This week’s photo prompt is provided by Yinglan. Thank you Yinglan for our photo prompt!
The cafe was crowded, loud with the clatter of plates, the hum of chatter. Piles of coats were heaped on each oil fired radiator, their mist making the air heavy.
Gramma’s wheelchair was turned to the window, her coffee cup balanced on the arm, raisin bun balanced on that.
‘When I was a girl they were pulled by horses. Such a mess on the road. All over your shoes.’
Sandy looked out at the trolley cars, the silvery ribbons of track. ‘Gramma, you’re old, but you’re not that old.’
The old lady stuck out her bristled chin. ‘Plenty you don’t know about me.’
Stubborn old goat. ‘Go on then, Methuselah. Tell me.’
Gramma turned away from the street, puckered face alight. ‘Oh my girl, I got more to tell you about than than horse apples. First, you gotta promise me something.’
‘Promise what?’
‘You won’t tell your mother.’
‘Err, okay.’
Gramma smiled so wide, every one of her opalescent teeth flashed. ‘Now, I opened my first cathouse in the summer of ’08 …’
Written for Priceless Joy’s Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. Pop along here to read the other tales and to join in.
Whatever the theme you seem to be able to adapt your language to suit, Lynn. I do realise how difficult that is. Good work.
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Thank you so much Chris! That comment means a great deal. I do try to adapt my language, but am never entirely sure if I’m successful – to some extent we all write the way we write, don’t we? Thank you
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May i call it exquisite? I love how i return enriched from here .
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Ah, thank you so much for your kind words, Moon. I’m glad you liked it and thank you for leaving such a generous comment 🙂
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The pleasure is all mine, Lynn. Your humility inspires me as much as your writing .
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Thank you so much. You’re too kind 🙂
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Ha, I want to here the rest of that story! 🙂 Beautifully done Lynn, as always.
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Thanks Iain. Yes, I think Gramma was quite a gal back in the day 🙂
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As always, the description is transporting; I can see and hear the setting perfectly. But it’s the characters that make the story. Stubborn old goat, indeed — I think Sandy’s about to learn exactly how feisty her grandma really was! I don’t know about England, but it took a while here in the US for cars to totally take over from horses, especially with the Depression interrupting so rudely like that. So it’s certainly plausible Grandma rode a horse and buggy.
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Thanks for the historical note, Joy, that’s really interesting. Yes, I think there was an overlap here too, though the lastest reference to horse drawn trams I can find is from the early 1900s. I do like a feisty grandma – too easy to forget old people were young people once.
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Good eye with the coats on the radiator and the mist, liked that most.
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Ah, thank you Bill. I do like a bit of atmosphere 🙂
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Priceless… except I was a bit slow with the punchline; purely by chance, before I came to your post a comment I’d just read under one of my posts had turned my mind to the sort of elderly women who fill their houses with cats.
I don’t think I’m the only one of your readers who was instantly transported to that noisy, steaming cafe 🙂
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Haha! Love that. A lovely spin on the cathouse! Thank you, Jane, you’re very kind. Glad the cafe worked for you 🙂
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My teacake was a bit dry, but otherwise it was fine. 🙂
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Haha! You need more butter on it 🙂
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Very beautifully written, as always, Lynn.
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Thank you Neel 🙂
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Wow. Saucy Grandma.
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Plenty of them about 🙂
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Hahahahaha! I’m surprised that grandma would tell her granddaughter that! LOL! Cute story Lynn!
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I think they have a great relationship, rather more relaxed and open than Gramma has with her own daughter. Thank you Joy
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Yes, you’re right!
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🙂
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Grandma certainly lived it seems. What a story you can tell. Brilliant. Ps Horse drawn trams still operate on the Island of Man!
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Thanks for the heads up Mike. Yes, Gramma was quite a gal in her time. Who knows what lies in the pasts of all those apple cheeked old ladies – plenty of scandal I’ll bet!
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I did enjoy this Lynn, what a great story.
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Thanks very much Michael. 🙂
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Well, I didn’t spot that one coming! Nice twist, Lynn!
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Ha! Glad to surprise you. I realised a long time ago that no matter how tame and respectable older people seem, they often had a racy past. My own nans taught me that – neither of whom ran a brothel, I must add! 🙂
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I really like stories that have genuine, human elements. Every family has skeletons of one sort or another. I like how this one sneaked out!
Going Home
Annie at ~McGuffy’s Reader~
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Thanks so much! Yes, skeletons abound in every family – it’s what makes each one interesting and unique 🙂
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