PHOTO PROMPT © J.S. Brand
“Do you really think you can do it?”
I nodded into my coffee but my heart fluttered an I-don’t-know.
“You’ll ruin the whole thing.” Stacey stuffed the last bite of bagel in her mouth and grabbed her bag, leaving me the clean up. How symbolic.
I rinsed the pot and the grounds swirled like time into the sink.
My eyes gazed out the window. We hadn’t touched Dad’s stuff. The almost-finished totem. His tools.
“You’re good at this,” he’d once said.
His praise had sustained me, but was I good enough to complete the carving that now he never would?
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Na'ama Yehuda 
I liked the image in “the grounds swirled like time into the sink”
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Thanks, Neil! Glad you liked it!
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Maybe your narrator leaving it unfinished and therefore completely his or her late father’s work, will be preferable to attempting to finish it.
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Yes, perhaps. Or perhaps finishing the project will allow closure and become a piece that celebrates their connection. I don’t know that we — or the narrator — knows for sure what they’d do. Is Stacey against finishing the work or is she for it being finished but worries her sibling won’t measure up and would indeed ruin it? Is she jealous of the carving connection her sibling had with their father, and if so, what is the best way to manage it–by her, by her sibling? Grief is complicated, isn’t it? Thank you for the comment!
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I think with a message like that you have no choice but to continue his work
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Perhaps, eh? 🙂
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You carved a interesting story. I do hope the totem gets finished as her dad seem to desire
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Thank you, Michael! 🙂
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To carve or not to carve? Not a decision I’d like to make.
Click to read my FriFic tale!
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Not a simple one, for sure … And not one I’d made (if only because my carving skills are best reserved to watermelon … ;))
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Na’ama Y’karah,
There are so many things to love about this piece. Beautifully constructed. Just enough to fillin the backstory. Touching and the imagery had me in the moment with her.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle! 🙂 I’m so glad the imagery came through!
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Nice sibling snubbing, and guilt and self-doubt, inspired by expressed parents’ wishes. Hope the siblings grow closer and more supportive of each other in their grief.
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I hope so, too!
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Both heart warming and sad.
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Thanks, James. I agree. …
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Poignant piece, I think he/ she should give it a go.
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I think so, too! 🙂
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Who will decide if his work was upto the standard of his father?
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Excellent question! I don’t know, Abhijit, and I think that the opinions on that may not all be the same … Na’ama
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Maybe the work will help him process his grief.
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Maybe indeed! 🙂
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So much family dynamic in this piece. I loved it. And she should heed her father’s words. If he believed she was good…
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Yes, family dynamics can sure be messy … Thank you, Dale! Who knows, maybe the piece will be completed … 😉
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They trying will help heal the pain of her loss and hopefully her sibling will graciously accept that. To lose a parent at any time in life is painful. Good for her to try. Nicely written!
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Indeed, it can be a very painful loss for many, and can be reflected in different ways for different people, even within the same family. Thank you so much for this comment! 🙂 Na’ama
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Brilliant imagery.
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Thank you, Lisa!
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