2 thoughts on “Older Short Stories..”

1. Hi Jeff,
   I chose to read, A Nice Cup of Tea on impulse.
   It was the one calming line I had seen all day.
   I’m not good with present continous tenses. I prefer tight crisp lines with an active purpose (present & past tense) & that being a matter of personal taste.
   But I liked your story.
   I liked the read because it was fluid in parts and swept my concentration through, like a bullet train and then would without warning, made me stop and think very hard about something.
   Stop & think and yes…stop & think!
   Perhaps, you should have submitted this for the Spirituality competition as well.
   It was fashioned with just that right philosophical slant.
   Your story of the old man and his loud nervous wife, made me remember something very faraway. Please forgive me for this ramble but maybe it’s important in revealing the power of a writer & the power of your story to a reader.
   I was much younger then and got down a bus where a 60-year old man had stumbled down with me. He couldn’t seem to see his way through anything. He wore sunglasses. When the bus had made off, he asked me for a street name. I pointed out an obvious road & that made him annoyed & cross. He kept asking where, where and finally shouted out that he was blind. He carried no stick.
   I was shocked.
   I said I would help walk him to his home but he said no he could make his own way back. He was stubborn I was feeling pretty frustrated myself when a girl in her 20s suddenly ran to me. She said, ‘thank you very much’, she would help her father and that did I know he was blind?
   I said no, was clearly irritated with the both of them. She kept thanking me profusely and looked at her father with a mixture of such love and sadness, it made me feel small as a person.
   I knew I had failed to understand something important, yet dismissed the episode as nothing.
   Now years later, I remember sometimes that scene.
   And now I know what that lesson was.
   The father had become suddenly blind and was in denial. That’s why he had no stick. He was still shocked, terrified and angry with the world. The daughter loved her father so much, she didn’t care about his weaknesses. She was just there anyway. And of course, she was very sad that he chose to carry no stick.
   His family must have prayed desperated for him, for when he decided on a bus trip by himself.
   I could have been patient, softer, kinder. I could have put his needs easily before mine and not have to show them both my annoyance, just because I wanted to get home.
   I often remember this scene and feel slightly ashamed and sad that I could not recognise real love when I saw it.
   A Nice Cup of Tea brought this memory back instantly and I guess, that was the power your story had on me, today.

2. Thank you Susan for the lovely story. I find it fascinating that a story can bring forward our own memories. I’m quite fond of the imagery in your stories. The imagery tells a story in itself. Thanks for the kind comment Susan. I wrote that story a few months ago, so I might go back and fine tune it.