What Lenny Would Build

 

“I don’t know what to make of it,” Arlene shook her head.

“Of the sunset?” Molly’s already reedy voice rose higher.

Arlene took a deep breath. She forgot just how literal her sister-in-law was.

“No, the sunset is beautiful,” she stated. “And the arches.”

Molly turned to face Arlene. The glow from the ball of fire in the distance rendered one of her cheeks fire-orange, the other ashen-gray.

“So what did you mean?”

Arlene pointed to the oddly shaped building to their right. “This. Looks like what Lenny would build.”

“Lenny is three.” Molly noted.

“Exactly,” Arlene said. 

 

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo by Dale Rogerson

 

The Right Thing

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“I’ll take the summer off and get it done,” Meyer stated. 

“It will take more than a summer,” Bette pointed out. She loved his enthusiasm. She liked half-done projects less. And this one mattered. Immensely.

Meyer’s intended retort fizzled at the look in his wife’s eyes. Love lived there. Love will have to live here, too.

“It has good bones,” he said instead.

“All it is, is bones,” she chuckled. “More likely we’re looking at two years.”

Meyer nodded. “We’ll liquidate other holdings.”

He wrapped an arm around his wife. “It is the right thing, Bette, to build this orphanage.”

 

 

 

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt: © J Hardy Carroll

She Was Busy

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(Photo: Dallas Reedy on Unsplash)

 

She was busy. She had no time for chatter. For sand to slide idly through the hourglass.

The day was short.

Each moment was precious. Each second, opportunity.

Her focus never wandered.

Each section had to have its exact place.

Every addition, calculated.

There were walls and gates and many fences.

There’d be knights and royals to showcase.

Moats and pits of fire.

She was, after all, building an empire.

 

 

 

 

 

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Empire in 70 words