A new story challenge

[Gemini]

It's a while since we had one of these.
Do have a go when you have some free time. Very short, very long and all things in between, or a poem if you prefer!

The choice is yours. The opening line is

" I suppose this means the end of summer"

[Daisy]

Gem, what do they say about great minds! I was thinking about this while I was away, and I really like the starting line - we went from summer at home to chilly autumn while we were away.

[Gemini]

I am writing one, but have got a bit stuck as to where it is going

[Daisy]

Gem, I'm sure you will find you way through your plot. It's something I can think about while I get on with the washing, etc.

[Daisy]

I know you've been away, Gem, but I wonder how your story's going?

I think I've finally got a plot I can work with, but it needs a bit more thought!

[Gemini]

Daisy, I think its just about finished! I found a way to end it before I went away, it just needs finalising. I will have a go this afternoon.

[Daisy]

Well done, Gem.

I thought I'd got something to start with last night. In the cold light of day I'm not so sure!!

[Gemini]

I must admit having started I really didn't know where I was going with this!
I found a way to end it anyway.



'I suppose this means the end of summer' sighed Ruth, as through the kitchen window she watched Chris putting away the garden furniture in the shed.
Every year on the last weekend of September he did this, along with many other sensible and responsible ready-for-winter jobs.

Ruth was well aware that many of her friends, and even her own sister were envious of her. They said they would love to have husbands who did all those things with no reminders , if not plain nagging. Especially her sister. Claire had given up even asking as it just didn't work with Simon. She just got on with those jobs herself hoping that guilt may make him at least help if not take over. It worked very rarely.
So Ruth knew she was lucky.

At lot of the time she felt glad to have a super organised spouse, but sometimes she wished things were not quite so ordered.
Putting the garden furniture away for example. Ruth hated to admit that summer was ending, and always hoped for an Indian Summer. Left to her own devices that furniture would stay out, just in case. Or what about an impromptu winter picnic out there on a bright day? With fire pit burning, warm clothes, fleecy throws, soup and mulled wine. They would probably never actually do this, but the tidying away of the table and chairs signaled that it definitely wouldn't happen in Ruth's eyes.

Chris was tidy, Ruth was not. She never had been. Not even her best friends would call her tidy. Everything that should be clean was clean. It wasn't dirty it was just, well, untidy!
Chris was organised. Ruth could be organised. If it involved something important like their kids, or something fun like a holiday Ruth was your woman. Organised and efficient. Her children never went to school without a clean PE kit on the right day, and were never the ones who brought home a reminder that it was the last day to pay for the school trip. Ruth would never have let her daughters down in any way, and she knew there has to be some order and routine for a happy family. This she somehow managed for all those years. Looking back now that the girls were grown up and she doesn't have to do, it she didn't really know how she did.

Part of Ruth wanted to be organised, maybe not as much as her husband but more like her older sister. Claire never had to search through several drawers and cupboards to find anything. That was fairly routine for Ruth.

Their daughter Hannah was like Ruth in so many ways, including the disorganised part. Ellie was ultra neat and organised, obviously taking after her dad!
The larger part of Ruth really did not want to be organised, and that part won on the whole. She didn't want a house that looked like show home. Her best friend Carrie laughed out loud once when she heard Ruth saying this. 'No chance of that Ruth!' She exclaimed. She liked a lived-in comfortable home with things around. More things than a lot of people would like, perhaps.
She didn't want to fold towels neatly and line them up on the shelf. They were clean what did it matter if she just shoved them in? (A lot according to her husband and younger daughter.) She found tidying boring, in fact housework in it's entirety was boring. Cooking she didn't mind but didn't love it. She enjoyed pottering in the garden but left the heavier stuff to Chris who was happy to do it.
Ruth really loved to read, and could lose hours doing that. She loved to draw too.

'Maybe I should make an effort to be a bit tidier' she mused on her way home from her sister's orderly home.
In the light of this, Ruth decided to do a long overdue sorting out of her wardrobe. A few days later several bags for the charity shop sat on her bedroom floor. There was more room on the rails and Ruth had to admit it did look better and left her remaining garments less crowded.

