Park Bench – 15:00 Hours

Park Bench – 15:00 Hours

January 28, 2020 Off By Lisa

Jean-Luc sat easily on the park bench, one arm draped over the back. He pulled a slow, hard drag from his cigarette, inhaling the afternoon heat.

“Your first time in Paris, monsieur?” The man’s aroma suggested it had been some time since he bathed.

“I’ve been…away for many years.”

“I know places to see, monsieur. For a few francs?”

“Tell you what, brother,” said Jean-Luc. He stood, stuffed the cigarette between his lips, and unbuttoned his prison drab. “How about the shirt off my back instead?”

Handing the shirt to the stranger, Jean-Luc walked bare-chested out of the garden.

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Written in response to January 22, 2019, flash fiction challenge at Carrot Ranch Communications. 

In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a park bench. Use this gif to choose a timeframe and write the story behind that particular scene. Use the time as your title. Go where the prompt leads!

Featured Image by Pexels from Pixabay

CategoryLife Words
TagsCarrot Ranch Flash Fiction flash fiction

About The Author

Lisa A. Listwa is a self-employed writer with experience in education, publishing, and the martial arts. Believing there was more to life than punching someone else’s time clock and inspired by the words of Henry David Thoreau, she traded her life as a high school educator for a life as a writer and hasn’t looked back. She is mother to one glorious handful of a daughter, wife to the nicest guy on the planet, and reluctant but devoted owner of three Rotten Cats. You can find her adventures and thoughts on living life deliberately here on the blog.

5 Comments

  • Charli Mills says:
    January 29, 2020 at 9:47 pm

    Oh, wow! That’s sharp writing, Lisa. Was this based on the story you were searching for? Jean-Luc sticks with me!

    • Lisa says:
      January 30, 2020 at 12:27 pm

      Yes, this is the one, Charli! I had an assignment for a creative writing class a couple of years ago. Feedback from that class was much the same as yours – that Jean-Luc is interesting and sticks with the reader. Now that I found him again, I may continue his story.
      We had to choose one of five phrases and write 300 words or less using the chosen phrase as the first line, incorporating dialogue, and including a twist at the end. I loved the bit that came from that assignment and have pulled from and reworked parts of it twice for Carrot Ranch prompts! This one and whenever we did the prompt on dawn. That’s the story of where Jean-Luc came from.

  • nightlake says:
    February 11, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    Wow. This is brilliant. I wonder if he has escaped or if he has been released after a long time.

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