Scaffolding
“I used to work at that grocery store,” Sue says. She crosses her legs and a shoe goes tumbling to the roof below. The scaffolding sways.
“Yeah,” I say.
Way up here, we’re weathervanes. We’re aligned with the wind and following it out, fleeting. Our words disintegrate and become silence.
“I used to smoke behind that fence,” I say, “between classes.” Sue nods. The gray clouds roll overhead.
“Sad how things change,” she says. “Sad how nothing’s what you remember.”
We look at our town, our memories stretched upon the frame of the present. We’re not ready to climb down.
Usually, I take the “Friday” part of Friday Fictioneers very seriously, but since it’s a holiday week (here in the states at least) I figured I’d post a little early, to catch people before they switch off for a long weekend.
The prompt this week was the photo up top, snapped by David Stewart. Check out the other stories written so far by clicking my blue friend a few lines up.
Happy 4th!
pinionpost 
Things do change. We can effect some of that change by sheer will; others, we have no control over.
Really nice piece. I think I like it better without seeing the picture. Really evocative, the small exchanges between two people that say much more than the individual words express.
Been there.
Am there, some days.
Thanks.
Interesting snippet, makes me wonder so many things about them! I love the shoe image.
Very nice piece, Brian. That part about things not being as you remember reminds me of how much bigger things seemed when I was growing up. When I went back to my grandparents’ farm house, it was so much smaller than it seemed to me as a child.
Love your gravatar picture, too. Happy Fourth to you, too.
janet
This makes me think of college, smoking a little weed; reminiscence and foreseeing.
I hate the phrase ‘great imagery’ but I don’t know how else to express the ‘presence’ that this piece conveys. Lovely vignette.
Dear Brian,
It would seem that the only thing constant is change. A well written piece. I enjoyed it very much.
shalom,
Rochelle
A well captured moment. I felt I was beside them, dangling my legs.
Very nicely and honestly written.
Well that was simply beautiful. A surprisingly beautifully crafted piece – taken from the prompt. Lovely.
A great example of a stand out moment in a life!