Friday, October 26, 2012

Friday Fictioneers: "When?"

Welcome again to my entry for Friday Fictioneers. We've had a change of administration (Thanks for previous service, Madison, and thanks for taking over, Rochelle!), so I'm not quite sure how to handle the links, but here goes anyway.



When?


It’s nigh unto noon and still we haven’t started outside. The dog needs a bath, the flower bed needs weeding, the birdbath needs mucking out.  But still we sit here, and I’ll have to peel my forearm off the tablecloth when I do get up.

The coffee in the pot is treacly, just at the start of the scorching dregs.

That little tree needs to get planted, too, probably out near the road, where one day it will bud and flower and glow and flame for the cars driving by.

But who will live here to enjoy it from this side?

101 words

12 comments:

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields said...

You've navigated the links just fine, Cindy.
I had to look up "treacly". Nice word.
Kind of a bittersweet, stream of consciousness piece. I like it.

Douglas MacIlroy said...

Dear Cindy,

What a wonderful meditation on the daily grind and the momentum of a person or persons at rest. loved it.

Thanks for your comments on mine.

Aloha,

Doug

Trudy said...

Oh, that grinding list of things to do - never ending at times - this strikes me as a really sad little story, I hope the narrator is just having a bad day, and that her life doesn't really feel that pointless all the time.

Anonymous said...

Hi Cindy,
Don't know if this was what your intended exactly, but I couldn't help but think about all the people who have lost their homes to foreclosure. Good twist at the end. Ron

Cindy Marsch said...

Thank you, Rochelle, Doug, Trudy. I didn't think it so much pointless as realistic. I've heard a saying about planting trees, something like the best time to plant a tree is 50 years ago, the second best time today. :-) So perhaps it's the long haul of history, how we can each be here for only a small portion of it, but if you think about it, what we do DOES make a difference. We live in a 100-year-old house, and as I find details of the lives lived here long ago I think about what has endured, what they might have thought about the future we're living here.

So not so sad.

Anonymous, I didn't think of something like foreclosure, but that's definitely a pertinent possibility!

Again, thank you, all! I'll keep watching for comments. :-)

billgncs said...

I hope they can find a moment to look beyond the to be done to the moment. Like the word treacle, it always reminds me of a "Jeeves and Wooster" skit where the treacled bread is stuck to the ceiling.

nicely done

janet said...

It made me think of what's going on as I get the house ready to put on the market. I'd like to paint the living room a pale yellow...but neutrals sell better. I keep thinking what I'd like to do outside or even inside, then realizing that I won't be here to enjoy it. Your story makes me realize I need to stop reading for now and get back to work!!! :-) Good job (and not because it reminds me to work.)

Anonymous said...

Very low key story about all that needs to be done. The silent melancholy is so fitting for october. I must say I loved the word treacly... I am a fan of new words.

Shirley said...

Sad story. Are they leaving of their own free will? Great start to something longer.

Lora said...

Thank you for that new word..treacly...glad I have a thesaurus icon at my disposal without leaving the page. Your story and comment made me think about my own childhood (small town) home (a photo sits above my computer)and often wonder who slept in my bedroom before and after me. I wish those walls could talk. Nice work.

beebeesworld said...

Although I apparently go into late to use the link tool, my theme was much like yours-nice to know the photo raised the same sort of feelings in another Friday Fictioneer beebeesworld
my post is at
http://beebeesworld.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/hopeless-morning/

Cindy Marsch said...

BeeBee, I just found your comment--sorry I didn't publish it earlier! Now I'm going to look at yours.

And thanks to the others of you who wrote that I didn't respond to. I must have been really busy that week, though I remember reading and appreciating your feedback! :-)