© C.E. Ayr
Ginny remembered her Daddy as she stood overlooking the railroad yard. She was just three years old when he showed her that first train up close. It was moving slowly; large and stately, like a friendly dinosaur. The engineer looked down at her and smiled. She waved shyly back. She’d loved trains ever since. Someday, she’d teach that same love to her children and tell them how much she adored the Grandpa they would never meet. Ginny left the train yard and went back to work in the oncology ward. She hated the cancer that had taken her Daddy.
Written as part of the Friday Fictioneers challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The idea is to write a piece of flash fiction with a max limit of 100 words based on the photo prompt (above).
To read more stories based on this week’s prompt, visit InLinkz.com.
Today’s story is exactly 100 words long.
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Nicely done. A sad one.
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Thank you, Sandra.
When my boys were around two (twins), my wife, the kids, and I took a road trip with my parents from California, where I lived at the time, to Omaha, Nebraska, my hometown and where all of my Mom’s still family lives.
Somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, we stopped at a railroad museum. It also had a large park and was located in a very rural area.
We were sitting close to the train tracks in the park area when a freight train came along, going very slowly, slow enough to where you could see the faces of the engineers. They smiled and waved at my boys, and I realized this was a classic Americana moment, probably one I experienced when I was young. It had a real “Norman Rockwell” feel.
No sad ending. My kids are grown and my parents are still alive. I felt I needed to give the story a poignant twist to give it more impact.
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A great last line, packed an emotional punch. Good one, and I appreciate the love of trains.
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I almost didn’t include the last line, but just having Ginny tell her future children about a Grandpa they’d never meet just didn’t have enough emotional impact. Having her work in an oncology ward is her way of fighting back against the cancer that killed her Dad.
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Dear James,
A lovely story. Ginny sounds like a giving person who has used her grief to give back to the world. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle. I wrote this story early this morning while my grandchildren were still asleep.
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You described the magic of the iron road so well. As well as the pain that cancer can cause. A fine piece of writing
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Thank you. I’m honored you think so.
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An entire moving story in 100 words – lovely.
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Thank you, Elizabeth. I appreciate the complement.
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There’s just something about trains, isn’t there? And she’s chosen a career to fight the disease which took her father.
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Yeah, I always loved trains as a kid.
I added the part about her Dad dying of cancer and her working in an oncology ward almost as an afterthought. I was going to end the story at the part where she says she’ll tell her children about a Grandpa they’ll never know, but that didn’t seem to have enough emotional impact.
Fortunately, my children grew up knowing their grandpa, and now I’m a grandpa to my little grandkids, so it’s all good.
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Nice 🙂
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Thanks.
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You have taken us on a very moving emotional roller coaster ride through life. Very poignantly captured life’s ever changing vicissitudes.
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Thanks, Neel. Much appreciated.
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Lovely and sad, with great, positive closure.
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Bittersweet ending to say the least.
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I see the comparison of trains to dinosaurs. I’m not generally particularly excited about dinosaurs, but a lot of people think of them as big and bulky like train cars. And especially of them as being extinct. I DO like trains very much, and don’t want them to go extinct. (The extra part about the grandpa then goes with forlorn death.)
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I was trying to use symbolism that might come from a small child’s mind and “dinosaurs” popped into my head. When I was a kid, I read about big, bulky dinos, although we now know a lot of them were smaller and sleeker.
We’ll still need big rig trucks and trains to haul stuff around the country that’s too big or too expensive to move by air. That said, with self-driving cars becoming all the rage, can self-driving trucks and trains be far behind?
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Very descriptive. I liked the use of “friendly dinosaur” to describe trains.
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Thanks, Life Lessons.
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This was lovingly written…
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Thank you for your kind comment, Dale.
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Very nice. I was lured here by your wonderful title.
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Glad you were lured. Please stay and read more.
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I loved the comparison with the dinosaur. Well written piece.
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Thank you, sir.
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I enjoyed this piece, James. Until I was nine, we lived in a neighborhood where trains ran behind our back yards. I missed the sound of those old steam trains when we moved to the country. My one grandfather had been a telegrapher with the Erie Railroad Company in western Ohio. Good writing. 🙂 — Suzanne
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I think my Dad’s Dad worked for the railroad before he became a farmer. I don’t have any details, though.
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