I seem, of late, to be developing a disturbing (and probably unhealthy) obsession with nuns.
But came across this #99word #flashfiction Challenge (99 words – no more – no less, to feature something black and white) this morning here and couldn’t resist……
Rowing away from the island he looked back and saw the disorganised black and white line marching towards the water’s edge. As the penguins plunged into the icy waters and suddenly achieved grace he was reminded of nuns and, in particular, the confused old women of his youth who, he imagined, may have achieved a surprising grace as they stepped from life and into the abyss.
And he wondered too, if they might be waiting there to judge him.
But the penguins and his memories were out of sight as he eased his wife’s body silently over the side.
Richmond Road 
I did like your take on this prompt. It reminds me of when I buried my father and the grief I was feeling was all mine as around me life went on as it did every day, just like the penguins…
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Well …. in this case I am thinking that the wife’s demise was no accident and I feel reasonably confident that the same does not apply to your father.
But you know what it’s like …. wives …. setting fire to the garbage bin, that sort of thing. Sometimes a guy just snaps. But he hopes there are no nuns watching at the time.
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Well yes though there are many nuns left to watch anything these days.
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And I suppose we can thank God for that.
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He works in mysterious ways
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Well that took an unpleasant (pleasant) turn. My kind of fiction. 😊
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I think maybe ‘her’ would have worked better than ‘his wife’ – make it a bit more ambiguous … but I was too lazy to put another word in somewhere else to make up the 99
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I like the clarification you made with using ‘wife’. It added detail.
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Well that last line made the whole thing work. Clever.
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If you are wrestling with the alphabet, I’d say you won today. Your flash works well to keep us focused on the shore, nature and childhood reflections. Then you slip in what is really going on. Great use of 99 words.
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That is very kind of you Charli
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