Free Write -- Bowl of Flowers

 Prompt: A bowl/vase of pastel flowers

Julia's Prompt

Yes, we had chores, yes, we went to school – on our own two feet mind you – a kilometer? “That’s nothing, I walked 5 in the snow”.

We played outside, unsupervised until we were called in for dinner. A problem out far from home? No cell phones; one counted on someone’s seeing one and helping. Problems with a teacher? You got double at home.

Sound tough? We were a generation who learned to solve our own problems, deal with our own messes.

But I digress: we were also surrounded by nature and the natural. I inherited my love for roses from my mother. Here not always in season, they are even more precious.

In my entry, there is a desk and, on that desk, always flowers.

Imagine my pleasure when one of my grandsons for Mother’s Day made me a paper, multi-colored, flower.

Love envelopes me every time I walk in the door.

D-L's Free Write

Jason held the vase, a round glass thingie, with construction paper pastel flowers, out to Megan. "I got your message."

She stopped her frown. "What message?"

"You played Diamond's-Streisand's 'You don't bring me Flowers Any more' a lot."

She swallowed her various responses including: you're right."

"See the paper ones will last forever."

"Pretty colors." She didn't say and they'll need dusting. He tried so hard, but they were from different planets the way they looked at the world.

He tried. She tried. They tried.

It wasn't working. It would never work. How would she tell him. Not after his gift. Maybe next week.

Rick's Free Write

He had started to throw them out, but hesitated. They were her saved memories. But in a way they were his too.

The rose he had given her on their first date. Now dried. Still a vibrant purple. A few crinkled green leaves in the dish. Some pebbles she had picked up at the beach when they visited Port Vendres. Amazing how long they lasted.

The paper flowers were more recent. Remnants of a lei he had given her in Hawaii. Their anniversary trip of a lifetime. Waikiki. The pineapple plantation. The Pearl Harbor memorials.

There had been other flowers in between. Many. Why save these?

It wasn’t only the flowers that lingered. Her presence was still here. Her essence. Her energy. If he discarded the flowers, would the memories disappear to?

Rick Adams is an aviation journalist and publisher of www.aviationvoices.com, a weekly newsletter reporting the airline industry  top stories . He is the author of The Robot in the Simulator. AI in Aviation Training.  

Visit D-L.'s website  https://dlnelsonwriter.com, She is the author of 15 fiction and three non fiction books. Her 300 Unsung Women, bios of women who battled gender limitations, can be purchased  at https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/300-unsung-women-d-l-nelson/1147305797?ean=9798990385504 

Visit Julia's blog. She has written and taken photos and loves syncing up with friends.  Her blog can be found: https://viewsfromeverywhere.blogspot.com/