Source: Matt Fraser
“I’ll get that for you,” murmured Kathy, sighing, as she rose to fetch her mother’s favorite wool blanket; it had been in the family for ages, but it was the one Elinore had always favored.
Sticking her head through the kitchen door, she raised her voice, making sure she was close enough that her mother could read her lips and asked “Can I refill your water, maybe get you one of those blueberry mini-muffins I picked up at the store today?”
“Mmmm…yes to the water, and just one muffin,” answered Elinore, her eyes lighting up in an almost-unprecedented enthusiasm for food. When Kathy offered her two muffins (because they ARE awfully good, Mom), Elinore’s brow rolled thunderclouds and she waved her fleshless, blue-veined hand in displeasure.
Blanket, single mini-muffin, and water fetched and delivered, Kathy sat herself down in the chair by the window so that her mother could lie comfortably on the couch and still see her daughter, and before long, Elinore’s reconstruction of family stories to have happier endings faded to silence, as the older woman’s face loosened, eyes sinking like currents into a bun just beginning to bake, telling Kathy it was time to go home again, before the surges of rage that came with sunset.
A gentle hug, no unseemly kisses on the cheek, and Kathy slipped on her shoes and out the apartment door, breathing a sigh of relief, for love and forgiveness delivered with a blanket statement of simple services rendered.
© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2021)
The challenge? Write a story in 6 sentences, no more & no less, and if you’d like, share your creation or just visit and comment on others’ ideas, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Denise. The prompt is “BLANKET”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Stories
Valley of the Trolls 
A delicate dance for these two. How nice that the rages are recognized and acknowledged. Neither of them have it easy.
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Tore at my heart a bit, Liz. For both Elinore and Kathy. I like the “gentleness” of this story. Smooth bit of writing. Last sentence… says it all.
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💚💛💚
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You hit the core here, Liz – love and forgiveness, that’s what it all comes down to.
Such a beautiful and true description of this in action.
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Thank Jenne.
In fiction veritas?
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Here definitely!
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Very poignant, Liz! You are a gifted writer.
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I concur with all those comments, Liz. Those rich descriptions hold much resonance with me, as my mother approaches the end of her twilight years, yet still rarely misses the target with one of those ‘surges of rage’.
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The last thing that gets dulled…along with the intensity of their hugs. 🌹
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I too was in awe of that line: “the older woman’s face loosened, eyes sinking like currents into a bun just beginning to bake” and also the description of her brow and hands.
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We’re getting there, too, shuffling step by shuffling step…
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Tis true… may we persist 🙂
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(Let’s visualize Neil Young singing “Long may you run” to his 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse.). I never fail to amuse myself…
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😄 😁
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I think many a family take has been rewritten to achieve a happier ending. Also November is family story month, so good going!
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I had never heard of Family Story Month for November. Had to Google — wow!
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I like how love and forgiveness were delivered to Elinore with those simple services before Kathy left the apartment.
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And maybe to Kathy, as well, by the acceptance of those services.
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It can be so tricky to take care of those who don’t want to think of themselves as being taken care of.
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Been thinking about how I’ll navigate my own old age. It’s nearer than I like to think…
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Great story, Liz. Loved the line ‘Elinore’s reconstruction of family stories to have happier endings’ rings so true to my late parents and father-in-law. The truly old own history. 😉
As for ‘eyes sinking like currents into a bun just beginning to bake’, was this some obscure metaphysical reference to the currents of time or did you really mean ‘currants’. 😉
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Just a description of what was in my imagination’s eye. I’m really not that deep. 😉
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