15 minute ficlets - picture 20
Mar. 14th, 2005 05:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolevalanThe Road Not Taken
Fandom: Thursday Next (Jasper Fforde)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Fanfic. Therefore, not mine.
If you would like to see the picture that inspired the drabble, go here.
--
The black and white photograph fluttered to the ground, and I leaned to pick it up. My father was quicker however, and snatched it; seeming to think better of his hasty motion, he then handed it to me. “Sorry; reflex.”
I examined it for a moment, then frowned, as I looked closer. “Is that…?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Sort of. It’s a completely alternate timestream. He moved to San Francisco in early ’83 in that one. Wrote a couple excellent novels. But…it’s not yours. Not the one I’m looking for.”
I stared at the image, trying to make out details. The seated figure was nearly unidentifiable. “Could you take me? I could go visit him…just for a moment. I wouldn’t have to talk to him, I could…”
“No,” he said firmly, almost harshly. “You need to stay here. It’s how I can find this stream again. And in any case, Goliath is keeping too firm an eye on you.” He glanced at his watch, more a nervous habit than anything. “Plus you couldn’t be seen. It would be a very large problem.”
“Why? I mean, as long as I don’t see me, I don’t…”
He cut me off again. “No, Thursday.” He gently took the photo from me. “In that timestream, you’re a good twenty years dead.”
I looked up at my father in shock. Recent events had made me consider Landen’s possible untimely end, but it had simply never occurred to me that there were other courses of events in which he survived and I did not. After a moment, I managed a small “Oh.”
He walked around behind my chair and put his hands on my shoulders. “It’ll be all right kiddo, you’ll see. You’ll get him back. And yours, not this one,” he said, indicating the photograph. “It may look like him, but it isn’t the man you married, not really.” He sighed. “It’s hard to explain. You know. I don’t entirely understand it myself sometimes. But I’ll keep looking, sweetie, I promise.”
“Thanks Dad,” I said numbly, managing a smile, though there was no heart in it. “I appreciate it.”
He smiled, though he looked slightly concerned. “Well, I must be off – can’t linger too long. Love you, honey.”
“You too. Be careful.” He nodded, and then suddenly, everything resumed. I looked down on the table, and noticed he had left the photograph. Picking it up, I attempted once more to precisely make out any features. It was dated 2004. Slipping it in the photo drawer, I got up and proceeded to make myself breakfast, a little comforted despite being shaken. It seemed that my father’s visits had recently begun having that effect.
Fandom: Thursday Next (Jasper Fforde)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Fanfic. Therefore, not mine.
If you would like to see the picture that inspired the drabble, go here.
--
The black and white photograph fluttered to the ground, and I leaned to pick it up. My father was quicker however, and snatched it; seeming to think better of his hasty motion, he then handed it to me. “Sorry; reflex.”
I examined it for a moment, then frowned, as I looked closer. “Is that…?”
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Sort of. It’s a completely alternate timestream. He moved to San Francisco in early ’83 in that one. Wrote a couple excellent novels. But…it’s not yours. Not the one I’m looking for.”
I stared at the image, trying to make out details. The seated figure was nearly unidentifiable. “Could you take me? I could go visit him…just for a moment. I wouldn’t have to talk to him, I could…”
“No,” he said firmly, almost harshly. “You need to stay here. It’s how I can find this stream again. And in any case, Goliath is keeping too firm an eye on you.” He glanced at his watch, more a nervous habit than anything. “Plus you couldn’t be seen. It would be a very large problem.”
“Why? I mean, as long as I don’t see me, I don’t…”
He cut me off again. “No, Thursday.” He gently took the photo from me. “In that timestream, you’re a good twenty years dead.”
I looked up at my father in shock. Recent events had made me consider Landen’s possible untimely end, but it had simply never occurred to me that there were other courses of events in which he survived and I did not. After a moment, I managed a small “Oh.”
He walked around behind my chair and put his hands on my shoulders. “It’ll be all right kiddo, you’ll see. You’ll get him back. And yours, not this one,” he said, indicating the photograph. “It may look like him, but it isn’t the man you married, not really.” He sighed. “It’s hard to explain. You know. I don’t entirely understand it myself sometimes. But I’ll keep looking, sweetie, I promise.”
“Thanks Dad,” I said numbly, managing a smile, though there was no heart in it. “I appreciate it.”
He smiled, though he looked slightly concerned. “Well, I must be off – can’t linger too long. Love you, honey.”
“You too. Be careful.” He nodded, and then suddenly, everything resumed. I looked down on the table, and noticed he had left the photograph. Picking it up, I attempted once more to precisely make out any features. It was dated 2004. Slipping it in the photo drawer, I got up and proceeded to make myself breakfast, a little comforted despite being shaken. It seemed that my father’s visits had recently begun having that effect.
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just...awesome
Date: 2005-03-14 11:14 pm (UTC)hours of fun. :-)
Re: just...awesome
Date: 2005-03-15 12:17 am (UTC)