Tag Archives: the beatles

Going to Shea Stadium

guitars

PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

“Have a seat.” Jackie’s voice was young and encouraging.

“Learn to play guitar at my age?” Anxiety from the time he tried learning the trumpet when he was ten surged in his seventy-one-year-old chest.

“Learning something new will keep you young,” his granddaughter said. “It sharpens the mind and…”

“There’s nothing wrong with my mind,” he complained. “I’m still inventing and just made a breakthrough.”

“I know you like music,” she said.

“Sure, as a consumer,” he said. “Look, I know you’re trying to help, but my time machine’s warmed up by now. August 15, 1965 and Shea Stadium await.”

Continue reading →

Yesterday

music

© Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

Santiago set his guitar on its stand, and then closed the cover on “the Beatles complete easy guitar” book. This small upstairs room was his refuge, someplace where he could visit his youth. Aging fingers would never be as nimble again, nor his voice as clear.

He whispered,

“Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away…”

Hearing a car pull up, he walked across the room to the window that overlooked the driveway and smiled. His children and grandchildren were here. Today, he turned sixty-four and would let himself rejoice in the present and whatever future he had left.

I wrote this for the Rochelle Wisoff-Fields writing challenge. The idea is to use the image above as the prompt for writing a piece of flash fiction no more than 100 words long. My word count is 99.

When I saw the songbook (I looked it up on Amazon to verify the title), I immediately thought of Paul McCartney’s Yesterday, but since I turn 64 next month, When I’m Sixty-Four also came to mind. Growing older is often a mixture of anticipation and regrets. You can never go home again, but you can sometimes visit.

To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.