Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Conversation (face to face) (10/07/10)
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TITLE: Golden Apples Set in Silver | Previous Challenge Entry
By Shanta Richard
10/13/10 -
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Mornings were the best time of the day and I used to love sitting on the verandah of our house with my husband smelling the jasmine flowers and sipping the fragrant coffee. Two hearts gently beating sharing peace and tranquility, and soaking in strength from the soft sunshine. Little did I know that ‘this too shall pass’. A sudden heart attack and my beloved husband was gone. Two months later I was still grieving.
As I cleared away the breakfast dishes, I told myself that I have to keep myself busy and not sit around having a pity party. I offered to baby-sit my four year old grandson, John, while my daughter did the shopping. I also told her that I would prepare lunch so that she wouldn’t have to hurry back.
John was a delightful child so full of energy and joy. He was also loving and caring. John helped me plan the lunch. We decided to make Tandoori chicken, rice, dhal, peas and potato fry. John offered to assist me. Like his grandfather he loved to cook. John shelled the peas while I prepared the chicken and boiled the potatoes and cooked the rice and dhal. Then he peeled the potatoes for me. All the while he kept on a steady conversation about cars, cats, dogs, tigers, hunting, fishing and camping. I was amazed at his fund of knowledge on these subjects. He had a great imagination and would add his own stories along the way!
Food was ready. I removed the chicken from the oven and the aroma of Indian curry filled the room. This used to be my husband’s favorite dish and he loved to taste it as soon as it was done to make sure that it was perfect. As I remembered, a sob escaped me. John heard me and asked, “What is wrong Grandma? Did you burn yourself?”
“No, dear,” I replied, “It is just that I remembered how much Grandpa loved to taste the food and now that he is not here, who will ever taste my food before I serve it?” I couldn’t contain myself and burst into tears. John walked up to me and said, “Grandma, I will do the tasting for you. Can I have a piece to taste?”I put a little piece of chicken in a dish for him. He looked as solemn as he munched it. Then he looked up at me and said, “It is okay, but I think Grandpa would prefer a little more salt.”
With those few words John had given my aching heart all the comfort and assurance it needed. He was too young to use many words but his action compensated for that. I gathered John in my arms and kissed him. I remembered a verse in the book of Proverbs which reads:
“A word fitly spoken is like golden apples set in silver.” (Proverbs – 25:11)
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A small piece of advice: exclamation points are best limited to use in dialoge, not narrative.
Your descriptions were well-done and I felt very much 'in the scene'.