Our Friday Fictioneers photo prompt was provided by Jean L. Hays and posted by our hard-working leader, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.
You balance beneath the Tucumcari sign, bent-kneed, and crook-backed,
harsh wind whipping your thin white hair.
Docs at Resting Arms nursing home declared you empty-headed.
Not so.
Memories of people who passed through your trading post wander around in your mind like welcome guests.
Each memory sharp.
Juanita: Spanish dancer with a chihuahua who sang “Starlight.”
Roy: Man driving his wife’s skeleton the length of Route 66.
Unique and Special: Twins joined at the shoulders, riding bikes, side-by-side.
Your favorite?
Brice: Brahma bull rider. Grinner of wide grins. Slapper of thighs.
The rodeo man who made you laugh for sixty-nine years.
Up From the Ashes 