Friday Fictioneers : Head in the clouds

PHOTO PTOMPT © Lucy Fridkin

PHOTO PROMPT © Lucy Fridkin

 

When Fliss was small she didn’t think her father had an imagination.

They would lie together on the garden lawn staring up at the clouds, heads so close their hair mixed, her auburn with his ‘salt and pepper’.

As she saw ‘longtailed mouse with a twitchy nose’and ‘doggy asleep on a sofa’, he would call ‘rock’, ‘another rock’, ‘cloud’, making her giggle until her stomach hurt, till she pulled her knees to her chest to make the ache stop.

Only now does she realise, as she flicks through the pages of his account books, how very creative he is.

 

Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Field’s Friday Fictioneers. See the photo and let it inspire you. See here to join the fun and to read the other tales.

 

64 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers : Head in the clouds”

  8. Ah, some types of creativity are not as appreciated as others — and for good reason! I like how you twisted that at the end. And the description of their hair mixing on the grass next to each other was just perfect.

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  12. I’m sure he saw other things in the clouds but playing dull made his daughter happy and laugh. I thought the hair mingling and the cloud shapes very evocative of a pastime a lot of us will have indulged in, you captured it just right

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    1. I think you’re right, Michael. Just making her laugh. A mixed character, both a good dad and a con man. I remember staring at clouds with my son. Very sweet, simple and funny way ot pass the time. Thanks for reading 🙂

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  13. I’m sure he could have passed on his “juggling” abilities to her, too. Of course, my favorite part is the second paragraph where the hair mixes in. Thats’ really cool! I could see them both and that a very nice memory it would make for both of them in future years.

    Five out of five paper kites.

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    1. Ah, thank you! That was my favourite bit too. And you’re right, perhaps she’s learned the same skills and built on them. Maybe she can help cover his tracks and save him from prison? Thanks for reading

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  17. The simple pleasures of playing ‘Guess what you see in the cloud’. I always enjoyed doing it with my daughters. I see it the way Micheal Wynn did, Lynn. The dad may have been taking a back seat.
    Hopefully, the ending is just fiction. It did have a power punch.
    Isadora 😎

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  21. Nice twist in your story. Normally our childhood idols fall when we become adults, in your story the flawed father is redeemed, in creative points.

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  22. I was enjoying the loveliness of their interaction when, wham, you surprised me with the last line and made me laugh out loud. What a creative family.

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    1. Hi there. The idea is that she never saw her dad as having imagination (hence the incident with the clouds) however, as she looks at his account books she’s seen he’s used his ‘creativity’ to change his accounts, probably by hiding money where the tax man won’t find it. Ever heard of the phrase ‘creative accounting’? Used to suggest someone has been dishonest – ‘creative’ – with their accounts, when of course, the last thing you should be when recording these things is imaginative. Hope that clears things up for you. Thanks for reading 🙂

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  28. Lovely characterisation. The dynamics between father and daughter are wonderful, and the final twist is perfect. I believe she’ll forgive his particular use of his imagination.

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