100 Words – The Pores of the House Opened
2010
I may or may not have hit the wall last night. I may or may not have taken a long hot bath to relax thinking I would write this post with flushed relaxation and a towel on my head. I may or may not have then gotten sidetracked by a television show. That may or may not have been followed by my falling into an exhausted sleep.
Catching up after a move and then weeks of illness is exhausting apparently. Then again, story of my life.
I can’t get over this line from my pick of the week, “the pores of the house opened”. It is haunting, beautiful, startling, and organic.
Lamb
Tangine didn’t know, which was a lie. When summer finally knelt before fall and Uncle Henry, who often acknowledged that he’d overstayed his welcome, crept out of the house for his 6 a.m. flight back home, the pores of the house opened; the sun gushed in warm and full, powering through solid, gray clouds.
Tangine went to Oscar’s room, sat gently on his bed, unsure of touching him. And then she held his hand. He began to cry. “Mother loves Henry more,” Oscar whispered. “Yes,” Tangine said, feeling for her brother like a shepherd who’d fallen asleep in the night.
This week’s prompt is from The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. It was a Pulitzer Prize winner in general nonfiction in 1974, the year I was 4 and burying misfortunate birds and squirrels who had had been crushed by windshields and car tires under my Mother’s willow tree.
WITHIN
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LuuuuuuVed. This. One. Great pick!
TinfoilMagnolia recently posted..You Say Its Your Birthday
Perfect choice. Achingly beautiful.
Tara R. recently posted..Untethered
LOVE the pick…Love.
Mine for “Within” is up at http://notlivinginvain.com/2010/10/19/100-word-challenge-within/
Rhoni recently posted..100 Word Challenge – Within
Huge fan of this pick. The house pores and the gushing sun were brilliantly written.
Lance recently posted..Gone
It’s not easy to reach the link for each week’s prompt. It’s not clear you have to access your own story to do so. Could you make the links separate from your story so more people can find it and participate? It’s a bit of a hunt to get to the link the way it is now. Just a friendly suggestion!
Strummed Words recently posted..Microfiction Monday- A Womans Lot
Hi Strummed Words,
I’m not sure I’m understanding what you’re asking. The prompt for each week is in three places. On the home page if you scroll down to the bottom it is in the lower left under “What’s the Word”. It is also posted on the 100 Words Facebook page on the left side bar, and it is in the post for the week.
Can you explain better what you’re looking for, or what would help?
I think Strummed Words is having trouble finding where each week’s Mr. Linky is. I have to confess I have the same issue.
It isn’t always clear to me exactly where the current week’s place to post is. I usually know the word, but when I come back to post, I have to poke around a bit to find where to leave it.
Ok, I’ll see if I can figure out a way to make this easier. I can’t post the link tool elsewhere because it has to be associated with a post.