3WW LXI

Hey guys. 3WW will be taking off November 21st for Thanksgiving, and will return November 28th. If you’d like, feel free to go back and grab three words from a previous week. Remember if you didn’t participate that week, then they’re new to you :)

I might encourage you also to take this opportunity to visit some of the 3WW participants and read some of their other blog entries. That’s what I plan on doing.

Thank you all for participating and helping to make 3WW a pretty cool thing. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Welcome to Three Word Wednesday. Each week, I will post three (or more) words. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write something using all of those words. It can be a few lines, a story, a poem, anything.

Leave a comment if you participate. Many fun and interesting people might visit your blog.

This week’s words are:
Icy
Pause
Train

“Will Dean be home soon?”

The frail voice startled Donna. She had been on the verge of dozing off to the sound of mindless television droning on in the background.

“Yes, Momma,” she said softly.

“I’m worried. The roads are getting icy.”

It hadn’t snowed there in ten years. Donna didn’t know if her mother even comprehended a single word she was saying. But just in case, she thought it better to try and ease her mind.

“Don’t worry, Momma. He’ll be fine. He’ll be here real soon.”

Day after day her mother just laid there, staring blankly at the ceiling, or sleeping. But once in awhile, she would say something out of the blue. Mostly they were things that didn’t make sense, but sometimes she would speak of something or someone far in her past.

It always broke Donna’s heart, but it was especially hard when her mother spoke of Dean, Donna’s older brother. He had gone to Vietnam and never came home. Even now as Donna thought of him, she could still see his goofy smile as he boarded a train and waved goodbye that crisp April morning.

“The snow is beautiful, isn’t it Dee Dee?” It made Donna glad and broke her heart a little more that her mother still called her Dee Dee. It seemed almost cruel that she still had certain memories, but not much else.

“Yes, Momma. It’s perfect.”

The mention of snow gave Donna pause. She thought of a particular Christmas when she was seven and Dean was still at home. It had snowed then. Dean had pushed her on a trash can lid “sled” down the hillside. It used to snow a lot. Now the winters were warmer, but somehow left her feeling much colder inside.

Donna pulled a blanket tighter around her, barely noticing that tears had started to trickle down her face. She remembered another snow. The memory was fuzzy, but it seemed like Dean was gone. He had been out. No, on a trip. And the roads had been bad, and her mother had been so worried. That must be-

“Dean! You’re home!”

Her mother’s voice once again startled Donna back to the present. A haunting chill instantly covered her entire body. She turned quickly to see her mother lying completely still, eyes closed.

“Momma?”

Donna jumped to her feet and ran to the bed.

“Momma!”

Her mother was lying completely still, eyes closed. She was no longer breathing. Just smiling.

“Where’ve you been? I’ve looked for you forever and a day. Where’ve you been? I’m just not myself when you’re away…”