Photo Prompt: Dale Rogerson
“Your grandfather must be turning in his grave.”
She’d made bitterness her trademark, so finding meaning usually entailed having to decode gradients of dismay.
He figured this one was a 67 out of 100. Enough disgust to call attention to how the “good old days” were better than modern progress, while not completely dismissing the comforts of advanced technology.
“Clean power is good for the lungs,” he cajoled, half-hoping for an argument. It was his Grandma’s genes he carried, after all.
“Pah,” she wrinkled her nose. “Nothing wrong with a bit of soot to get people appreciating real power.”
For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers
Na'ama Yehuda 
I liked the negotiating gradients of dismay
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Thanks, Neil, I’ve know a few people with whom this seems to be the only way … 😉
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I like the way you wove generational clashes with learned/inherited traits.
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Thank you! 🙂 we’re not all that different, sometimes … 😉
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I like it, and so true to life, how some people must always disagree and find ridiculous arguments to support them.
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Yep, I think we probably each know a few … 😉 (thought hopefully not many! … 😉 )
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In the days of steam trains you really had a sense of the power of the engine (I expect, I’m not that old!) 🙂
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I suppose one did, especially when considering the ‘horse power’ it replaced, literally by allowing the movement of a cargo that would require a fantastic number of horses to transport!
There are a few steam-trains still operating (mostly short-route touristy things for kids and families or brief scenic routes) – a friend of mine operates one! It goes 10miles an hour … and was used to transport logs (now transporting children and families on a short touristy route). Lotta power, not lotta speed …
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I live with one of these, best not to disagree, I find…
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LOL! Well, that’s a choice, too. One picks their battles … 😉
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Beautifully constructed and written, Na’ama! I like the way you tell us the man was the old lady’s grandson. The title is good too – I really wondered what I was going to be reading!
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🙂 Thanks Penny!
I was pleased with the pun in the title, and I’m glad it added a bit of mystery and a touch of “oh, that kind. …” 😉
I think we all know a few people whose discontent is their default … Fortunately, there are also those people who seem generally content, so perhaps it balances out the world some … (not that I’d mind having LESS disgruntled and MORE happy-go-luckies!) 🙂
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Great post 🙂
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Thank you! I’m glad you stopped by, read and commented! 🙂
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Na’ama Y’karah,
Love the meeting of the generations. In a few words you gave us a good picture of grandma. Ah the good old days. We reminisce about them while Google searching data on our ubiquitous cell phones. 😉 Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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LOL! Yep, exactly.
Grouch about walking to school backwards, barefoot, uphill, in the snow … and about the ‘great family values’ of shivering in a one room unheated cabin, all while driving a heated-seat car and living alone in a 5 bed room villa operated by Echo, and with only a goldfish for company. 😉
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Such is life. 😉
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Better life with heated car-seats and AC, I say! 😉
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‘gradients of dismay’ – loved that.
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🙂 Thanks, Sandra! Don’t we all know at least one such person? 😉
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Two different people. One forward looking. Another always looking back and lamenting. Life goes on.
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You pretty much summed it up … 😉
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I loved the ‘gradients of dismay’, too. And the generational “my time was better, but I’ll use all the new stuff”.
Excellent job, once again.
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🙂 Yeah. It’s the harking back that’s the fun part, not the living without flushing toilets or a way to reach anyone to let them know you’re stuck with a flat tire in the middle of a snowstorm … 😉
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Zactly 😜
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😀
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Well-written.
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Thank you, Lisa! 🙂
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Your stories always have many layers though you have few words to work with. This one is no exception and is so well written. I also like the phrase, “having to decode gradients of dismay.” Nicely put.
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Thank you, Brenda! What utterly generous feedback! 🙂
Glad you liked “gradients of dismay” … perhaps it resonates (as it had with some others who read this piece) because we recognize it in some of the people we’d met/known…? 😉
THANK YOU again!
Na’ama
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I love the tolerance of Grandma’s ways. Yes, I guess we all know one or more of the ‘Yes, but…’ or ‘actually…’ crowd.
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🙂 Yep … they seem to be everywhere … 😉
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I enjoyed your take on the prompt this week, Na’ama.
Clever writing … Have a superb Tuesday.
Isadora 😎
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Thank you Isadora! 🙂 What a kind comment! 🙂 I hope you have a superb Tuesday, too! 🙂
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😎
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🙂
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Some people seem to cling to the past with a vengeance. Some just like to argue. It can be most unpleasant. Well done, Na’amay. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks, Suzanne! 🙂 Yes, some cling to what they know and fear what they do not understand. It can be unpleasant. Fortunately, sometimes when one understands where the ‘clinger’ is coming from, they may find some compassion in them (or at least, acceptance) – as this grandson seems to have managed to find — and not get too riled up by it … 🙂
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