I owed them.
“The whole grove and cottage. Yours. All we expect in return…”
It was fun at first. While pruning, I’d find a note and the thing to be eliminated secured to a tree. Documents. Tickets. Receipts. One day, a friend’s show dog. That was tough.
Gift horses are never as magnificent as they appear. My compost steamed.
Six months in, they had me by the short hairs. They had roots everywhere. No escape.
Glad I didn’t know this man. I’d need a chainsaw for his limbs. A deeper compost pit. Much deeper.
My grove? Blood oranges.
Loved it!
Thanks for reading!
Dear Laurel,
Clever piece of flash writing.
I think you might have eliminated “I owed them” since the story did not delineate “them” or why the narrator “owed” them thus making those words appear to be superfluous to the story.
Best,
Cathryn
Thank you for the suggestion!
OMG – unexpected end..great writing!
Thank you! Happy to surprise!
Really good, you lead the reader by the hand. The reader is intrigued but does not know where you are going until that stunning end.
Thank you, David! My muse goes “dark” when I write short fiction.
It doesn’t seem to matter to whom the narrator was obligated to serve; this little story reveals enough. An expert piece of writing – well done.
Kelly, thank you for that encouragement! There’s only so much we can say in 101 words, right?
🙂
Intriguing piece of writing. Says a lot leaves a lot.
I appreciate your comment!
I love how flash fiction sets a scene or world and hands it off to the reader to question and use their imagination; I love this, and the questions my imagination answers 🙂