Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz (the blue frog) on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
An Apology!
I may not have commented on your Friday Fictioneers post last week. I have had trouble with my internet which has made it difficult to read stories, and next to impossible to comment on them.
If I have failed to read and comment on your post, I am sorry and I will try to do better this week! Many thanks to all those of you who read my story despite my lack of reciprocity.
PHOTO PROMPT © Carla Bicomong
One family
I scoured market stalls selling lanterns decorated with images of dragons, of cash, of storks, until I found one bearing the image of a dove.
Under the trees at the lakeside, with a thousand other people, I waited until the last bird had finished her evening song and then I lit the candle in my lantern. I launched it and it drifted into the indigo twilight.
At first I could identify it, but after five minutes I was no longer sure, and after ten minutes mine was just one gleam of light among many.
I sighed, content and at peace.
A simple way to take a moment to remember. Nicely done.
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Dear Iain
Thank you for reading and commenting. Remembering is good.
With best wishes
Penny
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Lovely spiritual piece and indigo twilight: perfect.
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Dear Jilly
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad the spiritual element came through to you.
With very best wishes
Penny
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The indivuidual and the collective and the importance of both to us, beautifully captuered
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Dear Neil
Thank you for the perceptive reading and the kind comment.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Dear Penny,
A sweet story of remembrance and unity of purpose. I felt the meaning deeply. Beautifully understated.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for reading and commenting.
There is a great power in corporate acts of remembrance or dedication, isn’t there?
Shalom
Penny
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Lovekly moment well-captured, Penny.
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Dear Josh
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you thought my story captured the moment.
With best wishes
Penny
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That act of remembrance clearly brings a sense of release and relief. Lovely story.
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Dear Linda
Thank you for reading and commenting. There is strength in acts of remembrance or dedication done in community, isn’t there?
With best wishes
Penny
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We are each one light among many, but we each burn just as brightly as the others.
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Dear James
Thank you for reading so carefully and commenting helpfully. You have read to the heart of my story.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Beautifully told, Penny. I’m not sure about the imagery, but as I interpret it, the narrator wished for peace, a beautiful wish that blends with the more selfish wishes for cash, power or children.
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Dear Gabi
Thank you for reading and commenting. You have understood the symbolism of the lanterns almost exactly; the only little detail is that the narrator wished to be a peace bringer rather than just wishing for peace.
With very best wishes
Penny
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A message of peace. Nice!
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Dear Abhiray
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you read my story as a message of peace. It’s a good way of interpreting it.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Did you have other idea in mind, that I missed?
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Dear Abhiray
At its deepest level I intended that the scene represents the life choices of the assembled crowd. They seek good fortune, cash, progeny – and the narrator seeks to be a peace-bringer. We may have ideas about the relative merits of those requests, but when those lives are viewed from a distance we can be aware that the differences don’t matter. What matters is our common humanity – hence the title “One family”
With very best wishes
Penny
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I liked the setting and feel. I just enjoyed a soft and happy smile.
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Dear EagleAye
What a lovely thing to say. I’m delighted that you enjoyed a soft and happy smile.
With very best wishes
Penny
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I like the fact your character’s lantern mixed in with the others and she was content with that. It give us a feeling of unity, of all of those people coming together in a unified act. A lovely, calm, beautiful scene Penny
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Dear Lynn
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m delighted the piece conveyed a sense of calm and unity.
BTW I read your story in today’s “People’s Friend”. I loved the ending; the mother’s solution to her daughter’s apprehension about going to boarding school moved me with its insight and love.
With very best wishes
Penny
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It was a lovely story, Penny and your meaning came through very clearly in your writing. Thank you for making the effort to buy the magazine. A very ‘quiet’ story for me but I did enjoy writing it as I’ve enjoyed writing everything I’ve submitted to the Friend. It just opens up a different side of me, I think. Thank you again and very best wishes.
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Lovely story, Penny.
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Dear Notestowomen
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the story.
With best wishes
Penny
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I love that she is one of many, all sending out their hopes and dreams for something more, better.
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Dear Dale
Thank you for reading and commenting. We are all one of many aren’t we, no matter how different we seem at first glance?
With very best wishes
Penny xx
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I like the way your chacter carefully picked the symbol borne by her lamp. It had never occurred to me, that each one might bear a symbol of a specific request or intention. Much as hopes and dreams bubble up from each of us to make a grand human chorus.
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Dear Andi
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you enjoyed the story.
With very best wishes
Penny
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There was a great sense of peace and serenity about this one Penny.
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Dear Anurag
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you found a feeling of serenity about the story.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Beautiful Penny. I really liked that her lantern has a dove. Lovely.
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Dear Jennifer
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m so pleased you liked the dove. In choosing to be a peacemaker, she was rewarded with contentment.
