At 60, when my attendant went MIA after my Cataract surgery, I grappled around the hospital with bandaged eyes wondering, “Has my life finally ended in a lonely ditch?”
Then I heard a booming voice with a hint of mirth that said, “Hey Beautiful! Need help getting around?”
And I thought, “Maybe not!”
Image by John Moeses Bauan on Unsplash
The story is now part of a short-story collection available in black-white and coloured prints and as an ebook. I will share the links soon.
The forest is dark as little light filters through the thick canopy of trees overhead. He has been walking for what seems like hours but could be only minutes.
Standing in a pool of dim light, she looks the same after so many years, beckoning him to come forward. Awestruck as if he found his heaven, he obliges.
Somewhere in a hospital, an old man dies…
Image by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
She lighted the countless lamps
of the fairytale castle
every night,
hoping for love
of the handsome Prince.
ย
The day she died,
the castle alone mourned–
its halls dark
through the night.
ย
While the Prince cursed
and stumbled around
looking for a trickle of light.
Image by Cody Board on Unsplash
Shivering, she pulled the Pink Sweater tightly around her body like a cocoon when the Police arrived.
He had been high on coke and didn’t struggle much when, with shaky hands, she had twisted the sweater around his neck.
He will never hit her again.
Image by Raychan on Unsplash
The pair of Cranes looked at the other birds in the large aviary with contempt.
So, it has come down to this? They will have to share quarters with these minions? How they hate the Gobble Gobble and the Cackle Cackle–the constant cacophony of the mindless birds who have never seen the world!
They looked past the fenced roof and saw a flock fly by. How they craved to fly with them and see the world again…
Of course, it is better than the circus I was at earlier. The minions feed me well and my 100 feet x 100 feet home comes fitted with grass to lay on and trees to scratch my back.
But I miss running around the forest with mom. Don’t know when I will see them again.
Image by Anthony Melone at Unsplash
Where have all the eggs gone again? Did the birds eat them…but I had buried them in the sand under the tree…
But no one came…well, except the cleaner…but he wouldn’t do that to me, would he? He must know how much my babies mean to me…
Maybe they hatched when I was eating and are hiding in the water already…but where are the shells then?
Photo by ะะณะพั ะะฐะผะตะปะตะฒ on Unsplash
The lone Lion replied in response to the pained calls of the Zebra next door.
Enemies by nature, they are brothers in loneliness.
Photos by Geran de Klerk and Alan J. Hendry on Unsplash
I see her sad eyes filled with longing across the wired high fence.
Of course, I have three female companions all to myself. But in this moment, for some reason, I feel I never had a choice.
Image by Diana Parkhouse at Unsplash
Short Stories 