Granny Jess passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by her family.

Sandra, her eldest, had the task of cleaning out the house where Granny had lived on her own for forty years. She took me along.

‘What’s this, Mum?’ I asked.

Sandra smiled. ‘That’s your Granny’s old sewing machine.’

‘Should we keep it?’

My Mum thought for a moment, then shook her head. ‘It served its purpose long ago.’

I lifted the machine off the table and struggled out the door with it. I dumped it on the lawn with the other rubbish.

My hands were covered in rust and dirt from the old machine. I wiped them on my white t-shirt. I noticed a smear of dark red.  We never spoke about what happened to Grandpa.

crook2
© Sandra Crook

Written as part of the Friday Fictioneers challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (more details HERE).  The idea is to write a short story of 100 words based on the photo prompt (above, thanks to Sandra for the photo this week).

Read more stories based on this week’s photo here: HERE

80 thoughts on “ALL SEWN UP”

  10. poor Grandma, all sorts going through my mind, was it a jealous lover or a heated argument that left that red? or did she have Grandpa instituitionalised when he tried to do her in? Wonderful, wonderful story that keeps the reader guessing and coming back to read between the lines. as you can see i am on Grandma’s side.

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  32. Whoa…still bloody after all this time? I wish we could know more about how this happened, though I like the idea of the family secret. Many families have interesting secrets, though not (hopefully) THIS interesting in most cases.

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  34. It’s hard to get parts for those old things anyway — the machine, I mean. As for grandma, well, I suppose that’s bigger than both of us.
    You nailed it, Iain. Five out of five salvage trucks.

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  35. Even more ruthless than in mine — the lady in mine just put images on the treadle — no one was harmed.

    Though I too thought sinister at first, could the blood be where Grandma had pricked her finger and had nothing to do with Grandpa?

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  37. I’ve read several of flash fictions based around the sewing machine image, but I really like yours the best 🙂 I’m a sucker for stories that wow you with their last sentence. Great writing!

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  38. I guess we can figure out what happened to Grandpa. If Grandma was strong enough to pick up the machine and whack him with it, Grandpa should have been ‘much’ nicer to her. Great ending twist, Iain. Mom’s words, “…it served its purpose…” become clearer after the last sentence. Good writing. 😀 — Suzanne

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