We were led along a narrow lane into the backyard of a house. A hosepipe coiled round the base of a banyan tree – emerald green and dusty – an equally dusty tortoiseshell cat coiled on a nearby garden chair.
The gallery was a wooden construction built onto the back of the house, the roof glass, letting in any dappled light that escaped the clutches of the banyan.
Sonny handed his kyats over to the elderly artist and strode in. I watched the twitch of his shoulders through his sweat-soaked shirt as he moved from one image to the next. The trip had been good for us. Time to heal, learn how to be a couple again, not a family.
‘Kim.’ An edge in his voice.
A painting. A little girl with Sonny’s charcoal eyes, my ash-blond hair. Our little girl, holding the ragged Mr Ted we buried with her.
***
Written for What Pegman Saw, the prompt that uses Google Street View as its starting point. This week we visit Myanmar. See here to join in.
That is so… moving.
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Thank you kindly 🙂
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Smiles. 🙂
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Whoa. That is so spooky. I love the description of the image, too. Well done.
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Thanks very much Josh
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Oh, wow! That sent an absolute shudder down my spine. Lovely foreshadowing as well, Lynn, with the words “Time to heal, learn how to be a couple again, not a family.” Wonderful storytelling!
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Thank you Penny. Glad that line worked for you. I considered taking it out at one point, not knowing if it was a little heavy handed. Thanks so much for your kind comment
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The last line made me gasp. I, too, especially loved the line, “Time to heal, learn how to be a couple again, not a family.” Great storytelling!
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Thank you so much Karen. Glad you liked it 🙂
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Whoa! Well done and heartbreaking and so well painted in words. Wow.
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Dear Lynn,
You are an artist with words. I had to read twice, the second time to savor. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you so much Rochelle. You’re very kind 🙂
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I like the way the story, at first, reads like a couple’s frivolous getaway from the stresses of life with children. This leads to the assumption that the children have been left safe at home in the care of some competent person. Suddenly, your story turns into a grieving couple’s search, for an explanation to the mysterious premature death of their beloved child. This story has legs!
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You write so beautifully, Lynn. This goes right to the heart.
I’m just left wondering how this union between artist and couple came to be…
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That’s a really interesting question, Dale. I imagined the encounter accidental (at least on the part of the parents) but there could be some connection there already. Thank you once more for your support and kind comment
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My pleasure.
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Heartbreaking stuff.
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Thank you so much for reading
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Brilliant, as always. Your judgement is unerring. “Time to heal, learn how to be a couple again, not a family.” Perfect. The warning of what was to come felt like a kindness to your readers, but nothing could have softened the blow of that tragic closing line. We are puppets in your hands, Lynn. You tickle my masochistic side – I don’t know whether I’d be overjoyed, or disappointed, if you flashed a happy ending. 🙂
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Haha! I’m not good at happy endings, it’s true. Though all my novel ideas up to now have happy endings. I just couldn’t take readers through so many thousand words only to kill off a protagonist – it feels too harsh 🙂 . Thank you so much, Jane
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You don’t have to kill him – just have him unmasked as the evil genius and maim him a little 🙂 . Or better still, ignore my suggestion and carry on writing the way you do…
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Haha! I might give it a go.
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