They probably think I’m a bit strange. But then they probably see only a messy picnic blanket here. That would explain why they’re trying to pull me away. If the picnic’s over, it’s time to go. But I wasn’t here to eat the chicken drumsticks and the potato salad. This mess is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.
The geometry of crumbs on the checkerboard pattern describes one particular folding of space-time. Perhaps today, this will be the universe that contains you, and I can dive in and find you again.
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
Neil MacDonald Author 
Somewhat off the wall and very clever.
Sadly I think she has gone for good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, mate. Yes, I think you’re right
LikeLike
He’s a little on the eccentric scale…
LikeLiked by 1 person
You think?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hope over realism – he’s clinging on when it seems he really needs to let her go.
LikeLike
He’s an optimist
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a very lonely and weird world he’s living in, and you describe it to perfection.
LikeLike
Thanks so much, Sandra
LikeLike
Dear Neil,
Poor guy. I hope this isn’t what Ted was thinking when he snapped the picture. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
If it was, it was the wrong tablecloth. Ted seems to still be with us
LikeLiked by 1 person
For one moment I wondered if this was a autistic seagull. 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
No, I don’t do animal stories
LikeLike
Perhaps, but probably not.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There’ll always be another picnic
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really cool, Neil! I like that, The mind goes places here. I think Ted needs to eat out more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much, William
LikeLike
Beautiful and awesome!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much
LikeLike
An intriguing tale. I fear his quest is doomed. Even in a finite three dimensional maze there is a finite chance that two seekers will never meet. I hate to think what the chance is in a space with more than three dimensions.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much, Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sad and tender, I doubt he’ll see her again though
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much
LikeLike
He’s in his own little world, isn’t he?
LikeLiked by 1 person
A bit more than most of us
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think so!
LikeLike
i could feel the deep longing for someone forever lost not even chicken drumsticks could satisfy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not even prawn cocktails
LikeLiked by 1 person
Grief can do strange things to one’s mind. Grief is what I thought of. Maybe because of my work as a therapist—I do tend to try to find something specific to work on 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re perceptive. Grief is what I had in mind
LikeLiked by 1 person
A mindbender for sure. Keeping hope alive is what matters.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much, Jade
LikeLiked by 1 person
You are very important.
LikeLike
Damn, I mean You are welcome! Mind wandered for a sec.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The possibilities are endless, aren’t they? I believe the scientists found evidence of a parallel universe.
LikeLike
I think it’s in the nature of parallel universes that we can never know anything about them, or know whether they exist
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really depends on whether we can improve our instruments to that level.
LikeLike
Quite wistful and a little sad.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was the effect I was going for. Thanks
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is so true- when the picnic is over we all wish we could turn the clock back and do things differently – hopefully for the better.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, James
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooooooo I love it.
I hope one day he finds her… So many timestreams to slip though, gotta be careful
LikeLiked by 1 person
It would be a better story, of course, if he doesn’t find her
LikeLike
Ooooo interesting
LikeLike
How desperately sad – he could spend the rest of his life searching.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That may, of course, be the purpose of his life
LikeLike
Grief might have made him go over the edge. You described his inner world just perfectly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so mjuch, Fatima
LikeLiked by 1 person
He seems to want to read the tablecloth like others read tea leaves. He might be disappointed. Original take, Neil
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Michael. I suspect he’ll be in for a lifetime of disappointment
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting take. It left me wondering if he’s really traveling through dimensions or if he’s lost his mind along with the person for whom he’s searching.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s often hard to tell the difference
LikeLiked by 1 person
And heaven in a wild flower. I like it. 🙂 I think we’ve all been there at some point, where we are looking for something/someone so hard and longingly that we see them everywhere.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much
LikeLike
I think the remnants of a picnic on the crumpled up cloth are a bit elegiac, and the man is too, grasping at filaments of hope.
LikeLiked by 1 person
He’s not so different from all of us, perhaps
LikeLike
Nice one. The grieving mind can take you to different dimensions when you are desperately seeking answers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much
LikeLike
Instead of looking at tea-leaves or the intestines of a slaughtered lamb why not take a deeper look at trash?
LikeLiked by 1 person
If the trash is very old, such habits keep archeologists in work
LikeLike
Great fodder for the imagination!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much, Dawn
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is truly an original take on the photo, what interest thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much, Ted
LikeLike