Wednesday means it’s once more time for Friday Fictioneers. Today I have little melancholy for you.
Friday Fictioneers is a wonderful group of bloggers from around the world who every week gather to write a
story of 100 words (more or less). If you want to know more, go to Rochelle Wissoff-Fields page and check it out. If you only want to check out the great stories click the little blue guy at the bottom.
My story is exactly 100 words, but small variations from that are not frowned upon.
From Scott Vanatter with permission-Copyright- Indira
He walked slowly up the hill, the warmth of the spring sun burning his neck. Coming to the familiar tree he sat down. From above he heard thrushes singing, just like twenty years ago.
His fingers found the faint indentations in the gnarled bark and he took his pocket knife and refreshed the writing:
Anna ♥ George – forever
He sighed and spread her ashes in the southern breeze.
He just wanted to sit down and wait until they could rejoin, but he knew that the promises he made at her death-bed would take years to complete.
He left their tree forever.
—
April 3, 2013
Björn Rudbergs writings 
That has such a poignant feel to it, very bittersweet. Great job.
Thank you… 🙂
You have shown us melancholy BR….Anna and George – perfect. Teary and loved this.
Thank you… spring sunshine allways bring out the melancholy in me. I’ll be back and comment later.
It is winter for me..always the cold brings it out, interesting why you say spring sunshine?
Sunshine but still winter 🙂 I still cross the ice on bicycle.
you can have that! 😉 brrrrr BR
a well written melancholy tale
Thank you 😉
hmm Bjorn you hit to the core of the tree and the heart. memories and tears at the old gnarled tree
Thank you .. When I saw the old tree.. Usually it’s filled with scribbled notes.
So sweet and so sad. Great story
Thank you. Somehow I saw the scribbled letters in that tree
Nicely done, as ever. Very poignant.
Thank you .. 😉
Hi Bjorn, I can feel his sadness. Hope he finishes his labours. 🙂
Or find new joy in the family…
A lovely bittersweet story. Well done Bjorn I really enjoyed this one
Dee
Thank you 😉
Touching story, Bjorn. Was he also sitting on his horse’s grave? I see our minds were on similar paths this week. I had a passing thought about initials in the tree, too, as did probably more than one other person. Good job.
janet
Thank you. Yes old trees are often filled with carvings. And maybe there was a dog buried… (Which in Swedish means that something’s not right)
This left me tearful!
A little sad maybe
Gnarled is the word of the week. Nice work Bjorn!
Thank you Paul…
His sadness is palpable. I like how you used his senses. The sun burning his neck, hearing the thrushes, touching the gnarled bark. The longing in his sigh seemed audible to me.
Thank you .. I thinks details are important to put color even to a short story.
Lots of story packed into so few words 🙂
Thank you 😉
“he knew that the promises he made at her death-bed would take years to complete.” Wonderful story, full of sadness but I am curious about the promises and the fact that he won’t return to the tree.
my thoughts were that he had promised to be a good father, or son, or son-in-law… many people dying are very concerned about the living. I think he had to leave the tree and the memories to be able to focus on the living.
Dear Bjorn,
A tender story. I like it that he kept his promise to her. There’s more story here than meets the eye. Good job.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you.. yes I wanted to write something were the story behind is the big one, just vaguely hinted. It’s what I like in many other stories.
A sweet and touching story.
Thank you 🙂
Fantastic! Love these 100 word stories : )
Thank you. Telling stories in 100 word is a lot of fun.
Oh Björn, just too beautifully poignant and moving. Excellent piece!
Thank you… I wanted to remove the melodrama and write about the parting.
You did, the right tone exactly!
oh Björn, you romantic! such a beautiful story.. wonderful thing to love a person that much
I love writing about loss and sadness. Romantic.. Maybe
Sweet tale, beautifully told.
Thank you 😉
nice work Bjorn
Thank you 🙂
Oh, that’s beautiful beautiful beautiful!
O thank you 🙂
Clear, open, gentle. Very poignant.
Thank you.
Profound. This one launches us very deep . . . 100 words for 100 pages?
Yes, in some cases we humans have such a lot of experince so we can put ourself in the situation and add our own experince to the story.
very nice piece. I liked the refreshing the love carving. Randy
Thank you
Wow! Sentimental and very deep.
Congrats on a true winner!
Scott
Mine: http://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/friday-fictioneers-april-5-2013-genre-fantasyhumor-pg/
Thank you, and thanks for the help providing the picture.
This is a lovely story, sweet and sad together.
Thank you .. 🙂
This bittersweet story touched my heart. The saddest part? Saying he would never visit the tree again. I guess it’s his way of saying a final goodbye and letting go … so he can go on living.
It’s not just letting go, to be able to get on with a life at all he need to put it all behind him. I think he will come back a final time.
Very touching and well done in so few words. Definitely evoked the feelings of the two of them.
Thank you… I tried to make every word count.
Thank you 🙂
A sweet and sad story. The refreshed writing on the tree will again become faint, but from the sound of him, his memories won’t grow faint. Well written story to capture his feeling.
Thank you ..
Yes but I think he will have to let go. That’s why he doesn’t return.
What’s that song? … ”there’s no sunshine when she’s gone, it’s been so long, everytime she ….” Cant remember the words or who sang it. Also reminds of the poem by John Keats, but can’t remember the title of it now either! Got flue and am hazy and weak and had no internet for a week. ‘On a Cold Winter’s Evening, something … something … and then I think the poem ends with … ”miles to go before I sleep, got promises to keep.” I’ll comment again when I find the poem. Hope the above indicates that I liked the story.
Thank you. I immediately got that song in my head 😉
A sweet yet painful story.
Yes, lost love like this is always hard, thank you for visiting
An excellent job. It’s all in the showing and you my friend made that scene come to life. Wow! LOved it!
Tom
Thank you, I think I can handle melancholy best 😉
OMG. I just wrote for the first time after seeing your link from another challenge. Now I return to read and I have goosebumps all over. You are the first story I’ve read so I don’t know if this is a prominent theme. But we were on the same wavelength. Beautifully written. Love the carving in the tree.
There are lots of nice and good stories on this prompt 😉
Bjorn, this is one of my favorites of yours. Of course, the writing in the tree. I love that! Great job on this.
Thank you .. It was an inspiring one to write.
I love how he refreshed the writing to make it last longer through the years and how he found the carving right away just by feel. Such a sad, sweet story.
I think they had gone to the three many times since ..
sad, but well done
Bjorn – I apologize for the difficulty you experienced when you visited my blog. I’m still muddling through the complex features of WordPress, however, I’ve since fixed the problem and edited my story if you wish to revisit. Thank you.
Sweet and sad all together. I just attended a funeral today of a man who was 92 and the theme there was that he was now rejoined with his wife of 57 years. Such devotion is lovely.
Superb write. Sadness & melancholy beautifully portrayed. A treasure indeed!!
Thank you — 🙂
good one, and sad that he never came back
This is sweet. I liked this.
Very well written, Bjorn. Sad with just a touch of sweetness.
Lovely, the sun was shining yet the air was filled with gloom of some sort. Nice pacing and use of imagery, I must say 🙂
Wow what a beautiful conflict you introduce here Bjorn. He has to be away to be close. Very good story.
Very sweet story, and done so well with so few words!