Flash

Silent Labors

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Friday Fictioneers where we are
challenged to write something creative in
100 words or less using the photo below.
This is my story in 100 words.

They walk five miles to work every other day, softly conversing in Italian. They unlock the side door and go directly to the closet. Dragging out their supplies, they stop talking and address their task.

Kerchiefs holding back their hair, hands protected by rubber gloves, they uncap their jars of Murphy’s Oil Soap and add a small amount to their buckets of water. It doesn’t take much of the lemon-scented solution to polish every pew.

These are the church ladies. They labor silently for three hours. When done, they leave the church in darkness except for the luminous bell tower.

NAR©2024
100 Words

17 May 2024

This is “The Bells ~ I. Allegro Ma Non Tanto by Sergei Rachmaninoff

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

49 thoughts on “Silent Labors”

  1. Gorgeous. This story is a little gem. So much to like in it – the quietly working ladies, their long walk each day, their dedication and their lovely lemon-scented soap that seems here to light up the tower with a lemon glow. Wonderful voice and tone and pacing.

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    1. The church ladies in my story are the ones who labor for hours polishing the pews in the church. They take their jobs very seriously and have great pride in the work they do. They can be terrifying if you mess with their cleaning supplies, too! 😁

      Thank you, KK

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      1. Thank you, Nancy, for this information, but I wonder why only ladies are supposed to do this job. Is it gender specific?

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    1. Thanks so much, GH. This work is a sacrament for these women; they take their jobs very seriously and God help the person who distracts them on their mission.

      I can smell the soap! My mother used it and I have some in my kitchen cabinet right now.

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      1. I hear ya. It happens on the spur of the moment (that second idea… for me, anyway)

        Indeedy. By limiting it to the steeple, it can be interpreted more than one way – old church built in 1801, then rebuilt in 1843 following a fire. My sister was married there. Quite lovely.

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