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PAINT IT BLACK

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

It is raining; Little Joseph, only four years old, is riding in the back of a big black car, his mother Carla by his side, following a long, flower-covered car and Mommy said Daddy’s in that car but Joseph can’t see him.

Their car stops and other cars arrive, depositing crying people dressed in black who follow some men carrying a long black box into a grassy field as Joseph wonders ‘Is this a picnic?’ but then the men lower the box into a large hole in the ground and Mommy tells Joseph to “say goodbye to Daddy.”

Joseph is confused but follows her lead, tossing a flower into the hole and returns to the car where Carla lights a cigarette, smiles and tells Joseph Daddy won’t be coming back; this makes Joseph feel so very sad – he can’t understand why Daddy would leave without saying goodbye – so he looks out the window and waves bye-bye with his little hand.

It is raining again and Joseph wants Mommy to play with him but she says “No … I’m busy on the phone” so little Joseph goes exploring in the cellar where there are lots of boxes … great for climbing and building; Joseph spots a small box among the big ones and decides it’s perfect for the top of his fort and just as he’s placing it on the tippy top, it slips from his hands, scattering torn photos of Daddy and newspaper clippings, too, but he can only read a few words – ‘BOAT’ … ‘LOST’ … ‘ROMANO’ – his surname; Joseph doesn’t understand any of it but he instinctively knows Mommy would be mad at him so he puts the box back where he found it and goes upstairs. 

It is still raining but Joseph hears laughter outside and from the window he can see Mommy and a man kissing under a tree; the man takes a suitcase from his car and he and Mommy run to the house, throwing open the door, dripping wet, still laughing and Joseph thinks it’s all very strange for grown-ups to act this way.

Carla looks at Joseph and scolds, “Naughty boy! Don’t you know it’s rude to stare?” but Joseph just stands there, looking at them; “Well, silly goose”, purrs Mommy, “Say hello to my friend … he’s your Daddy now.” and they run up the stairs laughing, hugging and kissing, leaving Joseph alone in the hallway so melancholy and wondering if it will ever stop raining.

NAR © 2023

Reprised, reworked and rewritten from a 2018 piece
[because I lost track of time and forgot to write a new one].
It’s a 6, don’t you know! Punctuation be damned!
❤︎

Sunday’s Six Sentence Story Word Prompt!

36 thoughts on “PAINT IT BLACK”

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  10. “Punctuation be damned!” Spoken like a true Sixarian, Nancy, lol
    You reeled us in, tapped the the “aww” button, then craftily rounded the corner of devious and murderer.
    Yes. Poor little Joseph!

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  14. Poor li’l guy.
    One wonders which number daddy the one is that went into the ground. And how long this new one will last.
    And thus a serial killer is born, that hates his mother…yeah, I know this isn’t where you were going. 😉 But I’m in a mood, so…😂

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