Silent Offerings

This piece was written for Week 33 of the Sunday Photo Fiction Challenge: write a story – Flash Fiction – of around 100-200 words based on the photo below:

(http://sundayphotofictioner.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/sunday-photo-fiction-november-10th-2013/)

Each day, he’d bring a new bit of wood, piece of metal, or scrap of fabric. He rarely spoke, but behind his shell of silence she detected a healthy curiosity. An obvious intrusion into his private world, could have had the opposite effect of chasing him more deeply into himself; so unobtrusively gaining his trust, she teased his curiosity. Resisting the impulse to pull him in, instead she waited for him to find his way to her.

Today, he brought a pencil. Remarkably, he’d found one that was exactly right, matching the mast they’d added last week. His blue eyes sparkled with pride, as he watched her carefully dab a spot of glue at the base and set the foremast. Patiently they waited, as the glue set and pencil morphed, becoming an integral part of the schooner. Sticks, strings and pre-fab sail assemblies were delicately affixed. Magically, the hours flew by, as the crafters completed their masterpiece.

Silent strangers had become trusted co-conspirators, imagining fantastic adventures and escapes to faraway, mystical lands.

She couldn’t see his smile and he couldn’t see her tears of joy; as he climbed upon her knee, casually resting his head against Grandma’s shoulder.