Copyright Lauren Moscato
“I’ll drive you home, Ellen.”
“I’m widowed, not incapacitated.”
Not an unhappy marriage, but no idyll either. Different aspirations, different interests.
She’d often dreamed of leaving but each time she reached the brink she held back, fearful that only a void existed on the other side.
Now every night, unsupported by his bulk, she rolls over into his cold, vacated hollow.
She sits in his favourite chair, and fingers the threadbare patches where his meaty hands once fidgeted constantly.
I wonder, she thinks, whether I took all that there was to be taken.
And every day, she comes closer to the answer.
Going through something of a fallow patch at the moment, but the best way to reach the other side is to keep on keeping on, I think. And what better exercise than Friday Fictioneers under the watchful eye of Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. Thanks for all that you do for the group, Rochelle.
castelsarrasin 
Dear Sandra,
I’m glad to see the muse was with you this week. Your story leaves us with questions, that perhaps, should be asked while our partners are still with us. Well done…but I never expect anything less.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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PS…now that I turn around and look at your title, I think for the indifferent wife, the answer might have been the same when he was alive. Still bleary eyed this morning.
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Thank you Rochelle. And for the last sentence. That’s the reason I didn’t rock up last week. 😉
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Dear Sandra,
I missed you last week.
As I read your story this week I said to myself, “God, Sandra’s good.” A flash of lightning startled me and then, a few seconds later I could have sworn the thunder said, “I know.”
Love you.
Aloha,
Doug
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Missed you too, Doug. The elements just weren’t on my side last week. Thanks for visiting, yours is a cracker this week. 🙂
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Well Sandra, you managed again this week to get right into someone’s head and share it with us. Great description, and so well done yet again. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thank you Suzanne. I ought to be leaving other people’s heads alone but I can’t resist a little foray every now and then. 🙂
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Howdy – this bit: “…reached the brink she held back, fearful that only a void existed on the other side.” – beautiful use of words to get the point that she wont leave for fear of being alone (the void).
Nailed it.
KT
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Thanks KT; a lot of women operate on that basis, I think.
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Not just women – I had a ex-gf I stayed with for years simply because it was comfortable:)
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😊
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You’ve said so much with so little. Well done Sandra.
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Thanks Mick.
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So good! The reader can go down so many different paths not taken.
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Thank you. Glad you liked it and saw the possibilities.
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A touching tribute, indeed. I have nightmares of what it will be like when my dear one departs. With his epilepsy slowly getting worse, it could be sooner than either of us imagine. Thanks for such a poignant story. I almost want to go to my husband’s work, demand to see him, just to kiss him for no reason whatsoever…
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I’m sorry about your situation, and I hope I didn’t upset you with this. Thanks for dropping by.
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I enjoyed your write, Sandra. It was well-written. I can just see myself doing this.
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Junkers so sad to hear this. I hope every moment is a treasure to be remembered.
Phyllis
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Very thought provoking. You’ve given us a lifetime to ponder in just 100 words.
Great story 🙂
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Thanks Rachel. 🙂
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Good to have you back, Sandra. Your story leaves me with a lot of questions, but I think perhaps all of them intended and certainly none the worse for them. One thing I must pick up on though – I love the narrative voice for this – seeing it from the point of view of a loving friend trying to understand adds an extra depth that a first person or omniscient type narration would lose.
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Hi Jen, good to be back. I tried to do this in first person (my favoured style) but I think the sentiments made me feel really uncomfortable so I had to insert a degree of detachment to do the theme justice. Thanks for commenting.
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What a way with words…beautiful, poignant, deep, you touched every hidden corner of my heart,
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Thank you! So glad you liked it.
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Amazing take on the prompt! Loved it!
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Thank you!
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Love your take on the photo prompt, I really felt for the widow. A wonderful piece of writing 🙂
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Many thanks Heidi, glad you liked it.
