Friday, September 21, 2012

The Perfect Gift

 

            Karen logged onto EBay on the library computer. The pawn dealer had offered her fifty dollars for the teapot Henry gave her mother thirty years ago. She though she could get a better price selling it on-line.
            As Karen entered her password, she recalled the night Henry had given the teapot to Peggy. He had been desperate to think of the perfect gift—an engraved cigarette case, a silver candlestick, a fur stole. But he knew nothing would ease Peggy’s mistrust of Henry.
            Karen held her breath when Henry handed Peggy the scarlet gift box on Christmas Eve.
            “Romm’s, eh?” Peggy said seeing the gold foil seal on the box. “You can’t buy me Henry.”
            “Mum!” Karen whispered.
            “It’s okay Karen. No Mrs. O’Brien It isn’t a bribe. The gift isn’t even from Romm’s. The box was just the right size.”
            Peggy pried the lid off the box and looked inside. Her face was emotionless for a moment, then her eyes became glassy.
            “How? Where did you find this?”
            “Karen told me she broke your teapot when she was a little girl. She described it so vividly that when I saw this one in a shop on the Cape I thought it must be similar.”
            “It looks just like the one my mother brought with her from Ireland. It was the only thing she had besides the clothes on her back. It’s perfect Henry. Thank you.”
            Karen shut down the computer. There were other ways to pay the rent.

Write On Edge: Red-Writing-Hood
            I’m linking up with Write on Edge this week to continue Karen’s story. In homage to the classic game “Clue”, we were challenged to use the words candlestick, library and scarlet in a piece of fiction or non-fiction in 250 words or less. If you like this, read more about Karen here.

10 comments:

  1. Awwwww...this was reminiscent of O. Henry, and I love that guy. I liked the emotion in this very much!

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  2. Great job! I had to go back to look for scarlet 'cuz' I missed it the first time. I love the details you add to your work. They paint vivid pictures without outright telling details.

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  3. Great job weaving the memory into the present and leaving the reader feeling like Karen made the right decision, though it may not have been financially prudent.

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  4. Lovely! I was a little confused here: "But he knew nothing would ease Peggy’s mistrust of Henry." - do you mean "she" ??

    You really feel the impact of her decision at the end. I thought it was a great moment! :)

    - barbara @ de rebus
    barbaragildea(dot)com

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  5. Ooh, I like it. I like him and I like the way this worked and the flow was perfect. I want to know more so I may have to dig back and find her story. :) [Also, BIG whoops. I totally didn't realize it was a 250 prompt, thought it was 450 and was excited to be under 400!]

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  6. This moment was really well constructed, I agree with Barbara that Peggy was confusing at first, even if just for the purposes of this bit, since this is a larger piece, something as simple as adding, her mother Peggy, would make who she was crystal clear. This piece had a lovely layer of melancholy, I assumed that Henry is gone, and had the sense dead, which is why she is selling of her things. You captured a lot in so few words!

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  7. I love the ending - I wouldn't sell it either :)

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  8. That's really powerful. I was confused though about who Henry was. Was it the narrator's husband?

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  9. So sweet! Those things are worth keeping. I had to loop back to figure out who Peggy was also, but it was easy enough to figure out when I did.

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  10. Awww! You played the story out so well and the ending is a perfect "deciding what's truly important" moment.

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