Writing Prompt 38: Gap in the Hedge
Days of the Week
We live in a suburban neighbourhood, halfway up a mountain. I like to wander the streets with my camera taking the odd picture here and there. I have an idea for a series of black & white photographs of suburban hedges.
Some are large, dense shapes, hiding the older houses that were built here over fifty years ago. These houses are often on one level, in the UK we would call this type of house a bungalow.
I find these older homes fascinating. I often wonder about who lives there. Many are older, senior residents who have raised their families here. They know they will have to leave. They know their house will sell to a developer who will knock down their beloved home to build something bigger in its place. Time, does indeed march on.
What’s the story here you see?
On Monday, Linda wore a pale blue jumper, the colour of the sky on a cool winter’s day. It was soft and woolly.
She liked to stroke the sleeves while looking out of the window. She could just about see who was coming and going through the gap in the tall hedge that grew along the bottom of the front garden.
On Tuesday, Linda wore bright red shiny shoes - she wore clothes too - but the shoes were new. They’d arrived the week before in a big box with the words, ‘Thanks for ordering!’ printed in a bright font stamped across the top. She stopped at the front door for just a moment to retrieve them.
On Wednesday, Linda wore a thin blouse scattered with a yellow flower print. She wore trousers with a narrow yellow stripe and white plimsolls with yellow stitching in the logo. She sat in her chair longing for something or someone. She wasn’t quite sure which.
Thursday was a day of green. Linda wore a beautiful forest green jacket that she had worn and loved for many years. She paired it with wool tweed trousers bought the year before in a designer sale. The radio was on. A programme about figure skating.
“It just shows that you’re never too old to learn,” said the presenter to an audience of daytime listeners.
Friday came and things were different for Linda. She wore a top and skirt she hadn’t worn for two months and Tuesday’s bright red shoes. She put her arms through Thursday’s green jacket and lifted it up, onto and over her shoulders.
She had decided to leave the house with the gap in the hedge. She was going to take lessons in figure skating.
Story first posted in January 2019 // Photo: Tanya Clarke 2018
