This is my proposition for the answer to Lynn’s question—what did the man find when he developed the forbidden film?
The film in the camera was old, thirty years maybe—he could tell that from her appearance, because it was her, no mistake, the young girl he had never known.
They had married when she was a woman, hard-bitten and world weary and he approaching middle age, but they had been happy, sort of, though she had never spoken about why she had fled Romania nor what she had left behind, said it didn’t matter, it was another world, another time.
Now, in the crisp, clear images he shuffled in his trembling hands, he saw what she had left: the laughing tot cradled in her arms; blowing a candle on a fancy cake; toddling after a terrier racing across a field—her daughter.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
You never know what you’ll find…
Hut did she leave her daughter? Or flee after her daughter died maybe? Or more horrifying, did something God awful happen to her little girl??I’m intrigued!
I don’t know, Ritu. It’s Lynn’s story. I’m just butting in 🙂 I’m thinking she left the little girl behind with grandparents maybe, just the time for her to start a new life in a different country, and she never went back for her.
Such a poignant story… and there are many in that situation, with children left behind so they can either make a better life for them or their whole family back home 😊
And if they don’t make a ‘better’ life, I guess some mothers would decide for the child’s own good to leave them behind.
Yes… I’ve seen it happen too… then there are those mothers who you wish would choose to leave so their kids get a better life… but don’t… but that’s another matter and post altogether!!!
Another controversial idea that you’d have to go softly softly with.
Yup….
Tres noir et argileux.
Une triste histoire de notre époque.
et vraitment painible
Quelle âme sensible 🙂
☺
Oh excellent and how revealing. I have these very feelings when I see my young parents or grandparents who I could never really have known.
I was talking about the tricks of memory with another blogger yesterday. It’s strange isn’t it, how we convince ourselves that a very vivid image we have in our mind is a memory, when it’s an imagining. Photographs are bits of time suspended. We collect them in case we forget. They make me sad, I’m afraid.
The purpose is always to leave the reader hanging and you always do with the shorts.
The aim of the story is brilliant, love the idea of an undeveloped film!
That was Lynn’s idea. She asked us to imagine what was on the film. It had to be a pretty big secret or she wouldn’t have asked him not to develop the film.
It’s a superb idea – and prompt and you did it justice
Thank you 🙂 I’m waiting to see how Lynn takes the story a stage further.
Love this Jane – so glad you ran with it as you worked with the idea so beautifully. Filled with heartbreak and longing, I want to know more about how that young woman became the tough person he married.
Not sure I can compete with that, but I’ll try my hand tomorrow 🙂
I’m glad you don’t mind me pinching your idea, and I’m looking forward to seeing what more you find in this story. There might be a bit more, not sure yet 🙂
Just posted mine – excited to see if you come up with any more 🙂
This story is so terribly poignant I’m not sure I want to investigate further. I’ll have a think about it when I’ve been out to buy another box of tissues.
Writing can hurt sometimes. I’ve upset myself on many occasions with the ideas I come up with
And upsets tend to recur to the character involved just as they do in real life ,so you can never shake off that poignant episode.
One sad instance often leads to another, that’s for sure
What horrors made her walk away what happened to make her stay… I think you managed a three lined flash. Nicely laid letters Jane.
Thank you! There has to be a bit left to the imagination if the story’s only three lines long 🙂
Precisely!
Ooh, I adore the oddly nostalgic feeling to this. Beautiful.
Thank you! Photos of any kind have that effect on me 🙂
Oh, I like this response! When I read Lynn’s story I did wonder what was on the film – now you’ve given us a poignant answer.
Lynn’s taken it a step further if you go back to her blog and read it. Keep the tissues handy 🙂