Creativity Explored: Vivianne

Creativity Explored
is a Series where we do just that: explore creativity!
As part of this series, we started out with
a FAST FICTION exercise of the
STORY BEHIND the PHOTO
you can read more about that here and participate at any time as this is an ongoing exercise.

Here are some of the submissions to date:

Creativity Explored: Emilie & Gil in Cannes 
by Debbie Mako

Creativity Explored: Magnus and Chu
by Michelle Mason

Creativity Explored: Vivianne (this one)
by Celia Entwistle

Creativity Explored: his shadow
by Christian Krumb

Creativity Explored: A weak light casts no shadows
by Susan McGregor

and more to come…

Creativity Explored: Vivianne

By Celia Entwistle

Vivianne walked out of the baronial outer door and onto the steps.  She adjusted her hat and checked her bag for her key.  Patting her purse to assure herself she had her medication, her tissues, her list, and her euros, she proceeded cautiously down the steps

It was a lovely late spring day.  The lime trees across the street were in full leaf and the park beyond beckoned.  She had lived in this building for so many years that she felt the park belonged to her.  And it did, in a sense.  She had many wonderful memories of days like this.  Of bright, breezy days shared in slow walks along the gravel course.  

At the bottom of the steps she paused to light a cigarette.  She never smoked in the apartment.  Her mother and grandmother would never allow it, and even though they were both gone for many years she could not break with tradition.  The first breath of the cigarette signaled the beginning of her afternoon out.

As she looked up, the cigarette caught just between her lips, she saw him coming toward her.  For a moment her heart skipped a beat.  And she was smiling, almost laughing.  He was coming to go with her to a café so that they could discuss his book.  In an instant, she could see them both as if she were looking down from the window behind her.  He was dark and intense, but moved with a quick, almost athletic grace.  His eyes would light up when he saw her.  A slim blond with a beret, high white Nancy Sinatra style boots, a multicolor mini-skirt and short red leather jacket over a white cashmere sweater.  She particularly loved these clothes.  Her heart skipped a beat and she started to smile and adjusted her glasses.  But in that instant, he was someone else.  A slender, brusque, modern young man pushed past her carrying a rucksack.  Putting a phone in his pocket. Oblivious to the sun or the breeze or the girl.  There was only a superficial resemblance.  She could see that now.

She looked down and saw the legs of an old woman ending in sturdy brown shoes, the hem of a burgundy skirt, and the purple scarf.  Ruefully, she looked across the street.  Toward the park.  And the memory, now vanished, of another day.  Another young man.  A lifetime ago.

She finished her cigarette.  Grinding it under her heel, she stood still and silent for a moment.  Today she would take the route through the park.  Because life remained, even if youth did not.

.  

Here are some of the submissions to date:

Creativity Explored: Emilie & Gil in Cannes 
by Debbie Mako

Creativity Explored:Magnus and Chu
by Michelle Mason

Creativity Explored: Vivianne (this one)
by Celia Entwistle

Creativity Explored: his shadow
by Christian Krumb

Creativity Explored: A weak light casts no shadows
by Susan McGregor

and more to come…