Gemotions

The old woman, Mrs. Gable, watched from her porch, her face etched with a lifetime of stories. She'd lived next door to the family for sixty years. They were just passing through. She remembered when they built the house, when they were all young. Their children played. She had always wanted the joy they had, the closeness.

She knew them, their laughter, their arguments, their secrets. Now, they were gone. All gone. She reached out and touched the faded paint of her own porch, the porch she had always wanted to be different. The house that was hers felt so small, and the house that had been theirs, so grand. Her own life, so ordinary.

A feeling of helplessness settled around her.