Junk and Memories

cabinet

PHOTO PROMPT © Ronda Del Boccio

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Gary said, “Grandpa, why did you have to be such a mess? Why did I have to inherit it?”

The eighteen-year-old looked back at his longing to escape the rigidity of his Dad’s rule over their house. Now it didn’t seem so bad, especially when compared to the chores involved in emancipation.

“You’re not in this alone, Gary.” He and Sandoval had been best friends forever. “We’ll donate the beer and pizza and have a dozen people helping us get rid of all this junk.”

“Only some of the junk,” Gary murmured. “I want to keep all of the memories.”

It’s Wednesday and once again time to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 22 November 2024 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image at the top as the inspiration for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.

For the past couple of days, I’ve been taking my fifteen-year-old grandson out and letting him drive me around. This is part of his learning how to drive so he can get his license. It was daunting at first, but it has turned out to be a lot of fun.

He and I have been close for a lot of reasons and I hope when the time comes, he remembers me fondly and I don’t leave such a big mess for him to clean up.

To read other stories based on the prompt, visit inlinkz.

My science fiction short story “The Joker and the Thief” is now appearing in the anthology Ruth and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel, Volume II.

A man named Abyssian has cashed in on his natural ability to time travel by finding and selling rare objects lost to history to a mysterious pawnbroker named Sol. This time Sol wants what seems impossible. While history records that the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre in 1911, it was supposedly recovered a few years later in Italy.

However, Sol reveals that only a forgery was found. The real painting was taken on board the Titanic and will be lost forever unless Abyssian recovers it. However, when he makes the attempt, history changes spectacularly and he accidentally “creates” his own adversary: The Jester.

18 thoughts on “Junk and Memories”

  3. Nothing like having a buddy to help you go through stuff. And hopefully when it’s your grandson’s turn, it will be a walk down memory lane and not a chore.

    Like

    Reply

  5. I remember going through my Mom’s things… junk would be putting it mildly. After that, I decided that less is more. I’m leaving behind as little as I can for others to get rid of. I think I’ve got my world weedled down almost to two shoeboxes now… and one only because the little cedar box won’t fit in the other.

    Like

    Reply

      • That is SOOOO true! Actually, we can learn much from that generation about using what you have and being thankful that you even have it. I’m thinking of our frugal little thanksgiving meal this year and we are so very thankful for it. Last year at this time I was coming home from the hospital and not able to eat anything not liquid. I’m REALLY gonna enjoy my little henny.

        Like

Leave a reply to Dale Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.