Waking In Another Century

Writing Prompt.

My name is Elizabeth Reed, and I am twenty-three years old. A few months ago I was clocking out from a sixteen-hour shift at a New York hospital where I am employed. It was a rough week due to flu season and being overworked. I remembered catching a cab home to my overpriced five-hundred square foot studio apartment in Brooklyn, where I lived by myself. I was dead on my feet as I locked up and laid in bed, planning to sleep the full forty-eight hours I had off. Since I fell asleep that day, my whole life has changed.

To my surprise, I woke up in 1780, in a homemade high platform bed topped a thick, feathery mattress. The cabin was spacious than the apartment I fell asleep in months ago. It was necessary but warm and cosy. The main room was large with a fireplace in the sitting area and a large fireplace in the kitchen. There was no running water or electricity. The morning I woke up, candles are what lit up the darkness of early morning. In the open part of the house sat a huge fireplace that kept most of the home warm. Although, the cooking stove in the kitchen helped too.

I had drifted to sleep in 2018 and woke up in 1780 to a handsome farmer for a husband, a rambunctious toddler, and a baby on my hip. We rose early every morning to start our daily routine. My husband woke first and refiled the fireplaces. While he did that, I would raise out of bed till the house was warm and start breakfast in the kitchen fireplace that had a beehive oven. While breakfast was cooking, I would wake the children and then feed the family. While my husband did upkeep to the land and care for the animals, I would wash and hang laundry outside, while watching the little ones play. When the little ones napped after lunch, I would tend to the gardening and prep for supper. My husband liked to work the towns peoples broken furniture for pay or trade after supper, so I continued with other chores. Later, after I put the babies to bed, I would read or mend worn clothing till I was tired. My husband would venture when his candlelit lanterns would start burning low and then we would start all over again the next day.

On Sunday, the day of rest, we would wake up and eat a light breakfast before the service at the church. After church when the weather was fair we would all bring a dish and have lunch near the pond to catch up with the all the townspeople. We would talk, laugh, and watch the children play off in the distance with each other. In the evening I would cook a nice little supper for my family and then we would all gather in the sitting area by the fire to read or tell stories to the children before putting them to bed.

Reviews

[VALORMORE DE PLUME]

This is an interesting scene, prompted by a prompt. I do agree with your profile statement referring to the manner of stories finding us.

[Tate Morgan]

It would be nice to see another century when things were simple

[Diane]

Agreed. Not sure I have ever seen simple. Thank you for the review.

[Levi Levin]

A wonderful story. Kinda how I grew up and it wasnt in the 1700's either haha

[Diane]

haha. I do writing promps to clear my head.

[Levi Levin]

Well, whatever works. Lol

[Great Aunt Astri]

A clever idea for a story, and I echo Samuel's words. A lovely read. But I think it might be a good idea just to check your tenses. In the third paragraph, you have got a 'had', a past tense (we rose), and then lots of 'woulds'. My grammar is not always right, and , quite honestly, I don't think it really matters. But, perhaps, after 'My husband rose first and refilled the fireplace' you could start the next sentence with' 'Every day we would... '. I think that might make the 'woulds' fit in better? But I enjoyed the read.

[Diane]

Thank you. Seems like the editing is never done. I will go through and edit again. Thank you for letting me know about the tense errors you found.

[Great Aunt Astri]

You are welcome. I make lots of errors, so don't you stop writing!

[Diane]

I would never stop writing lol writers make the worst editors especially on their own work.

[Samuel Dickens]

First of all, I was reminded of one of my favorite Allman Brothers songs, "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed". Just that alone made me think of the past. Truthfully, I think most of us should wake up to a time long past and spend a while there. Don't you know it would be a serious attitude adjustment and make us aware of how things have changed, and not entirely for the better. Of most importance, I think, is how close to one another our ancestors were. It took cooperation to survive and in the course of that interaction, we learned to care more for others. My father (born 1908) told of how his family would sit around the fire in the evenings while grandma told stories or read from the Bible. A scene very much like what you have described in this thought-provoking piece.