Jo sat in her window, the net curtains pulled back, looking out at the park over the street - there were no children playing, there never were now. The world was in lockdown, or the human world at least, no one went outside unless they really had to, and even then, some people still refused to risk it. Jo fell amongst the latter.
Three days ago, she’d taken her last dose of the pills, without getting more. And she wouldn’t.
It was plastered everywhere, #stayinside #staysafe, from the news she watched every evening, to her granddaughters profile picture on that social media website - she’d even had a government letter.
Dear Mrs Lowe, Due to your age and underlying health issues…
She’d had enough explanations of the risk, the danger not just to herself, but to everyone else, if she went outside - she had no intention of being part of the problem.
Everything was in short supply, from fresh food to that life saving medication, there just wasn’t enough for everyone. The very same medication.
How could she justify picking up another prescription, from what she’d read her 90 pills a month could save as many as nine people. Her prescription was for three months, that could be twenty seven lives. Since Frank died, Jo was just holding on for the sake of it.
It was nice seeing the grandkids, and her daughter-in-law still dropped shopping over once a week, but she had had her time. She was tired now, every day.
She’d carried on, like everyone does, waking up and ambling through each endless day, but she'd checked out on everyone after she lost her husband.
Jo sank back in her armchair, sunlight glazing the wet stone outside her window, staring out into the empty park. She’d felt at peace these last few days. After she’d taken her last dose, contentment had spread it’s slow, deep roots throughout her soul. The days didn’t seem endless anymore, life’s fragility gave the mundane a new depth to be appreciated.
She watched birds hopping along the fence, a butterfly alight on a puddled stone, her attention coming to rest on a dinosaur statue. She had nearly signed the petition to oppose the dinosaurs, there were six in total, homaged in the park, and they all looked so completely wrong.
Her Frank had worked in the natural history museum, freeing fossils from stone, he’d’ve had kittens if he’d seen the things.
Molded green concrete, reptilian, scaled - not a single feather.
No matter how many fossils Frank found that showed plumage, no one wanted to think of them feathered.
Jo sat reflecting on the inaccurate statue.
People remember things how they want, regardless of the truth.
She smiled. It didn’t matter now, how she saw her life, things she had or hadn’t done, her joys and her regrets, people would remember her how they wanted to.
Mother. Friend, sister, grandma, disinterested old lady, Jo closed her eyes - that was up to them.
This was written for the #31sentencecontest held by @tristancarax every week. It's a really fun contest that sincerely pushes creativity and helps create a sense of the weight of words. The prompts range massively, so check out the latest round and if it doesn't grab you, there's always next time! The word count for each of the 31 sentences this round were 27, 30, 5, 14, 3, 29, 11, 31, 19, 4, 24, 12, 13, 22, 6, 25, 20, 8, 16, 17, 23, 26, 21, 9, 18, 7, 10, 2, 28, 1, 15. Make sure to visit the contest post to see all the entries in the comments!
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I love this story
You build the character of Jo so well and she reminds me of my dearly departed grandmother, who could talk for England, which used to annoy me and now I wish I could call her up and listen to her monologue. She was hilarious, she'd go at it telling you all these stories you'd already heard and then a t some point would stop and be like "aren't you going to say anything."
To be fair Jo is a more thoughtful, and introspective type than my Nan ever was.
It is also a great story (if I'm reading it right) about someone choosing to go calmly into the great unknown. Suicide is such a taboo word, but this (and again I could be reading the story wrong) story shows the considered, yes sad, but ultimately sane choice of someone who has decided that life has written the final chapter to perfection.
Anything more ruin it all, just like so many epilogues do in my opinion.
Anyway, beautiful and well crafted short story.
I love this story too!! Flawless - and it fits the 31 sentence structure? Amazing!
Raj, you articulated this so well, and highlighted one of the lines I loved most.
This is so true: People remember things how they want, regardless of the truth.
I love the bit about nobody wanting to picture dinosaurs with feathers, after all our years of believing they had scales - never mind what the fossil record might show. And I love that @tristancarax photo!!!
This is a @curie worthy story if ever there was one. First Place in any contest, if I were the judge, not that I've seen any other entries.
GREAT STORY!!!!
P.S. I didn't see this as suicide, but a reasoned acceptance of no longer taking the daily meds that kept her alive. Without her husband, she's already checked out. She's lived a good, long life. The world will carry on without her. If she could get her meds, she'd stick around, I believe, but in these times (and what a great, succinct, vivid portrait of these times!), she cannot get the meds, so she calmly and stoically lets nature take its course.... sniff! .... what a grand and gracious lady!
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Gotta say, that brought a tear to my eye. Such a wonderfully told story! The ultimate sacrifice to save others; no greater deed than that. Beautiful work!
What a rich piece that you have crafted. I saw a lot of this as a real-life scenarios considering the times that we are in. Some people are very scared to leave their homes, and when they do, they all have masks on. And no human contact. I will go for walks around the neighborhood. Almost everyone crosses the street before I get to them.
When All of this quarantine stuff started, I was going to stay with an elder woman, but because they are more susceptible to this coronavirus, she told me it would be best that I find somewhere else. Tough luck.
That line reminded me so much of "Jurrasic Park" - I've been movie binging.
Yep. 8-)
I have an issue with if I don't get the answer to my question the way that I want it answered, then I tend to question more to seek the answer that I want to hear; meanwhile, missing the answer that was given. So wierd.
I don't thing I've ever seen this ---> "he’d’ve", @letalis-laetitia. LOL. Very creative.
It's a double contraction, and it's LEGIT! I thought it was good when I saw it, but then I looked it up and I learned a new one. Can't wait to use it myself HaHa!