Legacy of Ash

She folded the funeral shawl and set it between sheets of peeled cedar to protect the peerless black cashmere from moths,

She thought how the smell of cedar had come to mingle in her mind with the tastes of loss and grief. Her brother, her mother, her husband, and now David.

From the freezer she took the pint of ice cream she’d bought to surprise him when he came home from hospital this time, his favorite flavour she’d so long forbidden for fear of diabetic consequences.

She held it cold in her hand, then put it back in the freezer.

Friday Fictioneers

17 comments

Add Yours
  1. granonine

    This is so evocative. You have made me smell the cedar, feel the grief, live in the heart of the widowed woman–all in so few words. Extremely well done.

  2. pennygadd51

    There is a curious detachment to the voice you use. It’s as though your MC is operating on autopilot. Her grief and loss are real, and we can feel them; the detail of the cedar and the cashmere and the cold ice cream conjure them up vividly. Perhaps it is their prosaic nature that provides a sense of disconnect?

  3. Dale

    I can feel her. The scents, textures… all bring this to life. And I can also understand her seemingly detachedness, returning, once again, from a grave site. I like to think she will take it out and eat it when she’s ready.
    Well told.

  4. msjadeli

    Every time she opens the freezer she’ll remember and think of him there, cold in the ground. Such an excruciating loss after losing so many before David.

Don't just stand there.