Defining Moment

The little boy is inconsolable, his face twisted and red and sweaty, hot tears staining his shirt.

He’s perhaps three and has just learned the awful truth.

When the other children get taken to see the Disney movie at the Rialto, he will be left behind.

The earth has crumbled away beneath his feet.

Oh, how he screams.  He is all alone. Nobody cares.

He crawls wailing beneath the huge dining table, wraps his arms around the center post while he watches their legs getting ready to leave, hears them all talking about him in concerned tones.

 

Friday Fictioneers

16 comments

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  1. pennygadd51

    Aww, bless! Sit down with the laptop, and show him a few ‘Simon’s Cat’ videos. That’ll stop the wailing!
    Nicely written, Josh, and a great take on the prompt.

  2. James Pyles

    Hopefully he will not be literally left alone. My granddaughter is almost three and she can throw some spectacular fits, so I know how this goes. She’s also wonderfully cuddly.

  3. Lynn Love

    Oh, my word, that’s so good. How you’ve captured that devastation of the very young, that age when a dropped ice cream destroys you with misery. Well done

  4. Jan Vanek

    I love that you went with the table, and from the perspective of a toddler. I hope that the horrible thing was only that he could not go to the movie. That, in fact, would be horrible to a toddler. Well done!

Don't just stand there.