draliman on life

Daily Prompt: Weaving the Threads – Draft a post with three parts, each unrelated to the other, but create a common thread between them by including the same item — an object, a symbol, a place — in each part.

1907

The little girl carefully folds the note, written in her own childish hand, and pushes it into the bottle, sealing it with a cork her mother gave her.

“Hi my name is Emily and I’m 6 and I live in America and I like horses and I want to be your friend.”

She walks down to the shore, picking her way over the sand until she reaches the water’s edge. She watches the surf breaking on the beach for a few minutes and then, giving the bottle one last look, throws it into the ocean. Although she can’t throw it very far, the current takes it and soon it is lost from view.

1973

Picking through rock pools looking for crabs and other exciting things, a sudden flash of light catches the boy’s eye. On closer inspection he sees it is the sunlight glinting off a bottle, wedged between two rocks near the water line. He picks it up and sees a note inside. His eyes light up – this is the most exciting thing he has ever found! He works the cork out and reads the note. Who is Emily, from so far away! He replaces the note and the cork and shows his mother. She places the bottle on the windowsill, her son’s treasure.

2003

The woman stumbles into the living room, terror etched on her face. The man, drunk, charges in after her, his hand raised. It’s not the first time. He pushes her against the wall. Throwing out her arms to catch herself, her fingers wrap around the bottle they’d bought in the local car boot sale in happier times. She spins and swings the bottle, catching him across the temple, smashing both bone and bottle. He grunts and falls. Blood trickles over the broken shards and stains the old, browning slip of paper, written with love and hope so long ago.