The emigrant

· by · in flashfiction, Friday Fictioneers. ·


Upwards, onward, always on the move. “Do your best”; my father’s voice comes back to haunt me.

“There’s a day tomorrow”; I hear my juvenile falsetto responding; but as a good son I left them all behind; now from my pinnacle I feel the pull of envious eyes.

It’s so cold — alone — up here.

Too late I hear my mothers voice; “Go as far you want, but never leave your heart behind”.

One step at a time I carefully retrace my steps on the road less traveled, leaving loneliness behind. Jubilant I’m greeted by their stern faces and closed doors.

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What a great Christmas gift to find one of your pictures at Friday Fictioneers. I will try to visit all the tales this week. The picture was taken on Madeira last year, and is from one of the many levada walks we did, personally Frost’s poem echo in the back of my head when I took the picture. But I took a symbolic twist on that one. Let me all wish you happy holidays, wherever you are.

On our wanderings in fiction we are guided by Rochelle Wissoff-Fields and every week you will see new ways to tell stories in 100 words to the same picture.


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December 24, 2014

43 responses to “The emigrant”

  3. Good work as ever, Bjorn. Thanks for the picture and another year of your stories. Have a safe and merry Christmas 🙂

  8. I’m not sure if this is an extension of “You can never go home”, “Down home is just a memory”, “Home is where the heart is”, or “Look Homeward Angel”. the stern faces and closed doors don’t bode well…
    Randy

  10. Bjorn, Good story to go with your lovely photo. Thank you for that. It’s such a happy ending to know he could go back to those he loved. Well written as usual. 🙂 — Suzanne

  12. Dear Björn,

    A lovely story although the stern faces and closed doors at the end seemed to conflict.

    Beautiful photo and, as you can see, has already inspired some wonderful stories;

    Thank you and Merry Christmas.

    shalom,

    Rochelle

  14. Intriguing ending. The “the stern faces and closed doors” suggest that they did not want him to turn back. The road less traveled is not without it’s own challenges.

  15. what i get from this story is that life goes on with or without you. nothing stands still. as you move one, those left behind do the same. you can never go home again.

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  19. Lovely story Bjorn :). Many-a-time the road less traveled maybe quite lonely but its about following ones dreams and being successful in what we dream :D.

  20. Beautiful shot. Thanks for loaning me the inspiration for today’s story. This was my first try. If what they say about pictures and a thousand words is true, making due with 100 words that do the photo justice was more difficult than I imagined.

  21. This is beautiful, Bjorn. Some must find their own way even it if means leaving those behind those who don’t support it, and I think some are content being alone. Happy Holidays to you!

  22. Great picture, Bjorn! I like the instructions from the parents – a sprinkling of wisdom topped with lots of love. And how he basically says, “Tomorrow is another day” then realizes how much he’s left behind. (I, too, was a bit confused by the stern faces and closed doors.) Happy New Year!

  23. Your story speaks to me of the easy way we abandon the past and its ties when we’re young, and then long to go back once we’ve grown a little older. Your character is jubilant to return, but finds it’s not so easy – ‘knowing how way leads onto way’ as Frost says, we can never really go back. Lovely.

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  28. Dear Bjorn,

    Thank you for the excellent picture. It was a wonderful foundation upon which to build a story. Your last line left me puzzled. Perhaps people at home were not pleased with his success found in a foreign land while they toiled on at home…Hard to say.

    Aloha,

    Doug

  31. I’d love to take a walk there myself. This is the kind of place that inspires the camera.
    We had a similar theme on our stories, but very different.
    Great minds. ;0)

  32. I LOVE your picture. It gives us such wonderful fodder for a variety of different types of stories for FF. The writing that accompanied your picture was a perfect fit for the picture. Congrats on having your picture chosen for the prompt.

  34. Very powerful, Bjorn, you have told a whole life story in these few words, and left us wanting more with that final line. Great stuff and thank you for the picture

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