FIRST DAY OUT OF LOCKDOWN

FIRST DAY OUT OF LOCKDOWN

The first day out of lockdown we met in the park, blankets spaced two metres apart. There was some good-natured picnic envy – “You brought Prosecco!” – “Are those real M&S pork pies?”

We wore disposable gloves to play Frisbee, danced in our own little spaces to a radio, laughed like we hadn’t laughed for weeks, and felt the tension drain away.

Until the Frisbee sailed over a hedge and the kids ran to fetch it.

If I live to be a hundred I shall never forget those screams, but the silence that followed was far worse.

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This story wrote itself in five minutes, which was a relief because I couldn't write anything last week! Also it's exactly 100 words without any editing, so I'll go with it. Hope you're all okay, lockdown, rioting, stress notwithstanding? I was allowed to visit Mum in the garden of her nursing home on Monday, and hope to see my kids later in the week, so things are slightly better.

Thanks to Rochelle for hosting FF through thick and thin, and to Ted Strutz for the photgraph that prompted my story - and all the others on    https://rochellewisoff.com/