Ficlets

A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]

I’m schlepping into work, horking back another measure of snot. The taste is salty sickness, a gustatory reminder of why I hate winter and the responsibility of adulthood that means I can’t just stay in bed an watch cartoons.

Then it hits me, crisp and unmistakable, the smell. I stop, breathe deep the memory. I know this smell, for it always affects me this way, casting me back into ephemeral corridors of nostalgia. A gentle breeze over cold grass, lifeless in winter’s dark, yet somehow it reaches me, calls out from years gone by.

A thousand places and times stream through my mind, and I try to name them. Rammstein. Keflavik. Goldsboro. Sumter. I want to pin one down as the source, the time when this smell settled in as some defining reference. Usually I go with Iceland, something about that magical little island of the Vikings, North Atlantic winds sweeping over volcanic plains.

But I know better. The smell isn’t a place or a time. For me, it’s childhood, and Heaven help me, I miss it so.

Comments

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A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]
Phosphate11
Posted 7 months ago

awww the last line i miss it so was so sad and sweet!!! this was amazing
A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]
Bartimaeus
Posted 7 months ago

technically i have 4 years of childhood left… better use them wisely =P
A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]
Jenunique
Posted 7 months ago

I didn’t think so much description could fit into 1024 characters. This is one of the best ficlets I have read. Absolutely marvelous.
A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]
Sturek
Posted 7 months ago

I know theses thoughts. Strange that they are connect with a certain smell…
Anyways, a really great Ficlet. I love schlepping in the first sentence. Great word.
A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]
J. Dack
Posted 7 months ago

This was great. Reminds me of how I feel most days. Wish someone would pay me to stay home and watch cartoons. Nice piece.
A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]
♥Reel_Nice♥
Posted 7 months ago

wow this is amazing.
A Wind On Winter Grass [Strong Memory Challenge]
Valley Fey/Pinprick
Posted 7 months ago

Fanshmastic.