For Random Learning Comes: Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew

For Random Learning Comes

For Random Learning Comes: Essays Fiction and Poetry by Andrea LeDew

A variety of slightly wilted Dutch striped tulips in a mason jar full of water in the sheltered portico at Great Dixter, overlooking roofs and hedges. Copyright Andrea LeDew.

Bargain Hunting

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by
PHOTO PROMPT © Nathan Sowers grandson of our own Dawn M. Miller

{This post is a response to a challenge by Friday Fictioneers, run by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.  We are given the mission to write a 100-word story, inspired by the prompt.  Thanks again for the inspiration, Rochelle, and thank you all, for reading!}

 

Little Mika held my hand, as we strolled past.

Books.  Broken furniture.  Cast-off toys.  Chipped plates.

She abruptly stopped.  Set upright, against a table of trinkets, the oval mirror was the same height as Mika.

“Something here you like, honey?” I asked, aimlessly fingering through the miscellany.

“There!”

Mika turned.  Her dress followed, a graceful swirl of pink.  She began to run.

I chased her to the mirror’s reflection: a graying old garden shed.

The homeowner shot me a look.  I shrugged.

“Seems small.”  Then, triumphantly, “It must be here!”

“What?” I asked.

Rolling eyes.

“The White Elephant, of course!”

For Random Learning Comes

Writings of Andrea LeDew

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For Random Learning Comes

Writings of Andrea LeDew

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. gahlearner

    I didn’t know the term white elephant sale, but now that I know it, I can appreciate the story even more. A great glimpse into the mind of an imaginative child. Wish we could have that imagination back.

    Reply

    • Andrea LeDew

      I love when words have stories behind them, whether truth or legend. I just learned where the term came from myself. The most frequent usage is probably “garage sale”, around here, but i have been to a few white elephant sales, especially in my youth.

    • Andrea LeDew

      Kids can be so refreshing, pointing out the obvious, which we sophisticated grownups more often than not overlook. But you’re right. Perhaps the story has only just begun.

    • Andrea LeDew

      I’m sure every outing with you was an adventure for the adults in your life!my heart always skips a beat when a kid runs off without warning.

    • Andrea LeDew

      Playing off the expression “white elephant sale,” to mean a rummage or garage sale, especially a large one, put on by a church or other charity for the purpose of raising money. Wikipedia says the King of Siam gave some servants he disliked white elephants, as parting gifts, in the hopes that caring for them would prove such a burden, as to bankrupt them. So…from literal, to figurative, back to literal in this story!

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