FF Challenge March 23rd – Sweet Revenge

Flash Fiction

Hey there, here we go once more. A new week and a new challenge.

A few pieces of important business. First, thank you Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for continuing to challenge us. Please take a moment to visit  Rochelle at her site and take the challenge to write a 100 word micro-story based on the photo prompt.

The intriguing photo this week  is brought to us by J Hardy Carroll, who retains all rights to his photo.

Fair warning to all readers, this story is a hefty 109 words. My apologies. I struggled to reduce the number of words but could not without either editing out the intent or the emotion of the story.

Without further ado – Sweet Revenge

Beyond the Gates

With coffee-colored hands Mama clutched Laticia and recounted the story passed from mother to daughter. Her voice venomous, eyes narrow slits she described the blue-eyed man, Laticia’s great-great-great-grandfather and the child born in the tiny room under the stairs. Of how, never acknowledged by the master, the little girl was ripped from her young mother’s arms when discovered by the mistress.

The fortunes of the well-heeled family took a nasty turn. Laticia purchased the plantation at auction, solidifying her revenge. From far and wide, she filled her school. With wild abandon, the ragtag group of African-American children trampled the once carefully tended fields. Laughter filled the once silent rooms.

It is always amazing to discover the wide variety of tales based on a single image. Click HERE for this week’s submissions.

Thanks for dropping by,

Cindy

Published by Life Lessons of a Dog Lover

I spent most of my career working for a marketing company in various roles. Since I "retired" several years ago I have spent my time crisscrossing North America with our four dogs.

Published

28 thoughts on “FF Challenge March 23rd – Sweet Revenge”

  3. Dear Cindy,

    Success is the best revenge. 😀 I love this piece. 9 word over? I didn’t notice. It’s when it goes over ten that it becomes more noticeable. Also…hyphenated words count as one such as great-great-grandmother. Just in case you were counting that a three. 😉 Titles don’t factor into the word count either.
    Again…wonderful story! Love it.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. Thank s Rochelle, so glad you liked it. And thanks for the clarification on the word counts. I do try and keep it under the 100 word count.

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  5. I liked your story and am delighted with the happy ending. One line threw me out of the time period, though. from what I understand, masters never acknowledged their illegitimate offspring back in that era. Doing so would have been highly unusual even if it was obvious. I suspect he’d have been stigmatized by his peers by claiming a mulatto child as his.

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    1. Yes you’re right but I’s sure that didn’t stop the women from hoping their child would be acknowledge. That said I will have to be more careful that a wrong fact doesn’t draw people out of the story. Thanks for you thoughtful comment.

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      1. Usually wrong facts are forgivable. I recently read a book in the Beatrix Potter cozy mystery series, set in +/- 1907 and hit a comment about someone sounding as bold as Mr Churchill addressing the nation. Whoops!

        I don’t think slave women would have even thought of Massa acknowledging the child, except in that he owned it and her. I’m not the most up-with-it historian, but I gather the Massa was usually a church-going married man with white children. His claiming a black child (worse, on an equal basis!) would have made things so awkward. He’d have had to admit to adultery, etc.

        I actually see a lot of statements in historical fiction books that were written from a twentieth-century perspective. We are so free-thinking, tolerant, etc. It’s hard to really get into the mindset & social mores of another era.

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    1. Keith, read your story which I really liked. Loved the contrast of the two lives. Unfortunately I haven’t figured out how to leave a comment on your page, it rejects every variation of my address I have tried.

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      1. Seconding your note to Keith. I can’t even access his blog with my computer. Good thing I have Blogspot site, too, so I can leave comments — though I can never get replies from Blogspot.

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