Saturday, August 08, 2015

Gone, forgotten

The given words at this week's Sunday's Whirligig are bickering asleep floor hear breath soft cord frayed signal bed awake and separate. I used all but one.







When the bickering turned to bitterness they went their separate ways. A shadow of his former self, he spent his empty days wandering the streets dependent upon the generosity of the caring few, yet invisible to most. His once stylish clothes replaced by a frayed and filthy coat tied up with a length of knotted cord.

No soft bed for him, not for years. Every night he had a few hours restless sleep on the floor in a shop doorway. He normally shuffled off at sunrise. But yesterday morning he was still there when the shopkeeper arrived to open the store. Assuming he was asleep, she gently nudged him. He fell onto his side, never again to awake, his wheezing breath gone from his frail body.

This morning the street cleaner swept away the bunches of limp flowers that tumbled along the pavement in the chill winter wind. 

 

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8 comments:

  1. You don't see many around in shop doorways here anymore, probably because there are a few parks and shelters with conveniences nearby. Pity he didn't think that he had a second chance to start over from a failed relationship. For all that you wrote this very well Keith.

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  2. If humanity (and I lose the term loosely) doesn't remember us i hope in some way the world does..i felt those flowers were for him...to be forgotten in life is a frayed cord nobody deserves to be at the end of..a fine piece of flash indeed

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  3. It is an unusually cold winter here and I think of the homeless. Many are dying from pneumonia and I am ashamed to be constantly reminded of how lucky we all are to be living in a wealthy country when this can exist.They are not all drug addicts and crims....some have just lost their low paid jobs, have broken marriages and don't have any family or friends to stay with. Your piece illustrates all this for me. We should never complain too much about anything.Well Written !

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  4. This is so beautifully touching! Excellent write :)

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  5. Chills with that last line!

    Great write.

    Thanks for visiting.

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  6. Well written description of the down-and-out...especially out...

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  7. Incredibly well written Keith. A deeply moving insightful reality,

    Elizabeth

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