Friday Fictioneers – Still Life

~ neilmacdon
dale-rogerson-pizza
PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson

“This is me?” I asked.

He smiled and nodded.

“Two-thirds of a pizza, a half-drunk glass of wine, my watch and some condiments?”

Again, that smile.

Tom told me once he picked through the rubble of the bombed village for an hour, arranging the detritus to compose his photograph. A frayed teddy bear from one house and, from another, a tin plate with a bullet hole.

“Wasn’t that lying?” I’d asked.

He replied it was revealing the truth.

“And the truth about me is?”

Tom hugged me and whispered “Maybe that you’re alone. Or maybe you changed plans.”

 

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge set by Rochelle Wisoff Fields to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here.

Fancy sharpening your skill with writing exercises? The Scrivener’s Forge offers a new exercise every month to hone one aspect of your craft. Take a look at this month’s exercise on character and likeability

63 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Still Life”

  6. Interesting view of the prompt. One that bears some thought. How would someone portray our lives in a photo? Very well written as usual. 🙂 ❤

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  8. Interesting take on the prompt. Intriguing to have someone reduce one’s essence into a collage like this. If I’d interpret the scene. I’d come up with “a guy who’s casual, easy-going.” (Which never fits a writer, eh?)
    Change of plans? He invited her over and ordered in pizza, but she didn’t show. Better luck next time.

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  10. I like this. It’s very subtle. I also like that you’ve left it open for interpretation. My interpretation is romantic; she might have been alone, but now he has changed her plans, which she might be amenable to. 🙂

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  17. I’m with you on the romantic change of plans.
    There’s something haunting about old pizza boxes. I was in a pretty dark mood when I lamented that the pizza box lasted longer than the date (can’t those pizza boxes linger in a shared student house!) and wrote a poem.
    Deary me! That’s making me feel old.

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  18. Your story reminds me of how archaeologists work. There are the little clues and the larger picture. Reading between the lines, I think there’s a huge emotional charge between those two in your story, and that Tom has a novel way of expressing what he feels.

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  19. This was a most interesting take indeed. I love how you left it open for interpretation (and we see quite a few in the comments, eh?) I rather like the romantic possibility…

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  24. Very interesting slant that Neil and not so far from the truth. Saw a documentary about photography recently where a war photographer in the ‘Valley of the Shadow of Death’ after the Charge of the Light Brigade, scattered the path with hundreds of cannon balls. They weren’t actually there from the charge but the image carried a greater power – a greater ‘truth’ – about that day than the original scene. Great story.

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  30. Your title links so cleverly to Tom’s comments. I love the way that Tom hugs you and speaks in a whisper. It conveys to me that he understands your life is ‘on hold’ and he wants you to know how much he has your interests at heart. You’re alone and it’s not a happy time for you and he really cares about that. A superb story.

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