The sidewalk planks squeaked under Filobar’s shoes as the banker twirled his cane, approaching the workshop of the late puppet maker Grecher which he now owned. He stepped through the door, the stench of varnish and death thick in the air. Shafts of light filtered through the windows, illuminating a collection of intricately carved puppets hanging limply from the ceiling around the body of their maker. Two men were loading Gretcher into a coffin, the man having expired after spending his last coins on wood instead of food. “Shame he let his talents go to waste,” Filobar muttered, walking along the counter where tomes on alchemy and the occult joined the woodworking tools and half finished puppets which had obsessed the man. He paused at Gretcher’s opus, two life sized marionettes with exquisitely detailed faces. These were made from interlocking plates which supposedly let them emote like people. Both were also festooned in arcane sigils, the man having spent his final nights trying in vain to bring them to life. Filobar tested the real feature, pulling strings to make the girl look bashful while the son silently laughed. “How fun.” “A bit sad if you ask me,” one of the workmen said, placing on the coffin lid. “Man wanted a family.” “Bah, he could’ve remarried after his first wife passed like I did,” Filobar scoffed. “He was a fool to believe that wood could come to life.” “Didn’t he lose a kid too?” the other workman asked, hammering in a nail. “A man can make more,” Filobar said, looking over the man’s plans for a whole wooden family, pieces of what would have been his wife spread out over the counter. A vague memory of the real woman floated through Filobar’s mind, though he tossed it out at once. “She’s dead and he ought not to have let his bills pile up for a fake family.” “That’s pretty cruel if I do say so sir,” the first workman muttered. “That’s life, and don’t ever forget it,” Filobar said, taking down the daughter to see what he could get for her.

Let's try something new. First Micro-Fiction story of the week based on the Prompt [Addicted to a Dream] titled:

"A Family of Wood"

#AMothInTheArchive #AMITA #FlashFiction #ShortStory