No Tears

cartoon PigThe challenge? Write a story in 6 sentences, no more & no less, and if you’d like, share your own creation or just visit and comment on others’ ideas, with GirlieOnTheEdge, Denise. The prompt is “MELANCHOLY”, and here’s where you join the party: Six Sentence Stories

Without a doubt, that was the last straw.

His casual comments about strangers with unflattering hairstyles, alien colored locks, clothes worn too tight or too loose, the ugliness of sparse whiskers on extra chins, jiggling rolls of belly fat, too much makeup or not enough, had escalated over the past month, and his gimlet eye had turned to me though he hadn’t yet uttered his scathing commentary…yet.

And then, like a personal celebration of our three month anniversary of dating, he started in on my elderly and arthritic dog, Mollie, who yes, carried quite a bit of extra weight, but who had also been on to him from day one; she’d never liked him.

The man who never took a good look at himself got stuck fleeing through my front door, my fat but savage collie barking and snapping, and me delivering a final kick that squeezed him through with an emphatic pop and launched him arcing over the steps and onto his hands and knees, where he scraped and rolled down into the street, and kept rolling until he disappeared over the horizon.   

And Mollie, my sweet, chubby, melon-collie baby and I strolled down the street in the opposite direction and shared an ice cream (or two) while we watched a live band play funk & blues on a stage at the river’s edge; we may even have danced the sun down.

And as the saying goes, we lived happily ever after.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2023)

Ella Fitzgerald  ‘My Melancholy Baby’  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLTbEC1prcs

19 thoughts on “No Tears

  1. This is such a powerful story, and it’s so heartbreaking to read. It’s a reminder that we should all be more mindful of our words and how they affect others. Your writing has a way of captivating your readers, Denise! Thank you for sharing.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Good doggie!

    (the melon variation on the prompt occurred to me, but, alas I did not have the chops to pull it off. this is half the reason I participate in this ‘hop to learn from my betters. on my behalf:

    lol

    Liked by 1 person

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