Friday Fictioneers – Nostalgia

~ neilmacdon

inside-the-diner

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bultot

There is a seat, a special seat. I won’t say where that diner is, or you’ll hunt out the chair. Sit in it and the world goes kinda flickery, customers fade to wraiths. A sensation in the pit of your stomach like an express elevator, and then you’re there, whenever you feel you want to belong.

For me the destination is always 1953 – happy and obedient children, proud and diligent families, genial neighbours, convertibles with chrome and fins. For Paul, 1965 and a supercilious cook giving him that look, hissing “no negroes.”

 

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 world-building.

54 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Nostalgia”

  1. Dear Neil,

    Interesting, this week we went for the same year. Mine takes place in 1953, too. 😉 Your diner sounds fascinating. I’ll stay away from 1965 though. Well done.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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  2. This is such a great seat – pleeasse tell me where it is! Seriously, this is such a good idea for a story. I’m a little confused as to why Paul feels he ‘belongs’ in 1965, because that sounds like a positive thing. I presumed he wants to get back at the cook?

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  3. Excellent, in a lot of ways.
    Stephen King’s 11/22/63 was an interesting take on how a modern viewpoint would see the past. Our white (and, in my case, male) perspective definitely dominates perceptions of history.

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  5. Why are we always dreaming of the past? If we could retain all our memories I’ll bet we could place moments even in the fondest times that are not ideal. I liked this Neal and know it is the way with most people. So many things have changed over the decades that can never be again.

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  8. This story makes one think, the past is certainly not all roses. I really liked what you did with the prompt.

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  10. A truly lovely idea! Well, lovely and awful, of course, depending where you want to go. I was going to write a civil rights story too, but chose a different path. Loved your take, Neil

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  12. Hmmm, what year would I like to revisit… maybe 1973, before my world was destroyed. Love the story and where it took my thoughts. 🙂 ❤

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  19. Love the mystical, whimsical feeling of this piece. It is so though provoking – why 1965 for Paul, where would I go?

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  22. Well, Neil, I lived through 1953 and that’s an idealistic view of it. I was twelve so remember it well. The Korean War didn’t end until midway through. Also, that viewpoint sounds like the propaganda passed out by the popular TV family shows of the time. There were good times of course and we didn’t see the amount of dope that came along afterward. People still had their troubles, though, and I wouldn’t want to go back. It was a good story and good writing, though. 🙂 — Suzanne

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  23. Love this idea and your descriptions of 1953 – those happy and obedient children. I have an eerie sense that the chair is in control and choosing where you end up and I don’t want to sit in it.

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