99 word prompt : A bit frayed
June 29, 2017 prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about something frayed. It could be fabric, like a flag or garment. It could also be nerves or temper. What is it to be frayed?
Click here for the link to Carrot Ranch to participate.
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Great Aunt Lucy struggled to remain calm. She turned to walk out the locked door, stopped by my insistent hand. “You want that hand swatted?”
“Do that, and you’ll be committed too,” I replied.
“She’s a worthless addle.”
“Her husband of 50 years just died. She’s still in grief. Her children want her committed so they can take her home away.”
“That’s not my business.”
“You have no children, and her children are your next of kin. You allow them to do this, and you’re next!”
A bit frayed she replied, “I’ll get a lawyer – for both our sakes.”
Nicely done….we can be frayed in times of vulnerabilty…
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Thanks. 🙂
Isn’t it strange how “compassionate” a person can become when they suddenly find out that the vulnerability they are sneering at ends up to be theirs, too.
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Yes indeed.
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Good demonstration of what goes around comes around. It’s good to admit our vulnerabilities rather than leave them to be exploited.
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Isn’t that the truth! 🙂
As I grow older,
one truth rises up
above all the rest.
The words said in youth
to those of old age
that I said in jest
come back to haunt me
when thrown back my way
like some bizarre test. 🙂
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I’m certain that’s a universal phenomenon!
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Sadly, this situation is often all too true. Well told.
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I’ve seen it in action, and it isn’t pretty; A 90 year old woman in a nursing home in 1988 whose children had taken her home away and basically abandoned her to die alone. It happened so many times that laws were made so that it’s very, very hard to commit an older person to a nursing home or institution just because s/he is “up in years.”
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So scary to get old. This happens way to often.
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Teens look at 30 years olds as “old.” The truth is that people still have hopes and dreams at 100. 🙂
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Growing old is a bit scary as one is prone to be exploited by one’s own kids especially where house or money is involved. Your post brings out the vulnerability of old age.
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Nicely done! You packed a lot into those 99 words.
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Thanks. 🙂
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