The Carrot Ranch Challenge:
In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story inspired by “Home Town”.
Click here to hear the author read his words:
First Love
Grey. Dreich. Depressing.
Twenty years since I’ve been here, and I know why I left.
But it’s my home town, where I fell in love for the first time.
I wander down High Street, and my heart leaps.
She is coming out of a café with a good-looking guy, arms linked.
Her smile tells me that, even at this distance, she recognises me.
I cross over, say hello.
How’s your mum, I ask.
They look at each other.
Not long now, he says, and she nods.
This place’s still a dump, she says, taking my hand. Let’s go home.
Sound Bite Fiction 
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A delightful story that leaves me wanting more! Wow! There’s an old saying that you can never go home… sounds like that is false for this guy! Bravo! 😀
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Glad you enjoyed, Colleen.
Thanks for visiting
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You’re most welcome. It was a pleasure.
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Wonderful misdirection!
And a whole back story suggested from 99 words.
You’re a master of the craft!
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Thanks, Jenne, might have been a tad cryptic this week judging from the comments
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I’m in the same boat as xcomart. Is the good looking guy her brother? Is she polyamorous? Is this a dream of your narrator’s? A memory? Hometowns are never the same as we remember, as it is with the nature of existence. People are ever changing. I don’t miss my hometown either, though it’s sometimes necessary to get this closure, to make sure we feel what we feel. Sometimes returning is the only way. Thought provoking piece C.E.
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You got it right first time, Rebecca, the narrator’s wife is with her brother.
When you realise that, everything else should make sense, despite my subtle misdirection!
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Yes! Fits nicely. I do like the ambiguity however, it helps the piece stick in the mind of the reader long after. That “why..?” lingers.
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Why I left? Or why they are back?
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The thoughts triggered at the end where the reader isn’t quite certain, it leaves room for possibility, for the reader to interpret the story in a way that’s meaningful to them
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that last sentence had really got me thinking, I’m not sure I get it
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Hi Phil,
It is only clear when you realise that in the question ‘How’s your mum’, the word ‘your’ is plural.
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