Flash Fiction

I've recently discovered flash fiction writing - short stories of usually no more than a couple hundred words. Writing flash fiction is challenging and fun! I hope you enjoy the flash fiction pieces I've written below. 

    The Story Behind the Book

“That will be $3.25,” the thrift store clerk said. I paid her for the three books and promptly drove home so I could lose myself in my favorite rainy day pastime - reading. As I opened the front cover to the first torn and tattered old book, I noticed a handwritten inscription at the top of the page:

To Elizabeth - To our lifetime of love.  Love always, Charles.

The inscription was dated May 5, 1926. At the bottom of the page was an address label that read: 1420 Eagles Nest Drive, Montpelier, VA. Excitedly, I grabbed my nearby laptop and typed the address in the search engine. Just a few more clicks revealed the homeowner’s name and phone number: Charles Madison. 222-7848.  Nervous and excited, I dialed the number. A gruff male voice answered.

“Yeah, hello?”

“Uh, yes, is this the Madison residence?”

“Who wants to know?” he demanded.

“Well, sir, my name is Lucy McGuire and I just purchased a book from a thrift store in Chesapeake that had this address written down in it, and I thought the owner might still live there. Does “Charles” or “Elizabeth” live there by any chance?” The line went silent for a few minutes. A few moments later a woman’s voice came on the line.

“Hello, this is Mary Ann Donavan - I’m sorry, my grandfather is elderly and doesn’t hear well. I’m over here visiting him today. Can I help you with something?”

“Yes, well, you see, my name is Lucy McGuire and I live in Chesapeake, and I just bought a book at the thrift store today that had this address on a label on the inside front cover, and an inscription that reads, “to Elizabeth… from Charles.” I was just trying to find out if there was a Charles or Elizabeth living there, and if this might be their book?”

“Well, my grandfather’s name IS Charles, but my grandmother passed away and her name was Rebecca Ann, not Elizabeth. Hold on just a minute and let me ask Grandfather if he knows anything about it.” After being kept on hold for several more minutes, she finally came back to the phone.

“What’s the name of the book,” she asked.

“Yours Truly, by William Peele,” I answered. She asked me to hold again and I heard her repeat the title to her grandfather. Another short wait followed.

“Yes, he remembers it,” she said when she finally came back to the phone. “It was a gift from him to a lady friend of his that he planned to marry a few years before he met my grandmother - Elizabeth Owens. Sadly, she died in an accident before they could get married. He married my grandmother Rebecca a few years after that. I never knew about Elizabeth until now.”

 “Oh, I see. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to open old wounds.”

“No, you didn’t. In fact, my grandfather smiled when I asked him about her. He’s promised to tell me the whole story when I get off the phone.”

“Oh, that’s great! Does he want the book back? I’d be happy to return it after I read it!”

“Yes, that would be very thoughtful of you - if you don’t mind."

“Oh no, I don’t mind returning it at all - I’m just glad I found your grandfather!”

After we hung up talking, I began reading Yours Truly. It was an amazing heartfelt love story and I could understand why he gave it to the woman he hoped to marry. After I finished reading it, I put it in a shipping envelope, and mailed it out the next day.

A few weeks later, I received a lovely, but sad note in the mail from Ms. Donovan:

Dear Ms. McGuire - Thank you so much for returning the book my grandfather had given to Elizabeth. The tears in his eyes when he saw it bespoke the burning love he had for her - his first true love. Afterwards, he told me of their amazing love story, and of her tragic death - a traumatic loss he had been carrying around for over sixty years. Sadly, Grandfather passed away last week. If you hadn’t found and returned that book, he would have taken that loss to the grave with him, and I would have never known about his great love for Elizabeth.  Your willingness to track him down and unselfishly return the book will never be forgotten.  Sincerely, Mary Ann Donavan.

A few days later, I was back at my favorite thrift store scouring the book shelves for more lost books I could reconnect to their owners. Sometimes it's not the story IN the book that makes it so good, but the one BEHIND it!