Thanks to Rochelle @ Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple for providing another Friday Fictioneers photo prompt. Her weekly challenge is for us to write a story of 100 words or less based on a photo prompt (thanks to Roger Bultot).
Genre: Narrative poetry
Title: Joe’s Plan
Word count: 96
***
Joe was okay for 96;
a walker, a bag, and caths.
not bad. no cancer.
she was long gone.
he felt guilty and missed her.
Joe had a plan.
one night, after the poker game,
the pain was too much.
at the hospital er, shingles, they said,
was not deadly.
Joe’s plan,
that night in his bathtub
he used his .38 Special
to join with her,
just past the veil.
Joe’s girlfriend found him, cops came,
hazmet cleaned up. some family members
dealt with his stuff. all they ever wanted
was joe’s money. now it’s finished.
***
Look both ways and wonder why, but death awaits all.
Mind the gaps and keep your powder dry.
Our Literary Journey 
The unemotional telling adds to the dark pathos and the bitter end. Hard to take the implied metaphor of Joe taken out like garbage while his relatives divide up his money.
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A powerful and chilling story of a life taken by his own hand. Well done, Bill.
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Thank you, Sue.
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Really liked this. Worth more than a read or two.
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Thank you very much, Sandra.
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Dear Bill,
What a pity Joe didn’t have a plan for his ‘loving’ family. Keep your powder dry. Well written as always.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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He did. But the people he remined close to did not need his money.
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I like the style you chose. What a great and yet sad story. But he made his own choice!
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Well, It could have been cleaner. But this way it was his choice.
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So sentimental Bill. I need a tissue…
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That indeed was powerfully written!
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Thank you, Brenda.
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a sad ending for what looked like a life well-lived.
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In some ways, sad. In some not.
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Yoinks! I like the matter-of-fact way you wrote this.
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Gosh. Great poem. Very sad and dark. Internally and externally. Well done
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Thank you, Laurie.
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I’m trying to figure out what inspired that story from the picture. Did Joe feel like he’d been put to the curb like unwanted trash? Someone who reaches the age of 96 is throwing away a lot by ending their life 😦 I feel sorry for the old guy. In some cultures the elderly are venerated and with good reason. They have so much to share. One of the reasons I like watching anime, as the old folks are always part of the plots.
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When the old folks die, that is often how their belongings are dealt with, trash on the curb.
I do not agree that Joe was “throwing away” his life, but I did try to get him to do his bio or memoir.
Joe was well-liked and admired. He had been his wife’s caretaker. He’d often said that when he lost his independence, he was finished.
Joe had a good life, better and longer than most. He had not been deserted by the living.
This may seem like a sad story. It is not.
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Thank you very much for your explanation.
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Hauntingly beautiful story in poem form. And not so uncommon either.
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Beautifully done. In the end the cold unemotional style ends up evoking plenty of emotions.
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Thank you.
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