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24.5.18

TREVOR'S PRAM - a story in one hundred words


TREVOR’S PRAM

The space beneath the mattress in the ancient pram could hide many small items, and Pauline supplemented her income by pilfering, careful to spread her net wide enough to avoid suspicion. With her husband in prison she struggled to make ends meet.

Trevor learned from an early age to snatch an apple or sweets to hide under his blanket, and his innocent face saved him from anything worse than an indulgent scold. By two years old he was an expert.

This pram’s a godsend,” Pauline told her sister, “It’s amazing what useful trifles you can hide under a baby.”
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Yes, I know - you're wondering how I got from that photo to my story. It's a pretty glass bowl, similar to one I have had for fifty years which is just right for serving sherry trifle. Other writers have no doubt been less obscure with their stories, which you can check out on https://rochellewisoff.com/ from where Rochelle hosts Friday Fictioneers. As she took the photo it is probably her bowl, though she clearly prefers plants to trifles. 
   

33 comments:

  1. No need to explain; I also have a trifle dish. It was used for birthdays and at Christmas when I was very, very young.

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    1. I wonder if my American readers know what a trifle is? I may get requests for a recipe!

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  2. I loved this sweet tale..with Trevor's adorable face!

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  3. Good to see Trevor keeping the family business going...

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  4. Dear Liz,

    Thanks to Google I know what cherry trifle is. Looks delicious. So was your story.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. Thanks Rochelle - Sherry trifle, not Cherry - the alcohol makes all the difference!

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  5. Wonder if the baby was pie faced?

    This brought back memories of my childhood favourite - trifle pudding. Must look up a sugar free version now. The explanation following this story made me hungry ;-)

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    1. Haha - great pun! I'm not sure you could make a sugar-free trifle but I wish you luck. Do let me know how it turns out!

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  6. Gosh, that was an interesting take on the prompt! I enjoyed the way you wrote a crime story from the point of view of the criminals and made them sympathetic characters.

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    1. Thanks Penny - I did wonder whether readers would like Pauline or despise her.

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  7. Pauline sounds an interesting character - making ends meets by discreetly popping trifles in that pram space which I admit I remember! And Trevor, a competent thief with innocent charm by the age of two - Dickens would have loved him. My nephew, years ago, repeatedly nicked stuff off any shelf at pushchair level. So Pauline could have easily masked thefts in her toddler's innocence, Jilly, Sugar on the Bee

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    1. You remember the pram space, or you remember using it for nefarious purposes? Thanks for commenting. I can't find how to comment on yours.

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  8. Love it, and I don't need an exploitation... though I imagined how Trevor could hide a bowl in the pram

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    1. The space in my fourth-hand Silver Cross pram could have hidden another baby, it was that big!

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  9. Well I make trifles all the time, so no need to explain. And frankly, looking at the bowl, it does lend its shape to an old-style pram...
    Love this, Liz

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  10. Yep, got it straight away. That must have been very uncomfortable for poor Trevor!

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    1. Not at all. The baby sits on a flat padded base which conceals a space underneath in the pram's curved body.

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  11. I like where you mind took you with this. It sounds as if prams can truly come in handy at times.

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  12. I got it :) I love trifle, and my daughter makes it from scratch from the sponge cake to the cream. Wonderful stuff.

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    1. Sounds wonderful. It's good with Swiss roll if you're short of time.

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  13. i'm afraid the long arm of the law would soon catch up with them. :)

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  14. When I first read this I took 'trifle' to mean 'a thing of little value or importance' - I didn't visualise a tot plonked in a bowl of sponge, custard and cream! Nice one Liz.

    Click to read my FriFic tale

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    1. Thanks Keith. I didn't visualise that either - imagine having to clean that up!

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  15. There's nothing like starting them young!

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  16. I may not have understood every word but I got it.

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  17. What didn't you understand?

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