Monday, March 19, 2012

Free

After Zelda cleared her desk and dusted the shelves she felt liberated. Old photographs and miscellaneous clutter had been piling up for years. The worst of it, pictures of dead relatives. She had felt obligated to surround herself with family while she wrote stories about them, but now the stories were stored in her computer. Zelda didn’t need the jumble of faces anymore, eyes peering down at her, watching her fingers as she typed. She’d had enough of their stuffy influence over everything she wrote, their collected stares. Now she was free to think on her own and write stories without them.

Next to Zelda’s desk the closet door had been left open. On one shelf a sizable storage box held hundreds more photographs. A lot of the pictures were Ed’s. She wouldn’t touch his, just hers. He’d have to deal with his pictures later. But she didn’t know when that would be because Ed was the clutter-bug in their marriage.

If Ed weren’t around she’d get rid of everything. Zelda hated clutter. She remembered a time when her office was free of this sentimental nonsense. A time when everything was clean and simple, her mind clear, so she could think.

In the morning Zelda’s house was swarming with police. Neighbors had observed the woman, clad only in a slip, carrying pile after pile of belongings into her front yard.

One bystander reported, “She must have been working all night.” 

Another asked, “Where’s Ed?”

In the institution Zelda’s room was stark white. A bed stood against one wall, a desk and chair against another. On the desk, one lamp, one pad of lined paper, and one pen, her only possessions. Free of clutter. She smiled.

(This story is an experiment in the flash fiction genre. I hope to be adding more stories, related to this one, in the future.)

12 comments:

Jacquie said...

Barb,

I like this Flash Fiction, and I want to know more about these characters. It makes me think of the Hoarders TV show, an eye-opener. Keep 'em coming!
Jacquie

Anonymous said...

interesting, at first I thought you were talking about me and Gordon, Haha

barb bits said...

Thanks Jacquie. These characters are fun for me too. I'll try to keep them going.

barb bits said...

Thanks Nan. Glad you could relate to these characters. Me too! Ha.

patsyann@sonic.net said...

You know I really like this form of writing and this piece is a good example of flash fiction. Keep it up. Patsy

Laura McHale Holland said...

Most intriguing, Barbara. I look forward to more!

barb bits said...

Thanks Patsy. It's a fun experiment.

barb bits said...

Thanks Laura: Hope I can continue to interest you. Your blog posts have really inspired me too.

Ana Manwaring said...

Barbara, this is an interesting story!
Good read...

barb bits said...

Thanks Ana. I'm going to try to keep this story going.

Elaine Webster said...

This is hard to do, yet you've done it-- a lesson in clutterless writing. However, I'm trying to convince Deborah Taylor-French to allow up to 3000 words for her Redwood Writers mystery contest. I've edited my submission down to 2700 words and don't know where else to cut and keep the mystery. Where's Rod Serling when you nedd him?

barb bits said...

Thanks, Elaine. Maybe you shouldn't cut anymore from your mystery. I tried to cut a story a while back and gave up. I sent something else into the contest. It is hard. This story just came to me short, but I'm going to add more in segments. I'm glad you like it.