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 on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
PHOTO PROMPT © C E Ayr
Paris
We were unpacking in our new apartment when I found the photograph.
“Do you remember giving me this?”
“How could I forget?” Jeremy stroked the nape of my neck, and I shivered.
The panoramic shot of Paris by night was stunning, but sadly the worse for wear. It was peeling from its mounting, and it carried a smell of mud from when we’d been flooded in Somerset.
We’d fought over it during our trial separation.
“I’m glad we’re back together,” I say as I move to the window. Jeremy takes my hand, and together we gaze over Paris by night.
Autumn Leaves 
There’s a lot of history packed into those few words, Penny
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Dear Neil
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. Yes, half a lifetime of history; I think they’ll make it work this time!
With very best wishes
Penny
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Ah, lovely story with a lovely, unexpected ending. Nicely done, Penny.
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Dear Susan
Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. I’m pleased you liked the ending.
With very best wishes
Penny
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A happy ending – not many this week! A whole relationship and marriage in 100 words, well done Penny.
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Dear Iain
Thank you for reading and commenting. I found the prompt very stimulating, and immediately had the idea of a couple not needing the tattered photo any more because they had the real thing.
With very best wishes
Penny
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I like the way you have the picture of Paris, the memory, fading while the future is portrayed by the view of Paris. The future looks better than the past ever could.
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Dear Nobbin
Thank you for reading and for your insightful comment. It’s a future full of hope! (That’s the sort of city Paris is, I feel…)
With very best wishes
Penny
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It’s really good they’re still together, and their photo of Paris can, in a Dorian Gray.ish way, absorb the pain of whatever was pulling them apart
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Dear Larry
Thank you for reading and commenting. That’s a very imaginative suggestion, that the photo can absorb the pain. It certainly played its part in bringing them back together.
With very best wishes
Penny
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A gorgeous story with a fairy tale ending…
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Dear Ivor
Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. I’m glad you enjoyed the happy ending!
With very best wishes
Penny
PS Congratulations on your publication on The Drabble recently!
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Thank you Penny,, and having this special poem of mine published, is a rewarding thrill for me 😊💙🌏
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Ah, and the real deal is far better than the facsimile … 🙂
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Dear Na’ama
Thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, give me the real deal every time…mind you, it’s a wonderful photo, isn’t it?
With very best wishes (stay safe!)
Penny
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The real deal is awesome! I hark for the beach!!!
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A lot of feeling pours out of your story. I’m happy they reconciled and are appreciating each other.
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Dear Jade
Thank you for reading and for your kind comment. Yes, it’s good that they reconciled.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Penny, you are very welcome.
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i’m happy how the story ended. paris can indeed do wonders. 🙂
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Dear Plaridel
Thank you for reading and commenting. Paris is wonderful. I think it may be my favourite city, although Amsterdam and Athens run it close!
With very best wishes
Penny
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Maybe like their marriage the picture can be restored? I enjoyed the good nature feeling to this story.
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Dear Tannille
Thank you for reading and commenting. Maybe the picture can be restored. Maybe the wife will just pack the photo away with other treasures, like her wedding gown. Whatever. It’s played its part in saving their marriage.
With very best wishes
Penny
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A happy ending! A rare commodity, given the times we are living in. Thank you, Penny.
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Dear Sandra
Thank you for reading and commenting. Even though I can’t travel physically because of lock-down, I can travel in my imagination – and when I imagine Paris, I feel happy!
With very best wishes
Penny
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YAY! finally a happy ending. ❤ That's a lovely love story, Penny.
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Dear Maria
Thank you for reading and commenting. True love will stand up to all sorts of stresses!
With very best wishes
Penny
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My brain – when she said she shivered I was expecting bad things! In hindsight, a very sweet and hopeful story, Penny
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Dear Lynn
Thank you for reading and commenting. Well, of course you imagined bad things – this is Friday Fictioneers, the home of murder, mayhem and divorce!
But when I think of Paris, I feel happy. I had my first taste of haute cuisine there – 2 Michelin stars – and it was a revelation! And, of course, there are lots of other reasons for adoring the city. With feelings like that, a happy ending was inevitable!
With very best wishes
Penny
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What lovely memories. I’ve only been once, when I was eleven. Coming from a small town, I found the place rather intimidating. Probably prefer it now, having lived in a city for years.
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Dear Penny,
Lovely, happy ending. Perhaps it’s time to take another picture representing a shared life. This made me smile. Thank you for that.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you enjoyed the happy ending, and that I made you smile.
Shalom, and stay safe,
Penny
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A new start. And a rare happy ending this week 🙂
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Dear Ali
Thank you for reading and commenting. I like Paris a great deal. It makes me smile when I think of it. I couldn’t write a story with a downbeat ending. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
With very best wishes
Penny
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This was lovely, Penny. I always believe that a couple who has had a struggle and come back together is all the stronger for it – of course, this is assuming both did their part, which I believe your couple has. Sweet and real!
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Dear Dale
Thank you for reading and commenting so thoughtfully. I agree that couples who work through their differences and come back together are stronger for the experience. I think often it represents a stage of ‘growing wiser’.
With very best wishes
Penny xx
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Best wishes to you and yours! xo
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I liked this because it shows how shared memories are essential in a relationship. I don’t understand trial separations – just having a break – do they become a habit?
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Dear James
Thank you for reading and commenting with such insight. Yes, yes, yes!!! Shared memories are essential. They are part of the shared storyline of a couple, and life together doesn’t make sense without a shared narrative.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Lovely piece, Penny full of hope and understanding of each other. It’s good they’ve realised they belong together
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Dear Michael
Thank you for reading and commenting. The love they shared for Paris brought them back to a realisation that they belonged together.
With very best wishes
Penny
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Goodness! I gave a wee shout-out when I read that last line. Well done.
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Dear Lish
Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. I can’t imagine a nicer response than a wee shout-out for my story!
With very best wishes
Penny
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A happy hopeful ending after a time of struggling. I loved reading this!
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Dear Brenda
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you enjoyed the happy ending.
With very best wishes
Penny
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A whole history of a marriage in a few words. Really good job.
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Dear Eugenia
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m glad you enjoyed he story.
With best wishes
Penny
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Oh, wonderful! A love story that DIDN’T end in heartbreak 🙂
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Dear Linda
Thank you for reading and commenting. I’m delighted you liked the happy ending. I don’t know about you, but with every year of my marriage that passes I feel greater love and deeper gratitude – and it’s 45 years now!
With very best wishes
Penny
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It will be 51 years for us in June! And yes, I’m more content and grateful with every year that passes, treasuring each day, at our age, as a special gift.
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Yayy! Congratulations!
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And to you as well.
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lol a true romantic … love how you twisted rubbish into romance 🙂
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Dear Kate
Thank you for reading and commenting. You’re right – I’m a romantic at heart!
With best wishes
Penny
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don’t be shy, it’s an endearing quality!
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Marriages are tough and your characters have at least made it through the long haul to the end. I like it that they sound settled in a city that they both clearly love.
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Dear Fatima
Thank you for reading and commenting. Your interesting suggestion “I like it that they sound settled in a city that they both clearly love.” makes me wonder to what extent location influences the success or failure of a marriage…
With very best wishes
Penny
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Ain’t nothing like the real thing. Looks like the relationship survived. Nicely done.
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