Stitches of a Boundless Love
Aunt Katie stitched a small heart covering the prick in her jeans below the pocket. "A stitch in time saves nine, or in this case five saves twenty."
Jenny rubbed her finger over the heart. She took the embroidery needle from her Aunt and added another heart. "Now it doesn't seem so lonely."
The red hearts resembled tear drops and she thought about the last few weeks; the sudden fever, the anguish, and the eventual death. Her mother went so fast she hardly had time to say goodbye.
Jenny ripped the tiny hole in her jeans on the door as she rushed from her mother’s hospital room. Her mother had just died and all she could think about was a simple question: did mom love me? Jenny rubbed the threads and sobbed.
Aunt Katie pulled the girl to her chest and let her cry. When the girl seemed settled, she covered her in a blanket, and went into the other room. She returned with a fabric book.
“Your mom taught me embroidery," Aunt Katie said. “She practiced with patterns and her own designs. She dreamed of having a daughter like you.”
Aunt Katie turned the fabric pages until she stopped on a picture of a baby girl holding a laurel flower.
“This is a picture of you.” Jenny fingered the stitches of her baby face. Each delicate stitch combined to create a photograph on the fabric.
“Your mom wanted you to have a beautiful life. She loved you very much.”
Copyright © 2019 Michael Shawn Sommermeyer
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Ah! Finally something to calm down my mind as I read posts over 1K+ words! Anyways, to the post now:
Firstly, the prompt: Now I knew right off the bat that the @jayna contest was happening and the prompt word “stitches” was going to be utilized. What shocks me not is the delicate care to use the prompt as a vehicle to tell another story, which so happens to coincide with stiching (and sowing). Crazy that I find two @curie upvoted posts (which congrats on this one) within the same week just about embroidery of some kind. Anywho, stitching seemed like a natural medium all throughout. To make sense of the flashbacks, to make sense of the passions (emotions) stirring, to conveniently use clothes as a medium of statements for readers to figure the story and Aunt and Mom being used to embroidery (to which the tradition spreads to the daughter) are great repeats of the prompt word.
Unto the story: as-was probably figured by the paragraph above, I think this story very sweet despite the depressive flashbacks. The daughter not only a sufferer of loosing an important familal role model (implying the same for the Father, or the Sign of the Father if there was one) but also trauma unresolved with the daughter-mlther relationship. With no way to resolve it, this black stain turned trauma has to now be exorcized by the Auntie while making sure she crumbles the Daughter. And here, it was done very nicely and without prejudice (especially with no internalized misogyny) that respects the character’s existence. Which allows the much needed love to go into the Daughter to her new Mother figure. Can’t emphasize enough how much I love the family aspect being exercised without the Paternal Signifier (which often is used toxically and not carringly. Which for good Name-of-the-Father usages can be seen in, say, the Last of Us or Life is Strange Before the Storm).
A quick blurb on the filosofía (philosophy): I like the core message here, female adult figure helping a female child figure with the emotional rebuilding and what not. Nothing gendered nor prejudicially misogynist, love it. So keep on writing stories like these, as these are quite well crafted I dare say on the internet itself. (Quick disclaimer that I care only for literature from Eastern European and Global Periphery [Non-Western] side of things, with execptions to Western works predating the 1980s and barely any past that. So don’t get that shocked I said the such above.)
Unto the foto (photo) itself: probably the cootiest-patootiest thing about the post. c: <<<<3333
Hi wordymouth,
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What a bitter sweet story - very sad but also beautiful. How can we be not sure if our parents love us? Some people can't show love directly but they do it through their deeds, just like her mom. It's good for her to have her auntie to show her that her mom was there for her and that she loved her.
Thank you for sharing this beautiful short story.
Congratulations on your curie vote and have a nice day!
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Oh boy!
Don't make me cry..
Is this fictional or real?
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This is fictional. I took a writing prompt "stitches" and wrote exactly 250 words for a contest. Although, all of us have stories about our families and I'm old, so I have a lot of memories to rely on.
Of course😊👍👏
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A beautiful story which represent sadness and bits of tranquility at the same time. English is not my native language so I enjoy reading good pieces like this one in order to increase my vocabulary. Regards.
Very well done, @wordymouth. I really like how you explored the characters and personalities of the girl and her aunt, and how the past resonates in their current day. This is beautiful and sad, and yet it also feels hopeful.