But there, the silver answer rang...

A winter tale in exactly 100 words

Stefzn on Unsplash.com ( edited )

Justin Deming

of

Along the Hudson

challenged his cohort to write a 50-word story about winter holidays. You will find all the entries HERE. They are always quite clever. My posting here is a 100-word version.

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It’s funny how life turns out, isn’t it?

Working in the nursing home today, she’d fed, bathed and dressed eight elderly people. She had sung with them and listened to their old stories. She’d made them laugh. Brought them tea.

She’s with them every day, and to these bewildered old ones who’ve been abandoned or who’ve outlived their tribe, she’s their Annie, she’s family, and they love her.

Late tonight, on the bus home, she smiles and sighs. She spent all her Christmas holidays bringing a little cheer to the old ones. It’s no sacrifice; they’re the only family she has.

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My story’s title comes from Elizabeth Barrett Browning — Sonnets of the Portuguese 1 - a lovely little poem for all seasons

I thought once how Theocritus had sung

Of the sweet years, the dear and wished for years,

Who each one in a gracious hand appears

To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:

And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,

I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,

The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,

Those of my own life, who by turns had flung

A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware,

So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move­

Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair,

And a voice said in mastery, while I strove, ...

Guess now who holds thee?'—Death,' I said. But there,

The silver answer rang ... Not Death, but Love.'

I wish you all a warm, peaceful holiday season. And remember … if you can’t be with the ones you love … love the ones you’re with. — Stephen Stills, 1970

Click arrow quickly THREE times

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Sharron Bassano