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I enjoyed this psychiatric analysis. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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Great idea i.e. a void. Being, honest I’m not totally sure what the ending means, but that’s not unusual for me…lol.
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Thanks Paul. She’s just beginning to realise that she misses him, but being the kind of self centred person that she is, she couches it in terms of “did I get everything out of him as a person” rather than “have I not appreciated him.” Or something like that. 😉
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Stunning piece. Such a tangle of emotions.
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Thank you Karen. 🙂
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Dear Sandra,
It’s so easy to take the ones we love for granted. I think of a family member of mine whom I always thought merely tolerated her husband until the day he almost died. During his second open-heart surgery in 24 hours, I sat next to her as I realized how deeply she had grown to love him. Since that time, I don’t think she has taken a single moment for granted. Too bad that not everyone gets that kind of a second chance.
All my best,
Marie Gail
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I agree, Marie Gail. Sometimes you don’t know what you have until it’s no longer with you and there’s no way you can turn back the clock. I’m glad your relative had the opportunity to put things right here. Have a lovely Easter.
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How sad.
How thought provokingly sad.
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Thanks Dawn. Too late for her, I think.
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There’s a lesson for us here…
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fearful that only a void existed on the other side. How many people stay in an unsavory situation for this very reason. Well done!!!
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I agree Alicia. Fear is a great limiter.
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I guess she didn’t know just how much she really loved him. I hope there’s more life for her to enjoy.
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Thanks for reading MR. 🙂
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I guess all grief is ultimately ego centric. But life is too short for regrets.
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A surviving strategy – as long as we learn from the experience. 🙂
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A beautifully written and thoughtful piece.
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Thank you Francesca. 🙂
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Dear Sandra, Great story and very well written (as usual)! Nan
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Thank you Nan. Appreciate your dropping by.
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Hi Sandra, very nice story. Sometimes we take each other for granted and miss when one is gone.
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We do indeed. Thanks for reading Indira.
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A very thought-provoking and evocative piece.
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Thank you!
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A very poignant piece of writing, Sandra. So much room for regrets when it’s too late to do anything about them. 😦
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Indeed Thanks for dropping by.
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Aren’t we all too often appreciating people (or things) only after they’re gone? Wonderful and thoughtful story.
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Thank you, glad you liked it.
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a touch of genius. well-written as usual.
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Thank you! All the best.
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I noticed that you are always one of the first few to reply each week. But what impresses me most is that you always have a powerful and moving story.
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Thanks Mike. 🙂 If I don’t get the inspiration straight away, it generally won’t come at all. Last week I didn’t submit, but it wasn’t that I didn’t try – I had three stories but they were rubbish. 😦 So I stayed away, licking my wounds and hoping for better things this week.
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You’ve written a brilliant personalty study, jam-packed into 100 words! She was an indifferent wife, now a cold and selfish widow. And kind of snippy to her friend! Very sad. Perhaps she would have been more capable of joy had she left the marriage while still young.
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That’s a possibiity Jan. I thought this was an interesting angle for a story with lots of possibilities. Thanks for dropping by.
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Nicely done… Sounds of desperation and hopeless, yet not ready to admit it?
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I think she’s getting there, slowly. 🙂 Thank you.
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She doesn’t sound indifferent to me. Unless your title was meant to be sarcastic.
Randy
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I think she was an indifferent wife, and now she’s a regretful widow, or as close to it as she’s going to get. Thanks for dropping by Randy.
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Beautifully written Sandra. So sad. I particularly liked this sentence: “She sits in his favourite chair, and fingers the threadbare patches where his meaty hands once fidgeted constantly”.
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That was an image of my father, who always fidgetted and fiddled in his chair, his hands having thickened as they do with age. Glad you liked it.
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Beautiful piece Sandra. Sometimes we find life too difficult — I had the impression from “meaty hands once fidgeted constantly” and that she would have left if she wasn’t scared of the void, that perhaps life with him was a struggle but we find just how much we miss him when he is gone and wish that perhaps we had been a little less indifferent. You have painted a person I know to perfection.
