Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who provides us with a photo prompt. Each week’s challenge is to write a 100-word story inspired by the photo. Click here to play along or just read more stories.
I couldn’t resist.
Faded
Ghosts of faded memories haunted him, even as the memories blurred. Colors dulled and features eroded. Smiles disappeared into the shadows.
Names were redacted from his memory. Familiar faces were relegated to strangers.
His secrets weren’t forgotten, just buried.
When the time came, gasping for breath, he raspily wheezed out, “Dale.”
His family couldn’t decide what it meant or agree on his final word or if it was even a word.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I found this picture in Grandpa’s things. Who do you think it is?”
“It’s not Grandma or Mom. It says, ‘Dale Rogerson.’”
“Who the hell is Dale Rogerson?”
NobbinBlog 
Dunh dunh dunh…. A well-hidden story of a time before grandma… hopefully 😉 Who knew? She must have been something special (now I couldn’t resist!)
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Must have been. 🤣 Without Grandpa to tell the story, for all we know, she could be a banker who misinvested all his money or an assassin he hired to kill Grandma or…
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Hahaha! She could’ve been anything 😉
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I loved the idea of the detail of memories fading but leaving ghosts
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Thanks. Me too, which is probably obvious.
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Who knows what names and memories will be left at the end? Nice twist.
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The Shadow knows. Thank you. I had fun with that one.
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Great piece of everyday life. My elderly mother inserts me into her memories of events and I have no idea what she is talking about. Is it me or her?
I was truly entertained with your reading of the story.
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Thank you. It’s amazing what the mind remembers, forgets, creates… As long as your mother enjoys those memories, it can’t be all bad.
Thank you again. That makes it worth the few extra steps.
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This was such a fun read, even though it was sad to see someone losing memories.
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Thank you. It is oddly sad and fun at the same time.
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A sad story but a fun twist at the end. Nicely done.
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Sad and fun, such is life. Thank you.
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haha – very good! 🙂
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Thank you. I had fun with it.
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A touching tale with a delightful conclusion. Nice one.
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Thank you. I aim to touch and delight.
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Oh! What fun you had with this story, although Grandpa losing is memory was sad. Well done, and great to hear you read this week’s submission.
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I did have fun with this story. There’s nothing more fun than giving a dying old man Alzheimer’s. No, that wasn’t the fun part. Thank you, and thank you.
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Oh yes. So many old photos. I’ve no idea who half of those people are. Interesting take on the prompt. 🙂
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Funny how that happens, isn’t it? Thank you.
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I think all of us have those secret parts of our lives that often come to light only after we’ve passed. I like your using Dale in here as part of the story.
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That’s probably true. I wanted to have a mysterious someone from the past, and I just kept seeing Dale’s name on the picture. I finally submitted. Thank you.
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You’re welcome, Nobbin.
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It was so tragic until the end 🙂 My submission this week is also faded
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Life’s full of tragedies. If we can’t find the little things to get us through, we’ll get buried under them.
There are always similarities in stories. We all use the same picture for inspiration. I’ll head over and read yours.
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Nice! Great idea
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Thank you.
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Who knows what others will find years after 🤔
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I guess that depends on how well they clean up the first time.
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Dear Nobbin,
That’s what I want to know. Who the hell is Dale Rogerson? She keeps showing up in my chat window. Has been now for at least 8 years…might be 9. I wonder what Grandpa’s relationship with her was. I guess we’ll never know.
Suffice it to say, I loved this story and, as always, your reading of it. Fun stuff.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It looks like you may know more about this clandestine relationship than me. Thank you, Rochelle.
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Rochelle’s recent FF ‘Who Nobbinmaug is?’ made me look for you. Nice story and nice meeting you.
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I’ve been a regular at FF for years. I’m glad you came looking. Thank you. It’s nice meeting you, too. I hope you come back often.
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