Gathering

Our gracious host, Rochelle, is asking us to get
creative in 100 words or less using the photo
seen below. Welcome to Friday Fictioneers.
This is where the prompt took me.

We don’t come for the food. Not really.

We come because someone said “Zara’s” and everyone showed up. Because a table this full means nobody is eating alone tonight.

The tower is just an excuse, a centerpiece for the ritual of passing, reaching, laughing exuberantly.

Someone is already photographing the memory before it happens. Another stares at nothing, present but elsewhere, thinking of friends who are missing tonight.

The beer is half-gone. The soup grows cold.

But nobody leaves.

This is what cities do to people. They scatter us, then pull us back, hungry for something the fire can’t cook.

NAR©2026
100 Words

This is “Senden Benden Bizden” by Athena

1 May 2026

^{Everything on The Elephant’s Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.}