and kept quiet eyeing her purse so Sally took one pound out and gave it to him feeling like Florence Nightingale handing out some life-saving medicine. She held back and smiled a wide smile at him
Do I look like a beautiful Queen?
The most beautiful queen ever ma’am
Am I your best friend now?
You’re my best friend ever ma’am
She gave him the pound the large smile still on her lips and as she gazed at him disappearing, she caught a glimpse of herself in the rear-view mirror of a car. A big chunk of spinach was stuck in the middle of her teeth colouring her smile and her hair looked like she had just wrestled with a wildcat. She looked up searching for the clown-faced man and found him entering the pub across the street, an arm raised already ordering his daily dose or so it seemed. So much for honesty she thought. She checked her reflection again and smiled a green smile. It was still a Beautiful Lie.
Courtesy activerain.com
A Beautiful Lie – 30 seconds to Mars
This post is part of the FRIDAY FICTION with RONOVAN WRITES Prompt Challenge #5
The idea is to write a short story using as title the title of a song you like. For me it was A Beautiful Lie
Please feel free to comment. This is my first attempt at short fiction and I have difficulty writing concisely in prose although I have made progress in writing short in poetry thanks to the Japanese forms of tanka, haiku and senryu. I am aware I am still a stretch from actual flash fiction 😀
