Greener Pastures

Flash Fiction

The abandoned house stood on the green plains. Many years had passed since the last day the door had been shut, and the last time a vehicle had driven down the now barely visible drive away, leading faraway, out to the road. The family that had lived there had gone to seek greener pastures, faraway. When they had left, the plains were brown, and times were not good on the farm. Now, the plains were green again, under the perhaps too plentiful rain of early spring. But, the family was many decades gone, and the wood of the house weathered and collapsed under the weight of too many winters. Green pastures was what they could not find on their farm, literally and figuratively.

Faraway, in an East Coast city, an old woman watched the early spring rain falling. There were no literal green pastures here, only lots of asphalt and concrete. But it was to these greener pastures that the family had gone, faraway from their Midwestern roots. They wanted money and success, things that had seemed too hard to get from the too brown soil of their farm on the Great Plains. They had found money, but had they found success?  Now, decades after, most of them rested under the green grass of the graveyard.

But one of them was still alive, and she watched the rain. She was old now, and she had been just a little girl then. Marie's thoughts were faraway, because this day, and this rain, made her remember her first memory of driving away from the house on the plains. She wondered what had happened to the house where she had been born. It's most likely gone, she thought.She did not want to think of it rotting on the plains, giving into the passing time and seasons

We're going away to seek greener pastures, her mother whispered to her, as she held her. on that long ago day. Her life had certainly been much different than if she had grown up on a Nebraska farm. Among other things, she had married a very wealthy man. But now she was old, and her thoughts turned to a question. Had she truly found the greener pastures her mother promised on that day? Most would say yes. But, something in her longed for the "greener pastures" of a life she'd never even had the chance to know.

Reviews

[LL]

I think this story carries an excellent thought and the reality that many times we look for "greener pastures", only to find eventual discontent within our souls. Good job on this write! 97/100

[Summer Grace]

Yes, that's pretty much what I was trying to conveying.I like to look at things differently..

[LL]

You did an excellent job at it.