New Flash Fiction: Full House: Locked Down

Full House: Locked Down
By Andy Hamilton 

 

Rachel whirls in the back door, past the kitchen sink and opens the fridge.

“Any food?” she shouts.

“Wash your hands!” her mother roars from the sitting room.

“I did!” 

“Cheese sandwich on the counter, beside your Da’s tablets.”

Rachel eyes the pillbox, Sunday to Saturday, all unopened.

“Has he been downstairs yet?” she says, and scribbles ‘lockdown: day eighteen’ on the calendar. “Has he been down!” she repeats.

“Eat your lunch,” her mother says.

Rachel takes two tablets from the pillbox and jams them into the sandwich.

“I’m going back outside,” she says and quietly carries the sandwich upstairs.

 

ENDS 

Nasturtium

By Andy Hamilton 

He walks to the window slowly, dragging polished shoes across the cold tile floor.

         “It’s been so…” he offers, working the blinds with his knotted fingers, “unexpected. More like April than November really. Not a bad day for it, as days go.”

         A shaft of white light enters the room.

         “You’d enjoy the Nasturtiums this year,” he says, shielding his eyes against the sunshine. “They’ve been sending out waves of new buds. It’s like they haven’t realised it’s winter. They’re fierce this year, or foolish. I can’t tell. But you’d like them.”

         He turns slowly, opens his mouth and closes it again.

         “Mary won’t be coming,” he blurts. “She can’t. She’s so busy and I think she’s… well, you know how busy she is. You understand, I’ll tell her you understand.”

         With slow, deliberate footsteps he walks to the bedside. Creaking, he bends and kisses her on the forehead and then, after a moments, on the lips.

         “I miss you,” he whispers.

         He rights himself and pauses thoughtfully before making his way to the door. A thin smile forms on his lips.

         “You would have loved those nasturtiums.”