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And one I know too, Irene. 🙂 Thanks for reading Irene.
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Brilliant. That story says so much about the complexity of relationships.
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Thanks Sarah, glad you liked it.
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Sounds like my mother when she was with my father. As a new widow, it made me ever grateful that I did not have an indifferent relationship with Mick.
You are a brilliant writer!
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Thank you Dale. I’m sorry for your loss, but it’s good that you have no regrets about your relationship. Happy Easter.
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None! Right back at you!
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Well written. It makes me think, “what did she do?”
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Not enough, I think Adam. Thanks for reading.
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There’s always that nagging fear that we might be jumping from the frying pan into the fire. My sister in-law was complaining about her nagging mother and my Dad responded, “My mother nagged a lot too. I’d sure love to hear her do it one more time.”
Also, I must echo Doug’s comment. You are really good. I keep hoping some of it will rub off on me.
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Yes, you can never anticipate the size and dimensions of your loss. And thank you for your latter comment. I wish some of your humour would permeate my own work more. 🙂
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Glad you made it this week Sandra, not sure I am going to, but I’ll try.
A great story to come back with I must say, you have a way of getting straight to the heart of feelings and laying them bare, well done.
On another note, your story is in this month’s ‘Writing’ magazine, as you are home I guess you have seen it. A great piece of flash fiction, loved it.
Dee
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Thanks for commenting Dee, and for letting me know that abut my story. I haven’t got my copy of the May edition yet, so I’m looking forward to the postman’s visit!
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Very sad story. Felt sad for both of them. Indifference – such a loaded bitter word.
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Thanks for reading; I agree.
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Your wonderful story captures so well the mixture of emotions that often comprises relationships. I’m sure even the longest, most successful ones have moments where one or the other partner wonders, as your Ellen does. Ellen may be self-centred, as you explain above, but she comes through as having loved him, as best she could, and that’s all any of us can do.
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Yes, sometimes the unlikeliest of peope get together, and it’s necessary to work to keep a relationship alive. Thanks for commenting so thoughtfully, Margaret.
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Sandra, your “fallow” is still inspiring. I think I’ve known a few indifferent wives… and husbands. You really capture the sense of hopelessness and loss here.
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Thanks Dawn. Lovely comment. Yes, I think there are a lot of people existing in, rather than celebrating their relationships. Happy holidays.
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Very moving. It is amazing how much emotion can be packed into such a short piece.
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Sometimes I think it’s easier to express a situation in short pieces. It forces you to choose your words carefully. Thanks for reading and commenting.
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I think a lot of people feel the same. I missed you last week.
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Thanks! 🙂
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I imagine there are many in marriages that have regrets. It makes you wonder why they would stay when we only have one life to live. Yet, in the end, when the other is gone they wonder still. Exceptional writie, Sandra. You have a wonderful way of weaving your words. 😊
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What a powerful story, Sandra. It makes me wonder about my own life.
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This is so well written, Sandra. Insightful and thought-provoking – and the title gives us a further view of the woman’s behaviour and response to her husband’s death.
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I love the direction you took with this Sandra, so much to think about and lots of room for the reader to consider the possibilities in terms of her regrets and the answer to which she is moving closer
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Nicely done, not indifferent to such a fine piece of writing.
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Great piece, so true of so many people. Getting closer to the answer but in most cases never getting there because only one road is taken and the other remains unknown. There is always a feeling of loss and sadness, no manner what. Super job!
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This is sad, Sandra.
This paragraph “She sits in his favourite chair, and fingers the threadbare patches where his meaty hands once fidgeted constantly”…. so moving.
Ellespeth
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great post, but why do wives wonder about their role only after they are widowed
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Very thought provoking and sad. The end of a marriage is always sad, be it through death or divorce.
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