PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
The skirting board is hairy with fluff, carpet and towel fibres mixed to make a grubby flesh tone. One of the tiles is lifting, flashing dingy grout.
So intimate this space. An important room.
Bill and I found out we were expecting Sally here, hunched over a strip of plastic, waiting for that blue line.
And here we first realised something was wrong with Bill. Those terrifying splashes of red, the first of many.
Now I’m lying on the floor and I can’t move. The pain in my head’s easing though, growing softer at the edges.
Bill? Hold my hand.
Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Field’s Friday Fictioneers, the best flash prompt in town. See here to join in and to read the other cracking tales.
Wow! Great work, Lynn
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Thank you Neil 🙂
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Great idea Lynn, using the bathroom as a fixed point in her life and death, and as usual , well executed.
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Thanks Iain. It just occurred to me the possibilities of that little, over looked space. Ripe for drama in its way. Thanks for reading
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Birth and death in 100 words – fine work!
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Thank you Martin 🙂
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Their relationship has withstood the test of circumstances and is truly inspirational.
Love your story , as always 💕
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Thanks so much Moon 🙂
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Superb writing, as always. Love the sense of time as you cartwheel through those momentous occasions, packing so much emotion into each.
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Thanks so much for reading and for the kind comment 🙂
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A remarkable tale. The constantcy of the bathroom and it’s variations being so similar to their life. Very touching. Great great writing.
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Thank you so much 🙂
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Wonderful story! It covers a lot very quickly, but still seems very vivid.
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Thanks so much for the lovely comment. Really appreciate it
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“Bill? Hold my hand.” What immeasurable poignancy you instil into those four words. A brilliant ending to a great story.
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Thanks so much Penny. Really glad you liked it
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Excellent. Vivid and real, and a nice transition from past to present.
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Thanks so much Josh.
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I love the description of the bathroom, how it seems to be falling apart like the family. And then to find out she’s viewing it from the floor. Gorgeously written.
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Thank you so much Alicia. Glad you liked the story and the details too
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So intense, and what a heartbreaking last line. I never thought about it but you’re right: so many important moments in our lives happen in the family bathroom. That’s good writing for you: making you realize something that seems obvious once it’s put that way.
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Thanks so much Joy. Yes, it only just occurred to me too as I looked at the picture. If bathrooms could talk. Though that’s probably a terrible idea 🙂
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Yes, that is really a terrible idea, lol. In fact, I don’t want *any* part of my house to talk. 😉
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Ha! No me neither 🙂
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Oh man… Lynn… this was absolutely brilliant. My heart broke as I got to the end. Love the use of the bathroom to represent the various stages of her life…
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Thanks so much Dale. I’m so glad you liked it
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So sad. So very sad. Loved the tile lifting, flashing grout. I wondered why the view was at ground level. Nice that it was all brought into context. Beautifully written and balanced.
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Thanks so much, Kelvin. Yes, amazing what you see when you change your perspective. Sad, but perhaps a fitting place for her to be when so many important things have happened there. Thanks so much for reading
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Wow! I am zapped, in a good way.
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Thanks Neel! Glad you liked it 🙂
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Superb writing, Lynn. I’ll never look at bathrooms the same again.
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Thanks so much Russell. Glad you liked it 🙂
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Powerful writing
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Thanks so much and thanks for reading 🙂
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What a gruesome death portrayed. Shivers. Good write.
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Thanks so much 🙂
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Love the concept here, Lynn. Great writing.
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Thanks so much David and thanks for dropping by and reading 🙂
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Dear Lynn,
There’s not much more I can add. Stunning, simply stunning.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you so much Rochelle. A lovely accolade. I appreciate it a great deal 🙂
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Fantastic take, Lynn. This has so many possibilities.
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Thank so much Varad 🙂
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Great writing, so much said in so few words
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Thanks so much for reading Michael 🙂
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The brevity of your piece is a lesson to us all. Simply brilliant Lynn
Click to read my FriFic
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I agree with Rochelle this was stunning. It brought tears to my eyes.
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Ah, thank you so much. So glad you liked it 🙂
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so very moving! Sometimes we forget how important the little places our great memories are made.
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Thanks Samantha. Yes, sometimes the places of most significance in our lives are the least glamorous! Thanks for reading 🙂
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Wow!
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Thanks for reading 🙂
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Very powerful story Lynn. Left me sad but enjoyed it.
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Thanks so much. Glad it worked for you 🙂
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It’s early here in the States and I’m reading this and thinking … huh??? Seriously, though, this had some originality. Incredible metaphor. Nice work, Lynn.
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Just a lady who’s had a fall, thinking over the important events that have happened in her bathroom, that’s all. Thanks so much for reading, sorry if it was baffler 🙂
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Haha! No problem. Like I said, it was early. 🙂
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🙂
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This is lovely.
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Thanks so much, glad you liked it 🙂
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Life in a 100 words in a bathroom. Who knew it could be this beautiful?
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Thanks so much Dawn. Really glad you liked it 🙂
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well written
Click Here to see what Mrs. Dash Says
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Thanks so much 🙂
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Such a poignant tale… from birth to death.
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Thanks so much Bjorn Glad you liked it 🙂
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Lovely.
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Thanks so much
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Masterful writing, Lynn. You pack a whole life into these 100 words, and also a wealth of emotions.
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Thanks so much Gabi 🙂
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