To commemmorate the 40th edition of the 100 Word Challenge for Grown Ups, this week’s prompt was ‘Ruby’.
Through tear-filled eyes, she studied the ruby brooch, before glancing around at the expectant faces.
“It’s lovely,” she whispered.
Her gaze found his. He’d been the centre of her life since she’d given herself to him forty years ago. They’d shared good times and bad, success and failure. She’d tolerated his dalliances, remained fiercely loyal. And he’d always come back to her.
Gracefully masking her emotions, she thanked everybody, even the pretty, new assistant flirting at his side.
She cleared her desk, ready to begin her unexpectedly soon retirement.
‘She’ll see him out,’ she thought briefly, ‘one way or another.’
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oooohhh want to know what happened and what happens next! 🙂
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Let’s hope she has a long and happy retirement. 🙂
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Very good. Enjoyed the punch line at the end – her partner isn’t very nice is he – sounds like she has put up with too much.
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I think she has! Thanks for commenting.
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Lovely – I think my Dad’s secretary was a bit like your lady! A super take on the prompt.
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Hah! Now thereby must hang a tale Alison. Interesting… 🙂
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Like it…something tells me she’s a lady with a plan…
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Hell hath no fury etc…. Anna. 🙂 Thanks for commenting
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My, my … There’s quite a tale behind these words, and you’ve hinted at it so well that I feel I’m almost there, but curious and aching for clarification on the backstory. Well done!
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Thank you! 🙂
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I hope the pretty young thing is a useless secretary. Love the line that she’ll see him out. maybe she”ll be the cause?
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Hopefully the young secretary will wear him out! 🙂 Thanks for commenting.
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Love the twist at the end. LOL Nice
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Thanks Jeanelaine, glad you liked it.
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Hmm… Rubies are Red, Cheaters are Fools, Retirement’s nice, but Men are tools. xD (Not all of em. Just the one in this story. ^_~)
Love the ending!
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🙂 Thank you Tamara. Glad you liked it.
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Oooh some fascinating characters here, great job!
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Glad you liked it Gilly.
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Love the angle you took with this. Hopefully the new secretary will get promoted and the boss will become “surplus to requirements” !
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He’s way overdue! Thanks for commenting Sally-Jayne.
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I found this quite heart-wrenching….one always believes love and loyalty will be rewarded…but not with a ruby brooch….
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And even then it was as a result of an office ‘whip-round’. 🙂 Thanks for commenting.
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Interesting twist on the challenge. It is very intriguing.
Well done …!!!
Hope you’ll stop by and read my entry.
Thanks,
Isadora
http://insidethemindofisadora.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/ruby/
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Thank you for commenting, been to yours – enjoyed it. 🙂
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Wow, you’ve packed a lot of unsaid stuff into your 100 words, very well done!
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Poor woman! Lovely story 🙂
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There must be many a woman who experienced this … 😦
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Great stuff. So powerful that you can feel her heart breaking altho’ she kept her dignity. And this situation happens so often. His days must be numbered too. I wonder how strong his heart is. Well, there’s no fool like an old fool…..
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Ah yes, the new one will see him out, more than likely for worse. It’s such a cliché (not your writing, the situation) and yet it is like that because it truly does happen in that way, so very often. Been there done that, and he’s now divorcing again and worried about how his two younger kids will react.
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Excellent, love the punch line at the end.
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Thanks Susan. 🙂
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I felt sad for the lady at first. Then I pictured her doing the great things she is capable of and having it enrich “her” life instead of bolstering some “mid-life crisis” door knob’s ego.
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“door knob” – lovely! 🙂 I like to think she erased his hard drive before she left the building. 🙂
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This was quite lovely, if full of silent heartache. How many times has she had to go through this sort of event, I wonder, looking out and seeing some young thing sidle close to the man who used to be hers? I really enjoy how you captured that resigned melancholy. And I love the line about the dalliances!
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Thanks for commenting Mayumi.
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She is a woman who knows where she’s been and is, hopefully in the end, better for it. 🙂 Bravo for an intriguing post…!
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Hehe, sounds like they are both about to ‘retire.’ Well written.
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Oh my goodness! What a twist at the end. How cruel or will it be when she sees him getting his come uppence!
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