Vignette 2

Issadora sat in the living room joined by the tall, plank thin man with pointy shoes. She never liked him, maybe because he reminded her of death.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” the Solicitor said.

Issadora didn’t look up. She had heard that one line the whole day at the funeral. It was hollow words that meant nothing.

“Cancer...it isn’t easy,” he continued.

After meeting another dose of silence from the young girl, he changed the subject.

“Your mother had a plan for where you would stay after her death.”

“I’m going to my grandparents, right?” she asked.

“Actually,” he started. “That’s not possible.”

Issadora’s eyes bulged.

“Why?”

“They’re too old to take care of you, Issadora.”

“But where will I stay? They’re the only family I have left.”

“There is one other person,” he said, not meeting her gaze.

“Who?”

“Your father.”

Issadora’s face froze in shock for a moment but changed into laughter.

“You have this all wrong. You probably don’t know what happened between my mom and dad.”

“I know exactly what happened between them,” he said.

“Well then you’d know that he hasn’t been in the picture for fifteen years.”

“I know that.”

“How could he be the best carer for me if he didn’t care for me for fifteen years!”

“Issadora...”

“Besides, he will say no. He never wanted a child, he couldn’t even hold a marriage.”

The Solicitor rubbed his forehead, sighing.

“He’ll say no,” she said.

 

With her head bowed down, and her arms crossed, they drove to her new home. She refused to look out of the window, but regretted it later for if she ever needed to escape and couldn’t find her way out. She’d go towards the city. She knew how to get to her grandparents from there. They could hide her. The authorities wouldn’t be any wiser.

The car parked and Issadora took her first glance through the window. It turned into a longer glance than she planned.

Her new home, as it was being called, was a mansion like home with a security system, long gates and a lot of glass windows everywhere.

It didn’t seem like such a bad thing after all and Issadora thought it might work. But as soon as she saw the family coming out of the house, she knew her future clearly.

This was exactly the sort of people she’d think to live in a house like this. Snobby, rich folk dress in white and other light colours, light blond hair with golden streaks and teeth whiter than those on the toothpaste advertisement billboards.

She looked around for a scrubby man, as her mother always described him, that would fit the profile of her father.

He must be a lodger or something, she thought. Perhaps he’s their gardener and he lives in a shack behind the house.

She looked at the pretty packaged family again. The father was tall and a true Ken version right out of his box. The mother had blond hair, a tiny nose (that had obviously been worked on) and leaned against her husband in such a model-like pose. The two children, a boy and a girl, the girl older, had blank expressions. The girl had her hair back in a tight ponytail and wore an outfit that looked much alike those tennis players Issadora had seen on television. The boy was fully buttoned up and wore a sweater vest. Issadora remembers hearing kids talking at school about how lame a sweater vest is and how only snobs wore them.

That concluded Issadora’s first thoughts on them. She hoped she wouldn’t have to talk to them much. She might gag.

When the Solicitor finished talking to the family, he opened the door for Issadora.

“This is it,” he said.

She looked terrified.

“You want me to wait with them!”

“Them?” he said confused.

“Is my dad around?”

“Issadora,” he put a hand on her. “That is your father.”

This is a short scene fiction story told by Olivia Kay.

What is Scene fiction?

It consists of writing one scene that tells enough to convey a story and inspires the reader to dream up what happens next.

 

What you can do with this Story?

You can use this Vignette as a story writing prompt. Simply take the text and write what happens before and after. Make it your own story.