Since many of my blogging buddies are off doing a photo challenge, I decided to do something a little different, too. Today I’m participating in The One Minute Writer website’s weekly short fiction challenge. The prompt is “shirt.” Go easy on me. This fiction stuff is new…
The shirt was neatly pressed just the way he liked. She’d hung it on the refrigerator where he’d be sure to see it first thing as he entered through the garage. He’d wonder where her car was at that hour and why the house was so quiet. He’d call out for Buddy, his beloved Schnauzer, who was usually leaping against the kitchen door and barking to greet him. At first he wouldn’t understand, but the large burn mark on the hem would draw him close and the trace of red still visible underneath would bring his memory into sharp focus.
She’d laid the hot iron against the stain again and again as she thought about the woman who’d put it there. She knew her well. She’d been her at one time before the years had made her, too, vulnerable.
The sea breeze washed over her, taking the past with it as she sped up the coast. Knowing this day would come, she’d planned well. She imagined her husband picking up Buddy’s empty food dish from the floor; maybe going to fill it before he remembered just how alone he was now.
Her cell phone rang. She looked down at the screen. From the back seat, Buddy barked as he tried, over and over, to catch the wind in his mouth. She smiled and tossed him the phone. “It’s for you.”
