Call of duty

~ paeansunplugged

He was not supposed to leave. He had promised to be my side after his last call of duty. And he kept his word. It was an idyllic life, filled with music, books, food and long walks. I was happily busy, he was contentedly lazy, what else could one desire!

Then a phone call changed everything. I cried, I pleaded, I sulked but his set jaw told me his mind was made .
“I cannot refuse to go”, he said flatly. “You know what the situation is like. And once its over, I’ll be back.”
Through clenched teeth I asked, ” For how can I be sure?”
“I shall see again the world on the first of May”, he promised grimly, a steely glint in his eyes.

I live on tenterhooks, waiting anxiously for April to end.

Written for dVerse. Today’s host, Merril, says: Write a piece of flash fiction or other prose of up to or exactly 144 words, including the given line.

“For how can I be sure
I shall see again
The world on the first of May”
–From “May Day” by Sara Teasdale

63 thoughts on “Call of duty”

  2. Excellent write…words like “steely glint”, “grimly”, “flatly”, “clenched teeth” and “tenterhooks” really carry the emotion here.

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  3. Just stunning, almost like a film somehow…you brought us fully into the characters..there was a lot if technique, too, in foreshadowing, and delaying, so that the story told itself in a really interesting way. Both you and Bjorn wrote the story I would have liked to (though would not have managed to do it so well at all…so I’ll need to get thinking…

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    1. Ain, I so appreciate your comment. I wanted to respond to the prompt before going to sleep and thus drew a bit from my own experience while writing this. That you would have liked to write something like this, is high praise. Thanks a lot.

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  17. I love the unraveling and the techniques you made to make it more impactful. Can feel the anguish and the desperation, Punam, especially in this last line:
    I live on tenterhooks, waiting anxiously for April to end.

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