That coat can go too, she thought, pulling out a woollen winter coat which she hadn't worn for years from the hall cupboard. Checking the pockets her fingers closed around something.
She withdrew her hand and in it was a tightly wrapped bundle of what looked like notes. Ruth removed the elastic band which they had been tightly wrapped in. She counted five £20 notes!
Sitting on the sofa she wracked her brains to work out which good fairy had put this gift in her pocket.

Later she told Chris the story of the mysterious money. He laughed. 'Ruthie, that must be where that birthday money from your mum and dad went a few years ago! You were never sure if you had lost it or spent it.'

'Oh yes!!' smiled Ruth. 'It's a good job I am so disorganised isn't it darling, or we wouldn't have this money now for a lovely meal out.'

Chris's face was a picture.

THE END

[WeeGranny]

Love it!!

[Daisy]

Brilliant, Gem, and I suspect it's very true to life for a lot of people. You found a good way through your plot and a neat, happy ending.

[Oma]

Love it 😁❤️

[Daisy]

I've made a start on my story, but my original idea was going to be more like a book, so I'll have to rethink it!

[Daisy]

It's take a while, but I've finally finished a story for this challenge.


“I suppose this means the end of summer”, Sam said as he and Holly enjoyed their daily walk along the promenade. As always they were watching the holidaymakers enjoy the late summer sunshine. There were families sitting or lying on the beach. Parents eating sandy picnics, while excited children built endless sandcastles which the incoming tide would demolish before their eyes, and a few hardy souls braved the waves splashing on the golden sands.

A couple of joggers passed close by, and families sat outside their brightly painted wooden chalets, enjoying reading, dozing in the sunshine or quietly chatting, drinks in hand. Some of the beach hut residents recognised them and smiled ‘hello’ or ‘nice day, isn’t it’’.

Sam and Holly had walked this route every day all summer, whatever the weather had thrown at them, and several times on wet and blustery days they had been invited to join one family or another to share the shelter of the little wooden homes from home. They’d always politely refused and pressed on to their destination, Sally’s Cafe at the far end of the prom.

Sally always gave them a good welcome and today was no exception. Her pretty face with its sparkling eyes and warm smile lit up as soon as the pair appeared in the cafe doorway.

“Holly, here’s your usual”, she said, turning to the ice cream cabinet. Holly’s daily ice cream was a bit of a ritual, but on chillier days Sam would often opt for a hot chocolate or a Latte. Today in response to Sally’s unspoken question, he asked for a pot of tea and a tuna sandwich, and he and Holly chose a table at the edge of the patio area, overlooking the quieter end of the beach.

There was a lull in customers, so Sally sat down at the table with her half finished coffee.

“It’s the end of the season today”, she said with a wistful smile at Sam. “I have to close now until next Easter. The Council won’t allow me to open during the winter. I suppose they are afraid of claims for damages if there are storms.”

Sam smiled warmly at her troubled face and gently took her hand in his.

“Sally”, he murmured, “I’ve loved coming to see you each day all through the season. You have come to mean a lot to me, and to Holly”. Holly looked up from her ice cream in agreement, or possibly hoping for seconds.

“From tomorrow the restrictions on dogs on the beach are lifted and Holly and I are free to walk along the beach, to paddle in the sea and throw Holly her tennis ball. We’d both love you to join us, and perhaps we can find a couple of nice places to have lunch together. What do you say, dear?” Sally looked down to see Holly wagging her tail in great excited circles, and her smile lit up her face as she stroked Holly and said, “I think I’d like that better than anything. Perhaps the end of summer isn’t so sad after all.”

[Gemini]

Oh that was certainly worth waiting for Daisy!!
What a lovely story. At first I thought Holly and Sam were a couple then I realised Holly must be Sam's little girl. But no, a dog!

Well done Daisy.

[Oma]

Oh what a sweet story , I thought it was Father and Daughter too 😁❤️