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 Elephant's Child  and can be found here

This week's words/prompts are: 

a photo of an old woman 

and/or: 

1. destined 2. remarkable 3. lure 4. aware 5.rules

also including Charlotte's colour of the month: clay brown

Here is my story:

Clara adjusted the bright knitted blanket over her knees and leaned her elbows on the windowsill, it wasn't too uncomfortable and she could see the children playing down below more easily. The yard down below was hard packed clay, brown as a hen's egg, with not a single blade of grass to be seen. She remembered the farm it had once been, she'd been a kitchen maid there, the work was hard and seemingly never ending, beginning with stoking the fires and readying the baking ovens before sunrise and ending with taking the scraps buckets out to the pigs each evening. 

She had eventually married and moved away, well aware of the lure of city life that called to her new husband, he dreamed of owning a store or working in a bank, yet was destined to fail at every venture he tried, with his lack of education and not wanting to be a chimney sweep.

Clara got jobs in kitchens once again and kept food on the table and clothes on their backs until Edward eventually realised the city life was not for them. Back to this small county they came, only to find the big farm they remembered had been sold off sections at a time and a whole big town was now in its place. 

The last small block, where the children now played had held the original farmhouse and the for sale sign had a big red "SOLD" sticker across it. It had been bought by the nursing home Clara now lived in and she wondered idly what they would do with it. 

She had no knowledge of the rules of development and hoped perhaps it might be made into a small garden where the residents could sit in the sunshine and the children could still come and play. 

Clara and Edward had not been blessed with children of their own, but she did love to see them and one small boy in particular remeinded her very much of a younger Edward with his bright copper curls.

Edwards curls were now snow white and Clara thought back over the years thinking how remarkable it was that a worn out couple such as they could still be clinging to life, though Edward was bedbound and she herself got to the window only with the help of her wheelchair.