Thank you, Rochelle, for the memories your picture this week has stirred. I am sure we all have many items in the attic or at the back of the garage that were once loved but are now forgotten. Eventually, they end up in junk shops because we think ‘someone’ may find it useful.
Click on Rochelle, to discover the background of Friday Fictioneers. More 100 word stories on this photo-prompt are available HERE.
Grandma’s Legacy
The musty smell of antiquity evokes my engrained fear of Grandma Louise. I see a porcelain pan, and I retch. Mornings, I had flushed grandma’s contents down the outside toilet.
I wander junk markets conflicted with angry and fond memories, to relive my chaotic childhood. The Bible that bruised my skull, the flea infested shawl for winter huddles. The horn handled stick with which Grandma beat sense into me.
In a cruel way, she was loving and kind, and a penniless old hag with an infectious laughter that endeared forgiveness.
She left me a landscape, a ‘Constable’.
Thank you, Grandma.
James McEwan 
Strange little piece – I was disliking grandma very much until the painting!! I’m assuming the ‘porcelaine pan’ was what we used to call a ‘po’ or a ‘guzunder’ (because it goes under the bed). I liked the way the smell brought back all the memories, because that’s surely what it does. thanks.
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Thanks Diane, yes the ‘po’, all of us who grew up with cold outside loos know about this porcelain pan.
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and a paraffin pamp in winter to stop it freezing, the smell of damp and the little squares of newspaper on a string – has that just reminds me of an old story. Must dig it out and give it another outing.
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Amazing, all that inspiration from an old ‘potty’.
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A fraught and powerful piece, James
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Thanks Neil.
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James–Been said before, but it amazes how to create a full piece in with such economy.
Leila Allison
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Rats *amazes how you create such a full piece with such economy. (Proofed the damn thing this time)
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Yes, thank you for saying so. With these short 100 words stories I try to create a black and white image in words and let the reader colour it in.
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We all have our own way of showing affection. Grandma’s was a bit dramatic but I remember things being very different back then.
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Was it better or worse, I expect it was the way it was. Thanks Keith.
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Cantankerous and loving, both leave their marks, don’t they, for better or worse. Nicely drawn portrait, James.
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Nice!
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She sounds like a tough old grandma. A smell can bring back so much, no doubt about that. A powerful piece.
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Thank you.
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🙂
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People are complicated. Some more than others. Maybe gran suffered from manic depression? A great telling.
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It takes years to unpick some people. Thank you.
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Oh, what a horrid woman. It seems his life continues to be tainted by her treatment of him.
Nicely done character piece.
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Thank you Laurie.
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I’m not sure I like Grandma very much although toward the end she seems kind of pleasant. You captured a fraught personality.
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Some people are just bitter, but kind. Thank you for reading.
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what a great tribute. his grandma must be pleased.
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She is probably smiling.
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Indeed, James. The memories invoked when we remember the whole person. Well meaning souls who may not have left the best memories. Well done.
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I have wonderful memories of both my grandmothers, but I know not everyone else does. Makes me sad to consider how unhappy both the little girl and the grandma must have been.
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James, a very difficult piece to read. My own grandma was a kindly lady, but somehow my mother picked up that kind of a disposition. You wrote this just right and it hurts in light of my mom’s recent passing. I hope this is pure fiction for you.
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There are good times and bad times in all out lives. Yes this is fiction, but based on observations. I hope you can heal.
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James, thank you for your thoughtful comment.
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Dear James,
Granny certainly left her mark. How sad that fond and bad memories conflict. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you.
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An interesting piece, I enjoyed the imagery that you painted. Well done.
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