Flash Fiction Friday

A New York State Of Mind

by Donna L Martin

The old man cautiously looked at the people jamming the streets in front of him. How was he ever going to get through that crowd? Martha needed him. She had always needed him, ever since that day  the Bufford boys pushed her down in the mud and stole her newspaper money. Times were hard back then and the editor had a soft heart. Martha convinced him to let her sell leftover editions to the butcher on the corner. Fish couldn't read anyway so what did it matter to them if it was yesterday's news?

Pulling threadbare lapels higher on his neck, the old man shuffled slowly through the lines of people. He remembered the first time Martha held out that coat for him to try on. Their first Christmas together and her fingers were still covered in bandages from all the extra sewing she'd done for the money. You would have thought he was the Crown Prince and that second-hand trench coat was made of the finest leather the way her face split in two with a silly grin when he finally tore open the package. She kissed him there, right under the small sprig of mistletoe he had snuck from the corner florist, and told him how much she needed him. Funny thing is, Martha never realized just how much he needed her. His day couldn't begin until she smiled that pretty smile of hers. Old man McCraney's complaints about him being lazy meant nothing once Martha hugged him as he walked in the door after pulling a double shift down at the docks. Why, she even kept the bottle from getting the better of him when they got that war department letter back in the winter of '43. Lordy, what would he do without his Martha?

Mumbling his pardons along the way, the old man continued to make his way through the crowds until he finally made it to the corner and opened the door of the same florist he snatched mistletoe from all those years ago. Shuffling up to the counter, he waited for the young clerk to notice him before asking, "Would you have some white lilies, please? They're for my Martha"....

***Okay, it's your turn! Where is Martha? Why is the old man buying her flowers? Put your creative cap on and add a sentence or add a paragraph.  Continue my story or start one of your own.  Join the fun and see where this picture prompt takes us!***