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101 Words

101 Word Short Stories

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Ferment

November 21, 2024 6 Comments

By John Lemanski

“There is dirt in this juice!” she wailed, pushing the purple liquid out and over her bottom lip and onto her yellow dressing gown. She could no longer spit. Caroline recoiled, more frustrated than angry. She set down the plastic cup on the nightstand.

“There is no dirt,” Caroline whispered, unheard, exasperated.

Her mother’s hands were sallow; bespotted and bruised along most of the knuckles. Caroline sighed as she reminisced about times when those hands mixed Kool-Aid, braided her hair, or waved goodbye at the close of Christmas dinner.

She sat, wiping her mother’s chin, wishing one of them was dead.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jan says

    November 21, 2024 at 8:08 am

    There is a beautiful and heartbreaking book length story told here, conveyed in just 101 words.

    Reply
  2. Jane B Hirschhorn says

    November 25, 2024 at 2:48 pm

    Powerful. Sadly, we will all be in one of those situations one day, if we haven’t been already.

    Reply
  3. Lisa Heussner says

    November 26, 2024 at 2:08 pm

    Very powerful and hit home for me. I love this story.

    Reply
  4. Toni Brayer says

    November 27, 2024 at 9:02 am

    Fabulously powerful.

    Reply
  5. Christie Walker says

    November 27, 2024 at 11:01 am

    Sad but true, especially the last line. It’s a very human emotion felt by any one taking care of someone with no way out.

    Reply
  6. Marie says

    November 27, 2024 at 1:10 pm

    It took courage to write this, well done.

    Reply

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