I’m Not A Hoarder.
View all responsesA piece of Flash fiction:Okay, so I’m sentimental about certain things. Things that have real meaning to me, but even that has changed over the years. For years, the old-fashioned coffee pot had stood on the shelf,’ Jane explained to her friend, Lucy. ‘I had loved it, believing it was my grandmother’s. I had found it in the cupboard at my mother’s. It looked old and well used.’
‘What made you think it was your grandmother’s?
‘I really can’t say. Anyway, I asked my mother if I could have it. I wanted a keepsake, which the generations had passed on. The old brown earthen pot has a look of age about it. Mother just shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘Take it.’
‘So why are you throwing it out now?’
‘What’s the point of cluttering up your life with things that are no longer important. When you get to my age you’ll have a house full of important stuff to no one, but yourself. In the end, it’ll all be binned.’
‘That’s sad,’ Lucy said. ‘But I can see your point. Humans are hoarders.’
‘I’m not. Well, not anymore. It’s time I had a good clear out and downsized, especially since divorcing my husband. That’s what the skip is for, so I can make a fresh start after years of his hoarding. A clean slate, both physically and mentally.’
Lucy laughed. ‘I love your positivity. So I take it you’re coming out with the girls tonight.’
‘You bet I am.’ Jane dropped the coffee pot into the skip on top of a pile of her ex-husband’s old clothes. Well, If he could buy a whole new outfit to look young and trendy for the younger woman in his life, she could start afresh, too.
