WINDOW

Published by The Scriveners, finalist, Silver Quill 1996

The David Ross Memorial Competition for poetry and short-short stories

By Sue Nilsson © 1996

From her second story window she looked out and watched the children as they ran or rode their bikes up and down the block. She wished she could go out and have fun like that again. She missed the old days. She missed her friends Julie and Anna calling to her. “Come on down. Come out and play,” they had cried. She looked at the clock on the mantle. It chimed 8:30. ‘The children should be going inside soon,’ she thought. She gazed at the pictures of Anna and Julie on the table beside her. She could hear their laughter, as if they were in the same room. She smiled, remembering the fun they used to have jumping rope and playing hopscotch. Her thoughts returned to the children as she looked down at the street. It was silent. The children were gone now, just like her friends. ❖