Flash Fiction / Random Tales

Flash Fiction: Make a Wish

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PHOTO PROMPT © Ceayr for Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers. Other stories featuring the prompt can be found here.

Note: Apologies for missing last week’s story. I opened my laptop to write. Alas, she is dead. My workflow is disrupted, but I am fortunate to have back-up devices while my precious is being repaired. This is why I pay for Dropbox (consider it insurance) or I’d be using a four letter word that starts with ‘F’ and ends in ‘K’!

 

“Make a wish.”

Anna sat in her wheelchair watching her great-grand daughters discover the family’s wishing well. Generations played the same game. For some the well served and others… it all depended on which way the coin fell. Life’s gamble. A legend told to spook the young ones.

Anna’s bones ached as she leaned forward.

STOP! The word never left her head.

A coin hit the water like a bullet. Fate sealed. The girls squealed with delight. A tear traveled down Anna’s face and into the abyss. She’d outlived them all; siblings, husband, children.

Her childhood wish – to live forever.

53 comments

  2. Dear Tanille,

    I echo Neil. Living forever doesn’t seem to be all it’s cracked up to be. I hope your precious is back up and running soon. The only thing worse than being without a computer is having your car in the shop.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. I think when we’re young these things sound cool. I remember being a kid and my peers saying they wished to live to 100 years. I never got it!

      Thanks S!

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    1. Yes huge curse!

      I’ve been using MacBooks for a decade and never needed a repair. This MacBook is 14 months old. I expect a shitfight coming up. Hope your laptop gets fixed/replaced, I feel your pain.

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  12. You’ve constructed this story very well. It would be a grim business to outlive even one of your children. I hope Anna doesn’t outlive any of her grandchildren (yes, I know, the wish was to live for ever but nobody does that…!)

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    1. I’ve known the odd elderly who buried their older children from old age related illnesses. Didn’t seem right. Can’t imagine the pain of losing children young or older.

      Thanks P!

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  13. Echoing Rochelle–I just got my car back after 2 1/2 weeks of it being in the shop. Ugh. Having to drive Terry’s old clunker is no joy, and I’ll never understand why he loves his old clunkers and only lets go of them when they fall off the chassis 🙂

    Anyway, I think this is a most thought-provoking story. I wouldn’t want to live forever, either, if it had to be as a old, old woman with aching bones. Not fun at all.

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    1. 2 1/2 weeks – oh no! I heard there is world car part shortage, I’m sure that wouldn’t help. It’s amusing how attached we get to particular objects. I have access to iPads and other laptops but I want my main work machine.

      Living forever sounds good in theory. Might be ok if our bodies didn’t let us down.

      Thanks L!

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  22. Among those tarnished coins a prewar penny lies hidden. There are several, one for each visit I made to the family home. A collection of wishes that never came to fruition. Like praying, you make the effort and blame fate when your please go unanswered. Perhaps the well grew tired before I was born.

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