Written for Fandango’s Story Starter.
Here’s my story, using Fan’s prompt line:
It had never entered Richard’s mind that his son
was not his own blood.
It had never entered Richard’s mind that his son was not his own blood. But then, Richard had a very limited imagination. Besides, he and his wife, Deborah, had never spent time apart …. that is, except for the night Richard stayed in the hospital after a routine appendectomy.
So, when young Timothy arrived in the world with his mother’s blue eyes, her musical talent, and her inexplicable dislike of mayonnaise, Richard simply smiled and said, “He’s got my nose.”
Timothy did not have Richard’s nose.
Timothy had, by all medical and photographic evidence, a perfectly normal nose.
Richard’s nose was a geological event.
But love, it turns out, is blissfully stupid. Richard coached Timothy’s football team, cried at his graduation, and remained, until his last breath, absolutely convinced about the nose.
NAR©2026
#FSS
This is “Papa Gene’s Blues” by the Monkees
Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 
Great take, Nancy. Thanks for joining in.
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