So this is for a flash competition where the prompt was "unexpected
sun****ne". Any feedback is great but I'm also looking for a better
title but I don't want to use the prompt itself.
Worth the Weather
I sit in my usual spot, near the trees, on my Maisy's bench. I still
miss her after all these years. The Council wrote me an
im****tant-looking letter about the bench with words like
“re-development” and “renewal plans”. So here I sit, while I still
can.
It took all morning to get here but I like to walk, even through rain
like this. Anyway, how much harm can that do me now? There's another
letter, not from the Council, that has words like “inoperable” and
“palliative care.”
When I see her she's darting after a blackbird, spla****ng in puddles.
The bird caws at her, flies a few feet back, then settles, eyeing her
suspiciously.
Suddenly she sees me - “Grandad!”
A leap and a bound and she's a wet, squirming lump in my lap. It's
unconditional, if uncomfortable, love.
“Dad, you're soaking! Why didn't you let me pick you up in the car?”
She
sits next to me, trying to decide who needs more fussing over, me or the
little bird-chaser.
“I'm fine.”
“At your age, long walks in the pouring rain are not exactly what the
doctor...”
She stops. She hasn't seen the letter but she knows there is a letter.
“I just mean, why? What's worth all this...” She waves a hand around
vaguely, “...weather?”
I look down at my daughter's daughter who suddenly flashes me her
mother's mother's smile, and I squeeze my other little girl's grown up
hand in mine.
“Unexpected sun****ne.”
--
Shuggie
....and if you think *that's* cool you should read my blog,
http://shuggie.wordpress.com/
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