Short Story, Word Prompt, Wordle

Respect: Inspired by My Mother

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for MLMM Monday Wordle #459.
Our twelve prompt words are shown below.
Here’s where they took me. Thanks, Di!

beam, cherished, dark, duplicated, dusted, final,
insult, left, reminiscent, right, top, and world

Image by Me & Gemini

Enza Pugliese dusted off the steering wheel of the Fiat she’d bought with money from her dress shop …. the business her brothers insisted would fail. Their laughter still echoed in her ears, reminiscent of their father’s dark predictions that no man would want a woman who acted like one.

“You’re an insult to the family”, her eldest brother had said when she’d announced she was learning to drive. In 1940 in their very Italian neighborhood in The Bronx, such things simply weren’t done. Not by respectable women.

But Enza cherished her independence more than their approval. While other women left their futures in the hands of fathers and husbands, she carved her own path. Her shop on Gun Hill Road had become a top destination for wedding gowns crafted with pride and offered at reasonable prices. She’d duplicated no one’s vision but her own.

Today marked her final driving test. As she parallel parked perfectly between two cars, the examiner nodded with grudging respect. She’d gotten everything right.

That evening, Enza pulled up to her family’s home behind the wheel of her own car, the headlights cutting through the twilight. Her mother stood in the doorway, and for the first time, Enza saw something different in her eyes …. not the usual disapproval, but a beam of pride quickly hidden.

“The world is changing,” her mother whispered as Enza passed. “Perhaps you knew before the rest of us.”

Enza smiled to herself. She’d always known.

NAR©2026
#MLMM
#Wordle

This is “You Don’t Own Me” by Dusty Springfield

MLMM Monday Wordle #459

All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

33 thoughts on “Respect: Inspired by My Mother”

  4. I love your musical knowledge, Nancy. I remember you saying you don’t pick the ‘usual’ song but go for something different. Of course, I thought of Lesley Gore’s version of this song! But Dusty…what a treat. And yeah!! for your mom!

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