He used the floor of the cabin’s open porch as a chair dangling his legs. The chickens were safe. The dog was safe.
He figured if he couldn’t see it, it wasn’t there. No fairies. No unicorns. The trees weren’t watching. The sun didn’t care. He was safe.
Then he saw her walk up his long path. She was watching him for some time and decided to make her move. She needed a place to stay. After they spoke his understanding of safety expanded to include her.
Now they both sat on the porch. He promised to make chairs.
Text: Linked to Charli Mills’ Carrot Ranch 99-word Flash Fiction Challenge. The theme is a chair on a porch. Come join us writing flash fiction.
News: Last Wednesday the Prairie Writers Guild held a dinner in Rensselaer, Indiana, celebrating the publication of the fourteenth volume of their series From the Edge of the Prairie. Some of my haibun, which appeared previously on this blog, are in that volume. They print the anthology in Rensselaer. Although I have been a member for only the past year I have known some of the people in the guild for decades having grown up in northwest Indiana.
I really liked this line: ‘After they spoke his understanding of safety expanded to include her.’
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He accepted her. I am glad you liked that. Thank you!
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Same here. That is a terrific line.
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I am glad you liked that line, Lisa!
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This is awesome. I adore homemade chairs. My daddy used to build them.
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Hopefully is able to build a couple nice ones. Thank you, Cara!
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I thought this piece was really lovely, Frank.
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Thank you, Robbie! It was a kind of romance.
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Well done! I like the promise to make chairs.
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Hopefully he will keep the promise. Thank you!
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Congratulations on your haibun in publication. I used to live in Indianapolis. Many many moons ago.
I like the gentle quite protection your piece and its’ porch offer, even if there are no chairs yet.
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On some open porches the porch floor makes a perfect chair. I have relatives living in Indianapolis and I used to live there for a few years long ago. Thanks you, Jules!
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Our front porch really doesn’t have room for chairs… I’m used to calling that a stoop. I suppose though that is more for a city. And I often sit on the concrete step 😉
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That is very similar to what I imagine the guy in the story was doing except this was a cabin in the woods and there was room for chairs.
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Fiction, poetry; pretty much how life speaks to writers 😉
There’s always room for writing and writers – Welcome to Carrot Ranch 🙂
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I’m from Indiana 🙂 Frank, this piece is touching in its simplicity. Other people inspire us. We don’t mind doing without but we don’t want others to do without – so we make chairs for them.
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Yes, Victoria, I think that is how the main character thought about it. Thank you!
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I agree that the line about his idea of safety is a great one. And I love the sense of potential in his promise to make chairs. It speaks of a future. Love ti.
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As I imagine it, he will probably make those chairs, although he might have to first figure out how to do that. Thank you, Lisa!
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You have painted a really vivid picture Frank that is lovely. I think that his life is going to be fuller, not only because of the chairs he is now planning on making but with the love he will share on the porch.
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That’s how I imagined it as well. Even before the chairs get done there is shared love on the porch. Thank you, Irene!
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A beautiful tale, Frank and a metaphor for sitting in our own world, protecting what we have and yet accepting into that world someone who comes along. I agree with others about the line of how that shift occurs.
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Thank you, Charli! He let his security down temporarily so he could redefine it with her inside.
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SMiLes my friEnd.. reminds
me of my Chair Making Great
Grandfather who lived two doors
down in a small tin house with tin
roof on the Down Town
River Front by
us.. he
said
the stuffing
of the Chair was
made out of Vegetables
as he talked about his old
Horse Named Dancer at
over 90 Years old
and
almost
Blind forever
he sat now relaxed
in front and with that River
for Peace only a step away in present
and it’s true i finally understand and
can
taste
those Vegetables
for my Chair is alive now too as food..:)
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Nice story of that old chair maker, sitting relaxed “a step away in present” with a chair stuffed with vegetables! Thanks, Fred!
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SMiLes Frank
as i come through
as a second wave
Great Grand Father
Per Legend and his
Son with three Sisters
Arranged Names for Peninsula
Parts of what is now still Named
as Navarre and Oriole Beach no fame
my friEnd but being A First to explore
and settle
in
Paradise
Real of course
when the purpose
of Barrier Island
is not being Served
when Hurricanes visit.. hehe..
but for them caution to the wind..
i suppose they gave me something my friEnd..;)
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