Sophie gazed down the long oaken table, half-light of a dozen candle sticks melted to shining copper holder. She squinted to blur the face drooping at table’s end.
Looking down, she studied the pattern of barn red, deep woad, and white twined with emerald leaves. Were these flowers from her homeland? She barely remembered weaving the runner for her trousseau…or the excited young girl she’d been. Her parents had been proud to boast her move from farm to manor as a wonderful match.
After so long, she’d adjusted her dreams. Looking up, she wondered what he thought of her.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2019)
Carrot Ranch Prompt (09/09/2019): In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about growing older. It can be humorous, dark or poignant. It can be true or total fiction. It can be fine wine or an old fossil. Go where the prompt leads!
Valley of the Trolls 
Lovely image to focus on the fulfilment or otherwise of youthful aspirations. Great flash.
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Thank you, Anne!
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You took up the poignancy challenge, Liz! The flowers on the runner she once wove is what grabs me most in this story. It compels me to imagine what her girlhood dreams must have been and the sadness over not even knowing where she stands after all these years.
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And you gotta wonder what his answer, from the other end of the table, might be, if she dared ask…
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Liz, Loved this.
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Thanks, Susan!
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