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26.5.16

THE SHOE - flash fiction for the weekend

I am back at home! Two weeks in Canada was long enough to get to know my fifteen-month-old granddaughter, but not nearly long enough to be close to her and her parents. Skype is wonderful, if you can work out a mutually acceptable time with a five hour time difference, but I shall miss the cuddles.
Now I am home I can ease back into the routine of being around my UK-based family and, of course, of writing.
This week's photograph for Friday Fictioneers was taken by Rochelle herself and posted on her blog https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/  Follow the Blue Frog link from there to read stories from other Friday Fictioneers. After you've read mine - and left a comment if you can!





THE SHOE

We were on a half-term break, walking along a beach, when Alice ran up to me. “Look what I found, Mum!”
It lay in her hand, soggy and salt-encrusted – a small shoe with a barely legible name written inside – an Arabic name on an Italian beach.

I write Alice’s name in her shoes too, but the fear of losing clothes at school hadn’t been this mother’s worst nightmare.
“Why are you crying, Mum?”
I shook my head helplessly and Alice ran off again. 

How do you begin to explain such tragedy to a five year old?

30 comments:

  1. Good one,Liz. Poignant as usual - especially coming just after today's news of a capsized overcrowded boat.

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  2. Oh, that's so sad and so apt, Lizy.

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  3. I agree that any photo of a beach or rocky shoreline immediately brings to mind the refugee tragedy. Beautifully written. Very sad.

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  4. Oh, that BROKE my heart! So moving, so powerful! Thank you for linking this with an ongoing tragedy. Everyone needs reminding.

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    1. You are right, Vijaya - most people do need reminding.

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  5. Dear Liz,

    Thought provoking and tender. Well done.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. Thanks Rochelle - it's good to be back!

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  6. I want to cry with that mum. Very powerful and necessary story.

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    1. Those little things that remind us of our own children always touch the heart.

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  7. Good job, truly captured the feeling.

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  8. What dreadful times we live in. Well depicted in your story - the innocence of the five year old is a poignant contrast to the tragedies we hear about every day.

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    1. Dreadful times have always been with us, as the centenary of the first world war reminds us.

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  9. Great use of the prompt, Liz. We see the news on TV and read it in the newspaper, but you made it personal and real. Well done. - Russell

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    1. Thanks Russell - other people's suffering shouldn't be ignored.

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  10. Glad you had fun with your grand daughter.

    A sad story. All the more so, because we know it's happened and is likely to keep on happening.

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  11. This is such a sad story... and it keeps repeating... I truly hate wars.

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    1. Anyone with any sense hates wars - so why are there so many senseless warmongers?

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  12. It's hard not to imagine that very scene, with each passing day of news... horribly tragic and indicting of us all. Powerful writing Liz!

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    1. Thank you, Dawn - the news is so graphic and real, I agree.

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  13. Heartrending, Liz. You would hesitate to try and explain it to a five-year-old wouldn't you. It's just difficult even for an adult to handle that emotion. Well written. ---- Suzanne

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    1. Thank you Suzanne. How would you, how could you, explain the evil that Men do to each other?

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