With very best wishes
Penny
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She chose wisely, lovely story.
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Dear Subroto
Thank you for reading and commenting. I agree that she chose wisely because peace-making was in her nature. Perhaps when we look from another perspective, though, wealth, good fortune and children may be equally wise choices in life. What do you think?
With very best wishes
Penny
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I see it as a metaphor, Penny. Someday our light will drift away and join many other. Peace and contentment await.
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Dear Russell
Thank you for reading and commenting. I like your reading of my story; it’s full of hope.
With very best wishes
Penny
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one gleam of light among many ~ a delightful line that takes this reader from a feeling that the MC wanted to be a loner, to the sensation of being glad to be enveloped by a community.
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Dear Lish
Thank you for reading and commenting. I love your comment, because it makes me think about the MC in a different way. I hadn’t really imagined her as a loner, but you’re right of course, that’s exactly what she is. She’s determined to fulfil her vision for the purpose of her life. And then, as you quite rightly point out, she becomes aware of her identity as part of the group and is content and at peace.
With very best wishes
Penny
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It’s so nice to be so easily contented. I’d have taken a sharpie to the thing.
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Dear Alice
Thank you for reading and commenting. As you say, it’s good when we can be content without too many possessions.
With best wishes
Penny
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Yeah, that kind of letting go is valuable.
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simply told and well-written. one of your best.
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Dear Plaridel
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the story.
With very best wishes
Penny
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I found this a reflection on human frailty, where you are one in a sea of many, but yet united and together the light of human courage shines brighter.
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Dear James
Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment. I can see why you interpret the story in terms of frailty and courage. I’m always interested when someone reads my story in a way that I hadn’t imagined when I wrote it.
With best wishes
Penny
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When the individual lights travel further down the river, they appear to be one. Something for us to learn, perhaps? Very contemplative piece, Penny.
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Dear Varad
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you found the story contemplative. That’s how the prompt feels to me – an invitation to contemplation.
With very best wishes
Penny
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She set the spiritual dove free from its physical cage, wonderfully spiritual story.
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Dear Fatima
Thank you for reading and commenting. I found your comment absolutely fascinating. The idea that the narrator was liberating the spiritual dove had never occurred to me, but it’s an absolutely valid reading of what I’ve written. It’s also a very beautiful one. Thank you for sharing it by commenting.
With very best wishes
Penny
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It’s so important to remember and to let go. Beautifully told!
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Dear Brenda
Thank you for reading and commenting. Remembering those who have died, and letting go of grief are very important. I think it’s also important to be ready to let go of personal ambition and to fully embrace community. I’m glad you liked the way I told the story.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Good to know you narrator felt peace as their lantern melded with the others – letting go can be a release.
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Dear Sarah
Thank you for reading and commenting. You’re right; letting go can be a great relief in all sorts of circumstances.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Love the eloquent and peaceful mood you create Penny, I felt calmer having read it. Well done.
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Dear Francine
Thank you very much for reading and for your gentle comment. I’m so glad you found the story peaceful.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Very tranquil and relaxing.
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Dear Ali
Thank you for reading and commenting.
I’m glad you found my story tranquil and relaxing.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Beautifully penned. Enjoyed the piece. Very evocativ, I must say.
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Dear Priya
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. I’m glad you found the piece evocative.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Such strong symbolism in this piece, Penny. I wonder why she waited until the last bird had sung her evening song before lighting the candle? Perhaps timing was of the essence.
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Dear Magarisa
Thank you for reading and for your perceptive comments. Why did she wait until the last bird had sung her evening song before lighting the candle? That is such a good question. The only honest answer I can give you is that I don’t know – it just felt right. It’s what I would have done. I love the evening chorus and it usually evokes a feeling of reverence in me. In the circumstances of the story’s ceremony, by the end of birdsong I would be in trance state and very receptive to spiritual healing.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, Penny. There are many things we wait to do until it feels right, and your explanation sounds perfectly logical.
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Very beautifully written and captured.
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Dear Lisa
Thank you for reading and commenting. You’re very kind to say it’s beautifully written.
With very best wishes
Penny
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So beautiful, Penny. And your words, “one gleam of light among many” may be the very reason we find peace in events like this–the feeling of community. And that is what is often lost as many of us spend that time snapping pictures with our phones. 🙂
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Dear Jan
Thank you for reading and for your kind comments. When a group of people shares a spiritual experience it can have a profound effect on their happiness, can’t it? Such a shame to miss that by taking photographs! (Although when I have family round I’m the world’s worst for snapping away with my phone – or so my daughters tell me!)
With very best wishes
Penny
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I was right there with her ❤
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Dear Dawn
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m pleased you were there with her.
With very best wishes
Penny
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