Flash Fiction: Taken by the breeze

/ Claire Fuller

mary-shipman1

We laid our underwear out to dry across the over-grown box hedging. My dangling suspenders and skin-coloured corsets, wrinkled like the corrugated stomach of a worn-down mother. Cara’s nighties and slips, cream silk, taut among the green leaves.

In the night a breeze got up, whistling through the gaps in the window frames. When I looked out, the wind had hold of Cara’s chemise, lifting it and tugging. As I watched, it filled with air, became alive, a torso which let go of the hedge and spun away into the night.

In the morning, Cara too, had gone.

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This is a 100-word Friday Fictioneers flash fiction piece inspired by the photograph (this week from Mary Shipman). It’s been brewing in my head since Wednesday but just wouldn’t come out right, and today I wrote it in half an hour. Click here to read others and join in.

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I interviewed Mr B’s bookshop in Bath, England. Read it here.

43 thoughts on “Flash Fiction: Taken by the breeze”

  2. Dear Claire,

    I love it when a thought finally comes together and spills out. I’ve had many of those sessions. I loved the feel of this visual piece and wonder where Cara and her chemise went. I particularly liked the “corrugated stomach of a worn-down mother.” I’ve had three children. I know the truth of this. 😉 Wonderfully written.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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  4. Well, in all honesty, Claire, I didn’t quite understand it (probably a guy thing, judging from the above comments) but I really enjoyed the experience of reading and re-reading it. The poetic feel without it being so obvious is just wonderful. Very taught style and the content is terrific.

    I also have had stories brewing in my head for days and they come out. I think we all get that way.
    Nice work, as usual. 🙂

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  6. I love the way you bring a scene to life, Claire! So often, the story comes to me as soon as I see the photo… but then brews. The writing of it becomes a final piece of the process… not the hard part. 😉 You always make it look easy, with your descriptive, beautiful lines.

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  9. I recognize these two, and their relationship now is even more intriguing. I love how you show their different characters through their underwear and the way it hangs on the hedge. And as Björn said, the last line rounds it.

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  10. Wonderful descriptions Claire, and i love the questions this piece raises – where did Cara go? Did he go alone? Or willingly?
    Also, isn’t it strange how sometimes an idea won’t come, then it suddenly writes itself in thirty minutes? The frustrations and relief of being a writer!

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