TAKE A RANDOM PHOTO AND MAKE UP A SHORT STORY.
HOPE DEFINED
A FICTIONAL CREATION
BY CHAMBRAY BLUE
"Maw why ain't Loretta goin' to school?"
Maw kneaded the dough angrily and beat it with her fist then slapped it onto the old wooden table top and began rolling it out. Snow was heavy now and the windows howled from wind gusts.
"I told ya before, ain't no way your younger sister can make that walk to school. She ain't walked well since the accident, ya know." Loretta stuck her tongue out at Benjamin and he did likewise.
"Well I think she be playin' hooky, that's what I be thinkin'."
Maw hurriedly punched the pie crust into the pan and pinched the edges. "Now go on y'all. You gonna be late." The four children wrapped up good and pulled their scarves tight before heading out the door. Bitter flurries stung each face the second they closed the door on the warmth of the kitchen.
Loretta hated that she could not attend school with her brothers. She wished that day of the accident had been different, and that she'd taken another path into the woods that day. The covered mine had since been fixed so no one would make the mistake of stepping onto it again. A lot of good it did Loretta now though.
Aside from fresh apple pie Maw had made in honor of Paw's birthday, another surprise awaited the family that evening. "I got a gift from the banker in town," Paw said.
"Now, it's old but it still works," he said. The apparatus clanged as Paw threw his surprise onto the old wooden floor of their small home. "What is it?" Benjamin asked, sifting through the pieces.
"Shoes?"
"And a brace..." Paw added.
Loretta's eyes lit up. Finally, hope.
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