She’d walked that fence line a thousand times, trudging through the deep snow, or sweating through summer’s heat. Nothing ever really changed: seasons came and went with regularity.
He walked in the opposite direction; shoulders hunched, head down, shuffling feet through mud or dust.
She started to time her walk to his. At first, he barely acknowledged her greetings; but slight human contact was better than none.
He came to enjoy their brief encounters; gradually finding his voice again.
This horrid, heavy winter took both of them; a glittering ball marks the point of their passing.
feature image: Na’ama Yehuda
for rochelle’s friday fictioneers
Rochelle’s story is particularly evocative in this time of climate change and climate crisis.
July 23, 2021 at 2:46 pm
I enjoyed the texture of your tale. I’m glad they both felt connection again before their passing.
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July 25, 2021 at 3:28 am
Yes, I was thinking of the winter of COVID and how important human inaction became.
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July 23, 2021 at 9:06 am
Beautiful and sad. The tentative approach, the company were so tenderly described.
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July 25, 2021 at 3:33 am
Thanks. I was thinking of our covid winter and how people really craved human contact, yet how very carefully we had to go about it.
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July 22, 2021 at 9:41 am
Such a sad tale at least they died together in love.
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July 23, 2021 at 6:09 am
Yes, love transcending.
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July 22, 2021 at 6:50 am
Oh! That was absolutely beautiful and you wrote it so well 💜
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July 22, 2021 at 5:18 am
A lovely story about the enormous value of human contact. They gave each other a precious gift during that final year of their lives. I like the way you use the glittering ball as a metaphor for that gift.
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July 23, 2021 at 6:10 am
Thanks. Love will win out, I hope, in all our stories and lives.
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July 21, 2021 at 7:23 pm
Dear Lorraine,
How very sad. :( Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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July 21, 2021 at 8:55 pm
Thanks, Rochelle. I think I had a touch of the melancholias this afternoon.
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July 21, 2021 at 7:20 pm
Very sad…
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July 21, 2021 at 8:55 pm
Yes. I didn’t start out to write a sad tale, but it ended up that way. Must have been my mood or something . . .
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July 21, 2021 at 5:53 pm
But, but, but…. dang…
Lovely write.
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July 21, 2021 at 8:54 pm
Thanks. I guess I was suffering from a slight case of the melancholias today.
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July 21, 2021 at 3:14 pm
Aww. That’s not the ending I was expecting
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July 21, 2021 at 8:53 pm
Actually, neither was I when I started . . . sometimes stories take their own turns.
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