March 18: Flash Fiction Challenge

March 18, 2021, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story that takes place a year later. It can be any year. Explore the past year or another significant passing of time to a character. Go where the prompt leads!

My last memory of Joe

Doesn’t match the person I see now.

The weight loss taken more than his clothes size.

He has lost his humour

Maybe it’s true; it was only there

To deflect from his size

His eyes have lost the spark I remember

Now I see the sadness hidden all these years.

Over lunch, we spoke of his childhood

Rough, painful, I never gave a thought to

He spoke of hunger,

never enough food, enough love

now he’s happy, getting married,

looking forward to becoming a father next year

I believe he’ll be a good father…

© Anita Dawes 2021