Wednesday 18 December 2013

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - LANDLOCKED - MY 100 Words by Linda Palund



LANDLOCKED

        I am landlocked. 
        So far from the sea of my girlhood, where I swam as free as a dolphin. 
        A little mermaid, a water ballerina, a foolish lovelorn child who signed a contract. 
        How can a girl of 20 make a decision that changes her life forever? 
        How can she be allowed to say yes to youthful passion, yes to daily struggle, yes to a husband who will lead her here, to Kansas City.
       Prisoner of a contract signed 40 years ago.
       Is it true?
       What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder? Nor woman?
       I am lovelocked. 


This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:
and you can comment on mine below:

26 comments:

  1. Strong stuff Linda. I sometimes wonder, how can you sign a 40 year contract at twenty years of age. Yet some do, and live happily ever after. Not, sadly, your character. The voice sounds quite desolate. Well done.

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    1. Thank you Sandra. But we do. Girls get married at 20. Or decide on the one they love at 20 and marry them at 22. Whatever. The contract is supposed to be binding - so my god, it seems totally insane!

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  2. Good metaphor for being trapped in such a place

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    1. Thanks, I know it is a terrible thing to say about the midwest...

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  3. Trapped in every way. There's something about being landlocked that I find very disturbing.

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  4. Dear Lindaura,

    You literally hit me where I live. Landlocked for sure and in Kansas City. Although I was born and raised here, I love the sea and would someday love to swim with dolphins. For now it's the once or twice weekly laps in the c-ment pond. Oh and that contract thing? I was 18 and it's been 42 years. Happily ever after? That's only for princesses in fairy tales.
    Love your story, in case I didn't say it.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. Thank you, Rochelle - Yes me too, and you know, I thought of you when I put myself in Kansas City - a lovely town - but totally landlocked. But I do wonder about that contract....How can we make decisions like that? and yet here we are on that rollercoaster we stepped on, and for me, just about the same as you....

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  5. Wow, that is an incredibly moving story, Lindaura. I live next to the beach and couldn't imagine living away from it. That must be a HUGE love.

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  6. Landlocked, lovelocked, what a great metaphor for being all kinds of locked! "A little mermaid, a water ballerina, a foolish lovelorn child" and now 40 years later... Amazing how a person as young as you could relate to all this! Very nice, Linda.

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    1. Don't forget, I'm 101 years old this month! Been through quite a lot. How do young people write about stuff? I'm so old, I have no imagination left, just about everything has happened to me! Hey, and thanks for appreciating lovelocked!

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  7. i so love the term "water ballerina". i love the sea so much i don't think i can bear that kind of life. powerful stuff. well done :)

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    1. Thank you and thank you for loving my water ballerina...

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  8. The others have said it already. It's all lovely.
    Are you really 101? Your writing is so youthful. Powerful.

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    1. Thank you, Patrick. 101 and getting younger every day!

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  9. Linda, this is something I've written a lot about on my blog. It's deep and compelling stuff. Such a commitment, made so young (I was married at 24, and we've been married 28 years)... when we were land locked for a number of years, I ached for the sea that I grew up near. Like an animal out of my habitat, it was a constant loss. Now, I look at the water every day, and feel so grateful that both have worked out... beautiful piece, deeply personal, and real.

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    1. You are a lucky one that your paths have joined as they have. so many feel the commitment and struggle to make it work out of duty, rather then finding any fulfilment in their personal lives...

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  10. Funny, I grew up in a small town with a harbour and I can't bear to live away from the water. Today I live with a river at the back of my house and I am only a mile from the sea, so I am lucky.
    Your story is so sad, it is the story of so many people who made a a promise and a compromise of such magnitude they could not begin to truly appreciate. I hope it isn't your story, just a powerful piece of fiction. Merry Christmas. :)

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    1. I really do think that people enter into the marriage contract too lightly, but this day and age, Divorce is almost always the second half of the bargain. The ones who really commit, I don't know if that is the best choice either...

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  11. I always wondered about that little mermaid, now I see. Landlocked and love-locked for all those years! Sad, but I love this story!! Wonderful!

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    1. Thank you, Glynis. So easy to be lovelocked...

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  12. Lovely story. I liked "landlocked - lovelocked". I hope she one day finds her way back to the ocean.

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  13. I enjoyed this. A story with undertow. 40 years of slavery to a contract? Or fear of sailing solo? Or ... ? There's a thousand story possibilities in your 100 words. :)

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  14. I married young and at 19 moved away from my home and family. 30 some years later I wonder how my life might have been different if I had not been pulled out by my roots.

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