Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by my old friend Al Forbes.
The idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in the picture (below).
This week’s prompt comes from Mike Vore, a gentleman whose work I am unfamiliar with.
But his excellent photo led me, perhaps unsurprisingly, down a mysterious path.
Click on this link to enter your tale, and to see what others have written.
© Mike Vore
Click here to hear the author read his words:
Life
I have had a pretty good life.
I don’t mean that I have always been a good person.
I haven’t.
But I was seldom malicious.
More selfish, I’d say.
I know I could have been a better father.
And I could hardly have been a worse husband.
But we all make bad decisions sometimes, don’t we?
My wife did, when she married me.
I didn’t, when I married her.
Now, when I reflect on my life, I am surprised at some of the choices I made.
I guess my path wasn’t always the logical one.
Just the one I chose to follow at the time.
I lived my life, travelled, had some adventures.
That’s what I mean when I say ‘a pretty good life’.
Do I have any regrets?
Not for how I lived my life.
But perhaps for the outcome.
Because now I am dying.
I am alone.
I will die alone.
And I doubt if many people will know, or care.
Oh well.
I have had a pretty good life.
Sound Bite Fiction 
A very candid reflection on the path of life. No life is rosy or perfect but humans hope for a peaceful end with loved ones.
https://ideasolsi65.blogspot.in/2018/03/walk-path.html
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Thank you for reading and for taking the time to comment so thoughtfully.
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I wish all of us could be as much at peace with our lives on our death beds as him.
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Me too!
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A great piece of writing,
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Thank you, Mike.
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I love this … if you can’t be honest with yourself on your deathbed then there really is no place you can be. There is such simple wisdom here. Like the others, I love the line about his wife making the wrong decision when she married him – and the generosity and love in the next line – I didn’t when I married her. Such open understanding and so well written – it’s frank and beautiful with it 🙂
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Thank you, Anna, this is the sort of comment that makes writing worthwhile.
And as I said below, the words you reference are perhaps less fictional than most that I write.
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Oh well …. I can imagine the shrug of shoulders, the indifference borne on the wings of the inevitable, in this clear look of life. Brilliant ending to what seems rather a non-plussed exposé of life – and as already noted, the words so well chosen and phrased about the wife’s not so wise decision – priceless. Cheers!
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Thank you, ma’am, for your very kind words.
I am happy that you read this exactly as it was meant.
And that you saw the truth in the narrator’s view of his ex-wife.
Cheers to you
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thank you – I’ve enjoyed your work for many years here on WP (I’ve blogged/penned under different names) and am delighted by your wit and talent. It’s refreshing.
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A peaceful death but a lonely one.
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In a nutshell, James
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On the plus side, if he is dying alone, then no one will be left behind to suffer the grief of his demise. Silver linings…
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Yeah, thanks Iain, you old cynic!
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🙂
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I’m sometimes quite amused by the comments left about your stories. Like the one calling this a cheerful tale before plotting your death. I chuckled about everyone making bad decisions when it said, “My wife did, when she married me.” It is sad that he’s dying alone, but sweet that he feels that his life overall was pretty good.
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Yes, Mandie, I do seem to promote a healthy level of cynicism in my readers.
And while this piece is, of course, largely fictional, I have to confess that there is significant truth in the line you quote.
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What a cheerful little tale for a gloomy Sunday!
Perked me right up.
Tell you what C.E., when you go I’ll miss your creative expletives… among many other things. Just sayin’.
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Well you gotta laugh, don’t you, Em!
And C. E. doesn’t do expletives, creative or otherwise, he leaves that to his less couth Glaswegian alter ego.
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I like where you took this prompt, the bit about not always making good decisions like when your wife decided to marry you but for you it was a great decision to marry her. Perfect snapshot of life.
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Thank you, Carol, glad you related to some of the story. I think life is full of these moments which are in total contrast for the people involved.
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