Valentine’s Day
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This time’s flash fiction, in less than 200 words, captures a repeated movement done by two lovers in two completely different contexts, bringing the story in that difference.Â
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Madhubhashini Dissanayaka Ratnayake, C/O The Sunday Times, No. 8, Hunupitiya Cross Road, Colombo 2.
N.B. Work sent to this page maybe edited
She stands determinedly in the doorway, the heavy clippers in her hands, to accomplish a strenous task. The early sunrays radiate her face for a moment. Then the light in her eyes fades out. It is Valentine’s Day again.
Last Valentine’s Day, her lover had presented her with a bouquet of fresh scarlet roses. On a knee on the damp earth, he had asked her to be his bride.
This Valentine’s Day, she decides that the best gift she could give him is roses. Fresh scarlet roses.
Tenderly, lovingly, she clips the thick green stems of the blooming roses, their upturned faces damp and glowing in the sunlight from the early morning’s dew and the tears that keep falling on them. Hands full of flowers, she decides to present them fresh and glowing.
Heart beating rapidly, face contorting with emotion, she walks the little distance down the dirt road and turns left.
Kneeling down on the earth, like he had once done, she gently lays her gift at her was-to-be-bridegroom’s gravestone.
Rebekah Fernando