Short Story

For Too Long

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Muse on Monday
where the image below is
our inspiration and the prompt is
about someone who has to stay seated.
Here’s my take.

Whether day or night, regardless of the season or the passage of time, Carl sits perched on the edge of a weathered chair, the wood faded and dull from years of anxious waiting. You see, his son, Dan, enlisted in the army decades ago, leaving behind a promise of return and a mother’s tearful farewell. Each day, Carl listens intently to the crackling radio, his only connection to a world bursting with news of war and peace.

As years slip by like shadows on the wall, Carl is haunted by memories and the echoes of laughter. The photographs on the mantle, yellowed with age, tell stories of a joyful boy who became a brave soldier.

Friends stopped visiting after Carl’s wife died. For too long now it’s just been Carl, his radio, his chair, and his lonely memories. As dusk falls, he whispers a prayer, hoping the end of the war will finally bring Dan home. Until then, he sits and waits.

NAR©2025

This is “Danny Boy” by GENTRI Covers

Muse on Monday – June 16, 2025

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

29 thoughts on “For Too Long”

    1. No, we never will. And it’s not like we haven’t been warned or had sufficient time. After all, the first war started when Cain decided to pick up a rock and bash in Abel’s head. Thanks very much, Penn.

      Alexa …. play Where Have All the Flowers Gone by Peter, Paul & Mary

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      1. Oh dear, I don’t understand… the world has gone crazy, or more crazier … the men in ivory towers play their war games, while the innocent people are being slaughtered … 😊🌏🤨

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