• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

101 Words

101 Word Short Stories

  • Flash Fiction Daily
  • About
  • Submissions
  • Volunteer

The Boat and the Boy

November 13, 2020 7 Comments

Share46
Tweet1
Email
More
47 Shares

The boat has not always been empty.

Where there once was a boy, there sits a feather fallen from some sea bird overhead—a frown curved over the edge of the seat. An oar drifts and taps a metronome on the starboard side; the hands that rowed and blistered cast off with its mate somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

Bereft of its cargo, the wood sags but the water is patient. The storm cracked the hull and stole the boy, and soon the boat will sink salt-full to the seabed.

A gulp, swallow, choke and then—at last—rest.

By Elou Carroll

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Tim Goldstone says

    November 13, 2020 at 8:22 am

    Brilliantly atmospheric seascape drama.

    Reply
  2. chuck says

    November 13, 2020 at 9:11 am

    excellent- a touching loss expressed in a few, powerful words.

    Reply
  3. Nick says

    November 13, 2020 at 11:23 am

    Love it! Beautiful telling of a story without a character to be seen.

    Reply
  4. Karisa Moore says

    November 13, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    Heavy with sadness.

    Reply
  5. David says

    November 13, 2020 at 4:02 pm

    Excellent. Feels like a masterclass in microfiction. I love how the focus is on the boat, but the presence of the boy looms large.

    Reply
  6. rena says

    November 15, 2020 at 1:20 pm

    beautiful!

    Reply
  7. Jackie Browne says

    November 15, 2020 at 5:41 pm

    Hi emma loved it well done xxx

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search Stories

The end.