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12.8.15

BURGERS & BUTTERFLIES - a 100 word story

Another 100 word story written in a rush between packing boxes. We are relocating to England from Tenerife next month and sorting out what to keep after fifteen years in one place is not easy!
This week's photo prompt comes, as always, from Rochelle
https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/
Follow the Blue Frog trail from her blog to read how other writers interpreted it.

My version is more fact than fiction this week, but it's what came first to mind!

BURGERS & BUTTERFLIES

We would eat our burgers battling along Brighton seafront against a howling gale, salt spray crusting on our faces. Over an espresso coffee later I would lick my spectacles clean – I can still recall the taste, but it was the only way to avoid smears.
Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses’ was so ingrained into my consciousness that his insistent wooing was a shock.

“Only virgins wear white,” my mother decreed, so I wasn’t even a beautiful bride.
But six months later my daughter was born, and the woman I was always meant to be emerged from her chrysalis to spread her butterfly wings.

48 comments:

  1. Beautiful, at first I thought it would be like "the River" by Springsteen ... But you managed to grow your narrator to that butterfly.. Wonderful.

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    1. Thanks Bjorn - I shall now have to find and read 'The River'.

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  2. You managed to write that while packing up your house? Amazing - I don't know how you do it!

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  3. Quite evocative. Very much different from all the others!

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  4. Great take on the prompt. I love the butterfly reference. Nice job!

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  5. When I pack, I can't even whistle. Super work!

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    1. Often physical work frees the mind to wander, which is why I wrote this!

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  6. Dear Liz,

    This is simply beautiful. It sounds like your mum had a lot to learn about her daughter.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. Thanks Rochelle - that was nearly 50 years ago and Mum knows me mch better now!

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  7. Lovely, Lizy. It's those little details like tasting the salt that make it so different.
    Ann

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    1. Thanks aw - such little details are also what make it memorable. I can never taste spray without remembering.

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  8. I really liked this Lizy. Very well done.

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  9. So glad she (you) managed to emerge and spread your wings. Great writing.

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    1. There are bits of my wings still unfurling now!

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  10. Such a beautiful story, well done!

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  11. Beautiful, and powerful, too. Good for the MC.

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  12. Lovely story - and all the better for being true.

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  13. Delightful! I had a burger in Brighton last weekend!

    Rosey Pinkerton's blog

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  14. This is one of your bests Liz!

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  15. I'm sure to him she was beyond beautiful! Lovely!

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    1. They made four babies together so she must have been!

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  16. Very different and a very nice take

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  17. Love the image of sea-salt crusting your face. I can taste the salt as well. Very well written :-)

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    1. Cheers Annalisa - I shall walk along that seafront this winter, reliving it all!

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  18. I couldn't see how the opening scene was going to lead to butterflies, but it made perfect - and beautiful - sense. Hope the move goes smoothly.

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    1. Thanks Linda - the packing's going ok but the bureaucracy is killing!

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  19. Oh, I so remember that line about girls and glasses... got mine in fourth grade. Lovely piece.

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    1. Hi Alicia - I have worn glasses since I was seven. In my teens boys used to huff on them for a joke. I'm used to them now I'm a grandmother!

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  20. Personally, I always thought girls wearing glasses were kind of cute. There was also an expectation that they were smarter than their counterparts who wore no spectacles. Great story, Liz.

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    1. I wish you'd been arond in my teens, Russell! Smart wasn't considered attractive then, though of course I am :)

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  21. Just lovely. So many nice little details to bring it to life, too. I love the emerging butterfly image.

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    1. Thanks Margirene - this story simply flowed and from people's reaction it worked!

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  22. That's lovely. Good luck with the packing...oh and buy some warm clothes. It's freezing here again!

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    1. Thanks Ros - I've already packed the warm clothes - we've been visiting UK over the years and haven't forgotten!

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