Contemporary story
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Looking Back

Note from the author: This is a piece that I wrote for a flash fiction competition. I had 48 hours to complete a piece that was up to 500 words.

 

The criteria was as follows;

Each story had to include a character who revisits something.

Each story had to include the same colour in its first and last sentence.

Each story had to include the words CAMP, FAST and SPARK.

 

The old man lifted his tired, gnarled hand and drew

the faded blue jacket closer about his shoulders. Nothing much kept out the cold, especially the sort that came from the inside of him. Each day, it took root a little deeper. The spark of his life was fading, but his mind was still sharp, and his memories cocooned him. They were camped in the valleys of his mind, and when he shed this useless body and crossed over, his memories would fly him to the great beyond.

"Grandpa?" He tore himself from his daydreams and smiled. At 6, Elsie was his youngest Great-Granddaughter and easily his favourite. She dragged her Mother in to see him on Mondays, Thursdays, and most weekends. She climbed the stool and, as always, took his hand.

"How's…" He cleared his throat. "How's my girl?"

"Good Grandpa. We made origami today. Mark told me my crane looked like an alien, so I shoved it into his mouth."

Grandpa threw back his head and laughed a laugh that sent a lifetime of wrinkles dancing across his face. "That, Miss Elsie, is exactly what you do to naughty boys. Just make sure you don't get caught."

Her Mother coughed. "Elsie Jane, that's not what good girls do!"

Grandpa lifted an eyebrow. "Eleanor Anne Smith, I remember another 6-year-old who put wet paint on her teacher's chair and tied the boy's shoelaces together."

Elsie's eyes grew wide. "Really Grandpa? And who was that?"

"Your very naughty mother. She was faster than all of them, so they never caught her."

Elsie's Mother rolled her eyes. "I think Grandpa's losing his memory." She flashed him a wink.

Elsie hoisted a box on to the bed and lifted the lid. "Grandpa, Mum said these are some of your memories."

Grandpa's eyes welled up as he looked at the enormous pile of photographs and lifted the first one. Elsie squeezed his hand. "Are you ok, Grandpa? I can take them away if they make you cry."

Grandpa shook his head. "Happy tears, hon. This box means I can visit all those places again that meant so much." He handed her the photo. "That's your Grandma. She was…" His voice cracked. "She was the love of my life. You would have loved her."

"Grandpa, what's your favourite photo?"

"That's easy." He fished through the pile, his weary hands energized by the search. "Got it!" Elsie and Mother craned forward, but Grandpa held it to his chest."

"Another of Grandma?" asked Elsie.

Grandpa smiled. "Boy, did she take me places. People had their doubts, but we showed them. She took me to the highest mountains and the lowest valleys. She never let me down. A lifetime of memories, and I miss her more than I can say."

Elsie and her mother were both crying now. "It must be an amazing photo Grandpa."

Grandpa grinned. "Yup." He turned the photograph to show them. "What a beauty! It's my 1976 sky-blue Landcruiser."

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