Here are the guide lines for this week's WWBH for
which we have two photographs to construct our short story.
1) Use the two photos in your story.
2) Keep your word count 500 or less.
3) You have until next Tuesday night to link up your
story.
5) Have fun, don't stress, and let those creative
juices flow!
Here is my story:
THE EXHIBITION
Isabelle breathed a sigh of
relief as she slotted the edge of the frame into place; the last painting of
her father’s was now ready. It had taken
her a few weeks to get everything organised and ready in time for the launch of
her father’s retrospective exhibition.
The paintings had been stored in
the attic of his ramshackle and tumble-down thatched cottage in the depths of
the countryside. No matter how many
times she had asked him if she could bring them down as she was caring for him
during the last months of his life he always refused. There will be time enough he had told
her. Time enough for you to dispose of
them when I am gone. Now you need to
talk to me and play backgammon and cribbage all day long and cook my meals.
Isabelle was a bit taken aback
until Florence, her dad’s neighbour, dropped in one afternoon for tea and to
give her a bit of respite. Florence told
her that her dad didn't think his work was good enough to be seen by anyone
else while he was alive. Charlie
suffered from low self esteem about his work or his hobby as he preferred to
think of it.
Along with her tears when her
father passed away came the fear of what she might find in that elusive space
under eaves of the roof. Florence helped
her bring all the canvasses down; together they sorted them into sections,
landscapes, still life, portraits, animals etc.
Charlie had been quite the artist.
It was such a shame that nobody had the chance to see these paintings. The two ladies looked at each other and had
the epiphany that they would organise an exhibition.
Several months later, a lot of
late nights, worry and stress, everything was coming together and the date was
fixed. The Town Hall Assembly Rooms were
booked, an opening night with wine and nibbles, invites to a few local
dignitaries to attend, the local press would be there, then the exhibition
would continue for a week.
The next hurdle was what to wear.
Isabelle and Florence wanted to project the right image, business like but not
too severe, colourful but stylish, nothing in either of their wardrobes quite
fitted the bill.
Wednesday afternoon they
travelled in to town to pay the deposit for the Assembly Rooms, as they left
they decided to go for a pre-celebratory glass of wine and to de-stress on the
issue of their attire. On leaving the
hostelry they turned left out of the door. Florence nudged Isabelle. The shop window across the road displayed two
outfits, complementing each other in colour with matching shoes.
The old fashioned bell jangled as
they opened the door, they both gasped as they took in the two outfits. They fitted them like a dream, it was as
though their fairy godmother had waved a magic wand and Florence and Isabelle could
go to the ball.
Word count: 496
Nicely done - a very touching story.
ReplyDeleteLovely! I think as writers we can all understand the low self-esteem issues, and I'm glad Isabelle and Florence introduced his work to the world. Well done.
ReplyDeleteVery clever, Sally!
ReplyDelete