Flash Fiction Friday

For this week’s piece of fiction, I’m using the Random Word Generator again for a prompt. These are the five words it gave me:

• wheelchair
• mouse
• tourist
• evening
• table

And here’s what I did with those words (adding another 195 for a total count of 200 words):

It had been 20 years since Derek last visited his old hometown. So much had changed, he felt a bit like a tourist as he walked the streets. But underneath the veneer of new shop fronts, new intersections, and the new shopping mall, the old town was still there, like a faithful friend.

He took a table at Carrigan’s, resting his cane on the seat next door. A server brought water; he used it to take his heart pills. Doctor Morris would have complained about the walk, but Derek was past caring.

He looked around at the mousey brown décor. So much had changed. But if he closed his eyes, he could remember how it was. And if he let his guard down, he could remember the last time he was here. Almost feel Julia beside him. Almost touch her hand on the armrest of her wheelchair. They met at this restaurant. He proposed at this restaurant. And they ate there every Thursday for thirty-five years.

Derek moved away the day after the funeral. He couldn’t bear to live with the memories.

But now, as the evening faded and the night beckoned, he knew it was time to come home.