“What Pegman saw” is a weekly challenge based on Google Streetview. Using the location provided, you must write a piece of flash fiction of no more than 150 words. You can read the rules here. You can find today’s location on this page, from where you can also get the Inlinkz code. This week’s prompt is the ghost town of Buckhorn, Iowa.
Forgotten
Ann stepped lightly on the grass of the cemetery, leaving footprints in the dew. She was glad someone still cared enough to mow it neatly. She laid a bunch of flowers from her yard on the grave of her Aunt Betty, murmured a doubtful prayer and walked downhill to the disused church.
“See you at the old church, 8:30 on Thursday May 23rd” Mike’s last email had said, a fortnight ago.
He’d been away a long time, three years, treading the far places of the globe and following his dreams. How would he look? How would he feel?
The sun became hot. Ann found herself a shaded spot, heady with the scent of wildflowers and loud with the insistent buzzing of honeybees. 8:30 came – and went. At 10:00 she sighed and left.
“I guess he forgot.”
In the cemetery, the dew had already disappeared; already the grass had forgotten her.
Autumn Leaves 
Wow. This one is haunting and sad. I really like the image of the fading footprint. Well done.
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Dear Josh
Thank you for reading, and for your kind comment. I found Buckhorn haunting and sad. It’s been forgotten so completely it doesn’t even have an entry on Wikipedia.
With best wishes
Penny
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a wonderful but so sad story. How transient everything is and of course still so sad for each one. It is not nice to feel forgotten, but maybe he did not forget her. The fading footprint is something she can not do anything against. But in fact nature never forgets footprints of humans. They can not be seen anymore, but they are still there!
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Dear Anie
Thank you for reading and your thoughtful comment. The woven threads of our lives preserve the footprints, perhaps.
With best wishes
Penny
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Thank you for your answer Penny. O.k. but in fact it does not matter. There is no need to proof our existance. No need to conserve any footprint. We matter for our life and our joy and for the ones who want us to be with them.
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I like that thought of yours, Anie. xx
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Thank you Penny, I like it too, altough I do not like much of my thoughts at the moment, but conserving all kind of information which are so unrelevant sucks a lot these days. Who cares about all this? There are other things to care about!
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Somehow, I kept expecting Mike to have become a permanent resident of the graveyard.
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Dear James
Thank you for reading and commenting. A fresh grave, eh? You’ve been reading too much Friday Fictioneers!
With best wishes
Penny
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Love how remembrance and forgetting weaves through all aspects of this piece. But I’m so disappointed he stood her up!
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Dear Karen
Thank you for reading and for your kind comments. She waited faithfully – but perhaps she should have accepted the adventure and gone with him?
With very best wishes
Penny
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yes maybe she should have, and maybe he is only late, missed the train, got ill, …what ever…just comes later…
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I like the “completeness” of this story. It has everything it needs. The graveyard and the grass forgetting her symbolizes of the death of their relationship. A beautifully written, sad story.
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Well Eagle Aye, you are so right, everything a good story needs, eh? Do anybody here knows the “inkheart trilogiy” of cornelia Funke? I´m sure these are not the only books in this genre which leave you lost in reality. Yes!!!! You want to have a perfect book full of crime, excitement, unfulfilled love, suffering, action and emotions … Wow, what a movie where we enjoy ourselves as spoiled, lovely-worthy creations. Just think about what it’s like to be the poor character in this book and you know how some people feel. ” Life is a story you write!
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Dear EagleAye
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comments. I enjoyed writing the story even though it is, as you say, sad.
With very best wishes
Penny
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hmmm, it does symbolize more her feelings, no? Because she does not certainly knows why he did not appear. When the relationship has a worth for her, she will still have hope that he missed the train, had some trouble…only because he did not come is not the end of the relationship, it is the begin of worrying!
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Your words emotionally grabbed my heart-strings, It’s Sunday here, and about to head off to the cemetery ….. , no dew today, no fading footprints, not forgotten….
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Dear Ivor
Thank you for reading and commenting.
I’m so glad that your memories of your wife are vivid, that her footprints in your heart do not fade.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Thank you Penny for your lovely words. My memories do flood me at this time of year, and I still get quite emotional, but I now soak up the emotions like they’re a Christmas present for me from Carole 🎁💝
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Dear Penny
The dew forgetting her footsteps mirroring his forgetting is a lovely metaphor. Sad, but well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for reading, and for such a nice comment. ‘Forgotten’ was triggered by finding that even Wikipedia didn’t have an entry for Buckhorn, Iowa. That’s about as forgotten as you can be!
Shalom, shalom
Penny
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Quite sad. And already all trace forgotten. Nice one!
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I do not really think that traces go forgotten. They will be remembered allways by some people, by some happenings, by time.
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Dear Ali
Thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, human traces fade quickly (on the whole), although in some ways they remain woven into the thread of our collective experience.
With best wishes
Penny
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A haunting story, with a sad tone. I fell she is a ghost, clinging to that hope, we all cling to when we are alive. Lovely, storytelling, Penny.
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Dear Kelvin
You read my story with great sensitivity. A ‘living ghost’ story was exactly what I was aiming for. Thank you for your very kind words.
With best wishes
Penny
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Deeply moving, sad but nevertheless well written, Penny.
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This is so sad, Penny. Did he really forget or did something happen to him? I’m with Josh in loving the fading footprints. So apt and wonderfully done. Have a great Christmas Penny
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