Literary Quote, Phrase Prompt, Short Story, Very Short Story, Writing Challenge, Writing Prompts

Tender Spot

Nancy's Notes 🖊️♬

Written for Violet’s Literary Quote Challenge.
I have combined two quotes into one piece ….
from her stories “Left the Field” and “Sorrow”.

Image by Me & ChatGPT

Every Thursday Mariana cleaned Mr. Nnemeka’s house. He was ninety-one and kept every room exactly as his late wife had left it before she died eleven years ago.

“You can’t fix someone who is determined to stay broken,” her sister told her, more than once. “You’re not his daughter. You’re not his therapist. You dust his shelves and you leave.”

Mariana knew her sister was right about the job. She wasn’t sure she was right about people.

Today Mr. Nnemeka sat in his wife’s reading chair, which he never did, holding a photograph Mariana hadn’t seen before …. a young woman laughing, maybe at something the photographer said.

“That’s Adaeza …. before she was my wife,” he told Mariana. “She lost two fingers in a factory accident when she was seventeen. Everyone told her no man would want her. I told her ‘I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things’.” He laughed, dry and soft. “She hit me for that. Said she wasn’t broken. Took me a long time to realize she was right … I was the broken one, and she fixed me without ever trying.”

Mariana sat down across from him, dust rag still in her hand.

“I miss being someone’s tender spot,” he said.

She didn’t know what to say to that, so she didn’t say anything. She just stayed, past her hour, past when the light through the window turned orange and then grey, until he started talking about Adaeza again …. the factory, the wedding, the fight they had in ’78 that lasted three days …. and Mariana realized her sister was wrong.

She wasn’t there to fix him.

She was there so he wouldn’t have to be alone with all of it.

NAR©2026

Violet’s Literary Quotes: “You can’t fix someone who is determined to stay broken” and “I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.”

This is “Fix You” by Coldplay & Ed Sheeran

Left the Field
Sorrow

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



18 thoughts on “Tender Spot”

  3. This one hit my heart straight out of the park. I feel a kinship with Mr. Nnemeka and wish i could meet him IRL. Thank you for this Nancy.

    And thank you for blending these two prompts so seamelssly!

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    1. Mr. Nmemeka was an elderly gentleman who attended my former church for many years; I first met him shortly after his wife passed. Her story about the factory accident is true as is the wonderful relationship they had. Mr. Nmemeka possessed the best qualities possible. He was the salt of the Earth. Mariana is a character I made up for the story. I’m so glad you enjoyed it and feel I did your quotes justice. Thanks so much. 🩶

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  5. This piece reflects a thoughtful response to a literary quote challenge, blending two sources into a single reflective narrative that explores emotion, memory, and interpretation through creative writing.

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