Nose Clips by Stella Turner
The legs spun around without a ripple of water let alone a splash. Kitty and her friend Madge were always a bit weird with their big noses. Think it was because of those nose clips they wore. Dad always warned me that I was too forthright with the personal comments.
“You’ll never get a lassie” he’d joke over the kitchen table. His accent still strong after all these years living down south. I’d been born a Sassenach. Something he’d never quite forgiven fate for. He’d come for work and when I was old enough took me down the pit with him. I loved swimming, the clear fresh water vying the black cloying coal dust. Water won every time.
My mates and I spent every Saturday morning at the council swimming baths. For most of us it was the nearest we got to seeing the girls in their bathing suits and to have an innocent chat. If we ever got too near the life guard would blow his whistle and point of the sign on the wall. No running, no pushing, no ducking, no diving, no smoking, no petting.
Handing her a small bunch of flowers, she looked up at me, eyes expectant, all said and done she was used to this. After each of our four sons was born I’d hear my Dad’s words ringing in my ears. “You’ll never get a lassie”
“Will she do?”
“Aye Madge, she will”
Breathing out a sigh of relief my daughter had perfect symmetrical features. I’d teach her to swim and to dive, no synchronised swimming. No one was going to say my girl had a big nose.
“You’ll never get a lassie” he’d joke over the kitchen table. His accent still strong after all these years living down south. I’d been born a Sassenach. Something he’d never quite forgiven fate for. He’d come for work and when I was old enough took me down the pit with him. I loved swimming, the clear fresh water vying the black cloying coal dust. Water won every time.
My mates and I spent every Saturday morning at the council swimming baths. For most of us it was the nearest we got to seeing the girls in their bathing suits and to have an innocent chat. If we ever got too near the life guard would blow his whistle and point of the sign on the wall. No running, no pushing, no ducking, no diving, no smoking, no petting.
Handing her a small bunch of flowers, she looked up at me, eyes expectant, all said and done she was used to this. After each of our four sons was born I’d hear my Dad’s words ringing in my ears. “You’ll never get a lassie”
“Will she do?”
“Aye Madge, she will”
Breathing out a sigh of relief my daughter had perfect symmetrical features. I’d teach her to swim and to dive, no synchronised swimming. No one was going to say my girl had a big nose.
*
Then I heard I'd won this one
The Angry
Hourglass http://t.co/MtOYLlmzA3
Stella’s story
takes a less-is-more approach, told in understatement and vivid details.
Relatives gather at a funeral, and confusion ensues. Even the eulogy
could be for someone else. Poor Auntie Sheila!
Your Round 25
FLASH MASTER is…
Stella
with The Final Resting Place
Stella wins for saying so much in
so few words. This story is less than 300 words! The narrator’s
perspective, the vivid detail and family dynamic is just perfect. The
power of things unsaid. In a way, this is a classic take on the photo–the
marker on a hill–a life, a funeral, the awful relatives, etc. but
there is so much more! The flowers are even more poignant. This hill on
the moor is not Auntie Sheila’s final resting place–or is this where her
true spirit lingers?* * *
And I've tried very hard to get a mention on this American site. Each Friday they have lots of stories submitted
FLASH FRIDAY http://t.co/yADTszgdBJ
HONORABLE MENTIONS
StellakateT, “The Jewel.” This twisted Cinderella tale gave me no small amount of satisfaction at the end, when the writer reveals that the “homely” sister is the jewel of the family. I don’t know if she’s happy with her lot, but I felt as though she at least had some measure of retribution with the match.
I honestly thought in both Flash Friday and The Angry Hourglass there were better stories but its all subjective. A good job we all don't like the same thing as it would be a boring world for writers :) truly the World has gone mad, I'm beginning to think I might now be able to write Flash Fiction
