Stones (flash fiction)

Golden sandals on a stony beach (Meta AI)

When her father passed away, Angela received tens of millions of dollars in cash and investments at age 24. She quit her teaching job, left her boyfriend, and began to travel the world. She visited every city on her list, some more than once, and stayed in luxurious hotels for months at a time. It felt so good to immerse in local culture, checking out all the museums and restaurants and cute little shops. Angela never stayed in a place long enough to make real friends, but she didn’t care about that, at least not at first.

Sometimes she considered buying a property in one of the beautiful locations, settling down, perhaps starting a family, but a new adventure always beckoned. When she turned 40, alone on a gorgeous Greek island, she realized that it was probably impossible to find a man who wasn’t solely interested in her money. She mulled over the idea of raising a child by herself and decided against it. After all, she had a Norwegian cruise booked for next year and another safari three months later. She didn’t want to cancel them and go on the prowl for a baby daddy instead.

It would be nice to have someone to talk to about all this, Angela thought wistfully, but she hadn’t kept up with any of her former friends or colleagues. These days, she exchanged only courtesies with waiters and hotel staff. No one really cared about her the way her father had. She had no one now to share memories with or even silly inside jokes. Angela riffled through the card file in her mind and came up with nothing, not a single name, not even a distant cousin with whom she could engage in superficial chitchat.

Angela stared out at the endless sea and picked up a smooth stone warmed by the morning sun. She flung it out across the turquoise water, satisfied that it skipped three times. This beach was covered with stones, some dull grey, others glittering like jewels. She picked up a coppery one and a silvery one and filled her hands with so many stones that she began to drop them. Finally, she let them all fall at her feet in a big clatter and stood among the stones with empty hands.

~*~

Written for Fandango’s new Loosely Based prompt. My story is loosely based on Neil Diamond’s 1971 song “Stones” (stones would play inside her head / and where she slept they made her bed / she would ache for love and get but stones).