Short Story

Crossroads

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for The Unicorn Challenge where we are
asked to get creative in 250 words or less using
the photo below as inspiration. This is my story.

© Ayr/Gray

There he stood at the crossroads of his life. He was 72 years old and made more poor choices than he cared to remember. He was purposeless, never knowing which direction to take.

He was an indecisive man. The only true and clear decision he made was marrying his wife. She was his anchor when he began to drift, his lifeboat when he was drowning in the sea of life.

On this crisp autumn day, he was suddenly consumed with the urge to take a walk, clear his head. His wife offered to go with him, but he declined saying thanks, but he needed this time by himself to think.

His wife suggested he wear his new chartreuse windbreaker; if he lost his bearings, as he was often wont to do, he’d be easily visible. And so he donned his yellow-green jacket and took off to find himself.

Now here he stood at the crossroads of his life, literally. He had no idea where he was. As he looked around, he realized he was truly screwed for he blended in perfectly with his surroundings.

At that moment he cursed his wife. He wanted to wear his beloved red jacket but no, she suggested he wear the chartreuse one. Because he could never make up his mind, he did as he was told. Now he was lost without a clue which way to go.

And to think he went off to find himself. Now he wondered if anyone would find him.

NAR©2024
250 Words

The Unicorn Challenge-11/10/24

This is “Crossroads” by Cream

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

36 thoughts on “Crossroads”

  1. keying off your very apt musical addendum:

    Nobody seemed to know me
    Everybody passed me by

    *on a roadtrip in 2010 went to Rosedale looking for the crossroads (most songs are referencing the scene of the deal between Robert Johnson and the Devil.) interesting trip

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  11. You really capture the ‘lostness’ of the figure in the photo, Nancy.
    ‘Somebody tell me what to do!’
    And your MC, well, did his wife really want him to ‘get lost’?
    Maybe not – she offered to go with him.
    But is she glad he said ‘no’?
    Who knows – and that’s the great thing about your story – it lets the reader write the next part.

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    1. We’ll never know for sure about the wife (unless I write a sequel!).
      I would never find myself in a relationship with someone like my MC, unable to make a simple decision on his own. Perhaps the wife’s intentions were innocent enough, but she did push that chartreuse jacket just a bit much, don’t you think?
      Thanks for a great comment, Jenne.

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  14. Typical….never his fault ….blame the wife!

    Sensible woman at home feet up reading a book and having a lovely cuppa… ( Sorry I know there are many ways in which you can interpret this great little story …but I am going with my mood 😄)

    💜💜💜

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