I’ve taken the liberty of ignoring the dog in the picture and basing my tale just on the headstone!
Little Millie lived with her mum and dad in a cottage next to the village church. One afternoon Millie came in wearing a garland of flowers in her hair.
‘I told you never to steal flowers from the graveyard Millie’ said mum, Suzie. ‘Just wait till I tell your dad’.
‘I didn’t Mum, Beth made it for me’.
‘Who’s Beth?’ asked Suzie.
‘She lives over there’ said Millie pointing to the crooked headstones in the churchyard. ‘She’s a beloved daughter who went to heaven too soon. It says so on that stone’.
‘Millie, I…I..’
‘She said that lots and lots of years ago she had a baby girl and because she was too young, someone took it away and adopted it. She never saw it again. Then she died of a broken heart. Isn’t that sad Mummy?’
‘Millie, that’s enough…’
‘She thinks she’s probably a granny by now’. With that, she walked back outside.
Suzie watched Millie from the window. She was sitting beside a grave talking and laughing. Then she rose to her feet and started skipping around and around, her arms stretched out before her.
*
The next morning after dropping Millie at school Suzie strolled into the churchyard and stood before Beth’s grave. A tear trickled down her cheek.
‘Mummy?’ she whispered.
Thanks to Susan Spaulding for both hosting Sunday Photo Fiction and providing this weeks photo.
Lovely, but sad tale. Thanks Keith.
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Thank you Denise.
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Incredibly chilling ending.
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Delighted to have chilled you, James!
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Unexpected ending Keith I didn’t see coming, well done.
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Thanks so much, Iain.
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Great twist at the end Keith
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Thank you Susan
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A unexpected ending, and a fine story.
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Thanks so much Mike
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What a sweet and sad ending!
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Thanks Mimi
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A sad but charming tale Keith.
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Thank you so much
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Even though I expected it coming, the ending still gave me a chill. Well done!
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Well spotted Donna! Thanks so much.
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The last line!! 🙂
Lovely!!
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Thanks so much.
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Most welcome, Keith! 🙂
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I love it! Such a beautiful story of a Grandmother watching over her grandchild.
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