Believe it or not, some writing activities this trimester have been fun.
This one asked us to source a photo of two people, whether it be from a magazine, newspaper, or online, and write a very short story (300 words) explaining how they met.
I’ve not written ‘flash’ fiction before, so trying to fit the elements of a short story into the word limit was a challenge, but worth it for the lessons learned along the way. So here’s a super quick post to introduce my ‘Strangers on a Train’.

“Say cheese.”

Flash!

Mrs. Dodge blinked hard behind her thick glasses and smoothed her hand over Michael’s bald head. “Thank god the baby’s eyes were closed, that flash would’ve blinded him otherwise.”

Rachel drew her baby closer and smiled, stroking his cheek with her finger as the reporter pulled a notepad from his pocket, “So how did all this come about?”

Baby Michael cooed and Rachel was so besotted she didn’t even hear the question.

Mrs. Dodge replayed in her mind how they’d caught the same train for years. Same stop. Same time. Young Rachel worked at the pharmacy and Mrs. Dodge was one of the old originals from the bank. She’d watched Rachel’s belly grow from her regular corner seat in the carriage. They never spoke, simply smiled at each other in greeting. She only knew Rachel’s name from the name tag she sometimes forgot to remove. From her protective corner, Mrs. Dodge listened as Rachel flicked her long black hair over her shoulder and told David all about her day. She knew about their dog’s favorite toy, Rachel’s sick mother, and she shook her head when she heard how much their electricity bill had gone up. She wasn’t a busybody mind you, but she clutched her heart when she overheard her medical issues and even knew Rachel’s favorite brand of washing powder.

So when the train broke down between station platforms and Rachel went into labor, Mrs. Dodge was there to help deliver Michael,
… and give the paramedics the lifesaving information that would keep them safe.
… and made sure they knew when David’s flight was due to arrive later that day.

“We’d actually never met.” Mrs Dodge answered.

The reporter scratched his head and looked at his notes, “But it says here—“

“That she’s a hero.” Rachel smiled.