Fresh (Fiction; 100 words)
She’ll love this. Billie set down her paint brush and smoothed a few hairs from her face with the back of her hand. The wet lavender paint shined in the late afternoon sun.
New coat of paint, new town, new start. She’ll be happier here. It’ll be good for us. She’ll see.
“Mom? What the hell?” Josephine marched up the sidewalk, arms crossed.
“Honey, hi! I’m so glad you’re home.”
“Home?” Josephine snorted. “This isn’t my home. You live here. I’m visiting. Did you even ask your landlord if you could paint?”
“Well, I thought-”
“No, you assumed. Like always.”
***
Photo prompt & featured image: © CE Ayrs
Friday Fictioneers is a weekly challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The above is my 100-word fictional story. Each week, writers are offered a photo prompt, from which we are challenged to write a complete story, in 100 words or less. Then we post, share, comment and critique with dozens of other writers. Click the blue frog button to find more stories, and join in!
The Mom Who Runs: 
This describes so many relationships perfectly. Teens/young adults know everything better and start to patronize. And parents can’t get used to not being appreciated as the role model any longer. I hope they can become friends over time. I think there’s a much deeper story behind that though.
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As the others have said – there are two sides to the tale and sadly, we often clash with family even when they try to do the best for us. Personally, I was on the daughter’s side – mum came across as a bit controlling. Great tale and well written
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Greetings, Lynn! Thanks for reading and your kind words. Indeed, the parent-child relationship is often not so simple as the snapshot, because of the two-sides aspect. It’s been interesting to see how life experiences of the readers and different perspectives have affected each person’s reaction. Fascinating for me!!
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You wrote the story very well, so that we could empathise with both sides of the argument. Not the easiest trick to pull off 🙂
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Sadly, this plays out a lot. My wife often tries to do nice things for our kids and grandkids on a whim or an assumption of what “she” thinks they would like. 90% of the time it backfires, leaving her to feel unappreciated for her efforts.
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Hi, rgayer55! Thanks for reading and sharing. I’m sorry to hear of your wife’s experiences. I’ve seen it both ways, well-meaning parents and passive-aggressive ones, ungrateful kids and those fatigued by the history of bad behavior. Both are sad!!
Happy trails! 🙂
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A lot of issues there. Kids can be ungrateful and unforgiving and lack understanding, but then so can the parents. Hopefully time will heal their relationship. Nice take on the prompt.
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Thanks, Iain! It is indeed a two-way street in terms of where the issues lie with family relationships. Happy trails!
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Dear Sara,
Obviously not all is well between mother and daughter. I could feel mom’s heart sink at the girl’s words. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Greetings, Rochelle! Both of these women resonated with me in writing, the hopes and disappointment of the mother and frustration of the daughter. I’m glad you had a similar connection! Happy trails!
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I’m reading this as being about Alzheimers. Even if not, it’s a very sad and well-written portrait of mother and daughter living in different realities
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Hi, neilmacdon. Well, that was not my angle in writing it, but I see how it took you there! I left it ambiguous on purpose. Wouldn’t it be interesting if each reader experiences a different explanation for the distance between them? Thanks for reading and your kind words!
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There are always as many stories as there are readers
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