Wednesday's Words on a Friday

 

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along to read it and add a few encouraging words.

This month the words/prompts are supplied by MessyMimi and can be found here

This week's words/prompts are: 

1. flatware 2. season 3. resist 4. combine 5. second 6. breakdown 

and/or: 

1. bottom 2. shame 3. spine 4. dinner 5. offence 6. front

also including Charlotte's colour of the month "luminous red". 

Here is my story: 

It was the Christmas season and the youngest grand-daughter was learning to set the table. Newly five years old she was very proud to be able to do this and I was helping with the placement of the flatware. I held the tray as Linda carefully chose each knife, fork and spoon, laying them with care. As we shuffled to the next placing she asked me, "why do you wear that thing Grammy?" I patted the metal, asking "you mean this brace?" "Yes," she said. "Why?" I couldn't resist the earnest little face and decided to tell her. 

"A very long time ago when I was seventeen, I was working in an upstairs room at the cheese factory and the stairs were very steep. We girls walked up and down those stairs several times a day and on one trip my boot slipped right at the edge of the top stair, so instead of walking down, I bounced all the way down on my bottom."

"Did it hurt Grammy?" "Not right away," I said, "but I remember feeling a little shame that the front of my dress had been pulled up and my knickers were on show, I felt as if my face was neon red with the embarrassment." "Oh Grammy, not your knickers!" and she giggled. "Later, the hurt came, when I tried to keep working and my back began to hurt until I couldn't stand up, the base of my spine might have been damaged a little bit. The boss of the factory sent me to get an x-ray, but that showed no bones were broken, just the muscles holding things in place were badly sprained."

 "Like when Tim sprained his knee playing hockey?" "Yes, just like that. But my back took longer to get better because in those long ago days, it was thought the best thing to do was keep as still and straight as possible, so I lay in bed flat on my back for a week, then I tried getting up and walking around. But I wasn't allowed to go back to work, because we had to lift heavy blocks of cheese and wrap them for storage, that might hurt my back again, so the boss said he would give my job to someone else." By now we had finished the flatware and began laying folded napkins onto each dinner plate. 

"Luckily for me, I had managed to save some money and I was still living with my mum and dad, so staying home to rest wasn't so bad. But I did get very bored." "Did they say if you are bored go and clean your room?" Linda asked. "That's what mum says to Tim when he is grumbling around the house." We laughed together at that and went back to the kitchen to see how dinner was progressing. 

"I just need to combine the salad ingredients," said my daughter Sandra, "then the pudding needs another few seconds of steaming before I put it in the warming oven. It's a shame Uncle Nick can't be here, what with Jilly having another breakdown. I don't think she will ever get over that tragedy. It's been three years and she has missed every Christmas." "What tragy Mum?" Linda said. "Trag-e-dy," said Sandra. "Three years ago, when you were still learning to talk, Aunty Jilly's Grammy died right at Christmas time and Aunty Jilly still feels very bad about it every time Christmas comes around."

"Oh" said Linda. "But grammy you didn't finish about your brace thing, why you wear it." "Well," I said, as I got better I got other jobs, but without much schooling, I could only work in factories where the work is harder and often we had to work fast to get the goods made and ready to sell, so over time my back was sprained more than a few times, though never as bad as the first time, but the muscles there aren't as strong now that I am eighty-five, so I wear a brace just for support when I have to be away from home for more than a few hours at a time. When I get home again, I take it off and rest a bit then do the easy stretches to exercise the muscles a bit." 

"So you will never be better and not have to wear it?" "Well, it is Christmas, we can hope for a miracle can't we?" I said.