A Retiring Lady
200 words.
I don’t go out very much. I am not a social animal; I am a stay-at-home, rather shy, type.
I am not a reclusive but I value my privacy and if anyone tries to get too close to me, I retreat into my shell. Occasionally I venture out into the garden for a leisurely stroll at my own pace.
At my age, I’m not as energetic as I once was.
I am very particular about my food and this seems to worry the kids of the house where I live;
I have heard them whispering, “How can she live on lettuce alone?”
And while it is true that lettuce is my favourite; I have a varied and healthy diet.
My presence has raised a lot of questions.
“Where has she come from? Is she an illegal immigrant?”
This from the two young brats.
I bristle at this suggestion: I came to this country quite legally.
Their father confirms it by saying, “She originates from the Galapagos, and was imported with the proper certificates.”
“How old is she?”, the children ask.
“Difficult to tell”, is the reply, “but tortoises have been known to live for over two hundred and fifty years”.
© Luigi Pagano 2016
Ha! You had me caught up wondering what was going on with this retiring
lady. A clever conceal as well as title, Luigi. Enjoyable read. 🙂 bel
Just back from my little Italian holiday, Bel. Thanks for reading; glad you liked it.
Luigi x
Such endearing creatures, love them. Sweet and imaginative little story Luigi.
Val x
Hi Val. Funnily enough, I was at my sister’s house and there were two of them. My grandson was fascinated by them.
Enjoyed this – retreat into my shell and I still never cottoned on..!
That was the idea, Geeza: to keep you interested until the end. Thanks for the comment.
I must be a tortoise because I was seeing a lot of myself in the opening paragraph. I didn’t see it coming though. A superb twist and done in such a short story too. Nice work.
Cheers Jay, thanks for your appreciation. This is one of the results of my experiments with flash fiction, based on the ‘droubble’ concept of 200 words limit. It follows my other piece “A Bone of Contention”.
very nice and cleverly written piece.
So glad you liked it, Nic. Are you delving into the archives? This is two years old.
no but i like live stats and watching what the bots read and i saw this title a retiring lady which is a great title. catchy!