photo by Grant McCurdy via Unsplash
Clearly, this is NOT a Three Line Tale. But, it is a sequel to the tale I wrote for this prompt last week.
An ensuing conversation led to writer and fellow blogger Jane Dougherty suggesting an answer to my question ‘What’s on the film?’
Go here to read my original post and here to read Jane’s wonderful alternative sequel.
The folder containing the prints is a brash yellow, the thin card slippery under his hand. The image inside – just a single image, the other frames were blank – would seem harmless enough at first glance.
His wife as the pretty young woman she was, wearing a floral dress, one hand shielding her eyes from the sun. She sits on a dining room chair, out of place in a well tended garden, runner bean vines arching in the sky behind her, a Labrador puppy an excited dash of grey at her feet. On her lap lies a newborn with a scribble of dark hair wrapped in a hand knitted blanket. A young woman with her baby.
He remembers the blanket lying on the bottom of their bed. Remembers the floral dress, the way it flared when she twirled on her toes. He remembers the puppy Finch – it belonged to his parents-in-law and was killed by a drayman’s wagon when it was less than a year old. He remembers the dining room chair from Sunday lunches and Christmas dinners, the padding on the seat growing flatter over the years, the fabric thinning.
All this, but there was never a baby to remember.
There was a pregnancy before they were married – he remembers her father’s threats, her mother’s weeping, finding the note the day she left ‘to think’. The agony of separation.
He remembers the phone call when she told him she’d miscarried their baby, her shaking voice, how they wept together over the crackling line. How she seemed so empty when she returned to him, just her and the new blanket.
He remembers so much. With the sight of this one photograph he wishes he could forget it all.
Word Shamble 
Ouch. That’s a painful one. The detail of the dead puppy too, the blanket at the bottom of the bed. It’s those tiny details that paint a deep, layered picture. Wonderful writing.
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Thank you so much, Jane. Yes, I love sinking into all of that, thinking of the details that will add to the whole. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
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Without the detail, the bit of colour, the characters don’t come to life, do they?
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Very true, though too much swamps the prose. I try to get the balance right all the time – good fun trying though
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Getting it right, that’s always the difficult part, separates the sheep from the goats 🙂
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Baa! Only time will tell which I am I think 🙂
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Time and the best of luck, of which I wish you bucketsful 🙂
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Thank you Jane 🙂
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Perfectly done, and perfectly sad.
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Thank you, Chris 🙂
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Impeccable detail, Lynn. You can really feel the sadness.
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Thank you so much Chris. I’m glad the emotions came across – betrayal is a sad, sad, thing. 🙂
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So much pain. So did he block it all out of his memory or did he not know? Or am I missing something? Such a well crafted story, giving us so much of these characters worlds in such few words.
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I wondered if the story was clear enough – no he didn’t know. The baby was his – conceived before their marriage – so she went away, gave birth and had it adopted but told him she miscarried and this is the first time he realises the truth. Too much suggestion, not enough explanation perhaps? Thanks so much for reading
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I thought that was the case but then wondered at the timeline if she carried to full term, she must have been gone a while…but I’m over analysing.
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Oh, no I think you’re right – she was away a long time. I’m guessing part of her preganancy was under the guise of recovering from her ‘miscarriage’. She had one photo taken of her and their child, could never bear to have it developed or to destroy it.
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Why didn’t she keep the baby? Her parents? They could have had a shot gun wedding. So sad she probably lived with a lifetime of regrets and what ifs over it.
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I think you’re right there. What I imagine happening is that her parents didn’t like him – maybe they hadn’t been together long either – and forced her to give the baby away, not imagining they would stay together long term. And yes, nothing but regrets and a decision that has haunted – and still haunts – their marriage. Thanks for reading
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