PROMPT: Write a story that is set in Argentina in 1932, in which a teacup plays a crucial role. (San Francisco's Writers' Grotto)
One day, people will rob my home and, in the crossfire, my mother will die. I will be sent to live with my brother in Buenos Aires. I will cling to the memory of my mother grabbing me in one hand and clutching her favorite porcelain teacup - the only one left from a set given to her by my father–in the kitchen, as the robbers break in. I will remember her telling me to hide, and that being the last time I will see her alive. I will remember seeing the teacup clutched to her now cold, lifeless chest. I will take the teacup with me.
I will grow from being a gangly country girl to a sophisticated woman. My brother and I will fight daily about everything from the length of my skirt to politics. He will be a supporter of the Nazis and I will curse his name for it. One day, our fight will get so bad that he will throw my mother's teacup across the room. I will lunge to catch it and I will, but not before I pierce my leg on a loose nail.
My brother and I won’t fight for weeks.
One day, on my way to work, a man will notice me and my teacup filled with black coffee. He will ask about the coffee-filled teacup, but I will ask about the parcel he's holding to take the focus off his query. I will go on with my day, soon forgetting him.
He will not forget me.
We will see each other the next day, and he will ask why I drank my coffee with a teacup the previous day. I will not tell him. We will repeat this routine every morning. Our conversations will broaden to the world’s unrest. The conversations will soon turn to ourselves, but the opening greeting will still be a question about the teacup. One day, I will answer his question. It will be the day we realize we are in love.
One summer day, we will marry. My brother will walk me down the aisle. We will mutter arguments back forth as he does. My husband will buy me a tea set, but my mother’s teacup will remain as my favorite. We will grow old together, and we will have many children. We will raise them well and live happily.
One day.
But today, I am a young girl living in the countryside, watching my mother sip tea from her favorite porcelain teacup.
Originally posted on ispepsiok.wordpress.com
