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.

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