The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Shopping Through My Dead 
by Faith Dincolo 

Mother died leaving me urns

of our families’ ashes.

I hope they’re all related.

She kept a pinch of Grandma

in a tiny blue pear-shaped urn.

Mother secret is she bought it

So, she could split her

Mother’s ashes between her and

Everyone else.

.

The problem with cremation

Hell’s fire in my family

are which parts did Mother get?

What did the rest of the family bury?

Grandma’s ghost may

Have no hands, no eyes.

What fried part did mother steal?

A piece of thigh…

Unknown forever to the living.

.

Beside the pear urn sits an apple red

large urn holding

the remains of Aunt Nora.

The lid has been poorly glued

and loose ashes litter

gunk up the adhesive seal.

Typical of Nora to be stuck

in between spaces.

I refuse to investigate further.

.

Mother cared for Nora

As she hacked and coughed

Through her smoke-damaged lungs

She had worn out by age 54.

Nora breathes no more,

I worry Mother spilled

Her sister’s ashes

Sweeping them up

With the cat hair on her floor.

.

There’s an urn I can’t account for

A stranger in the group

Dark yellow pineapple shaped

Laced with forest green vines

Beautiful etchings

Of Egrets

Woven around the metal jar.

Male or female?

A collection of her passed cats.

.

I found it in Mother’s closet

Hidden under her stack of

Clipped recipes and cookbooks

She had forgotten long ago

Mother seldom cooked

Anymore

Unless you count urns

Ashes of our dead

Cooked and jarred forever.

.

Fiction © Copyright Faith Dincolo
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Author Faith Dincolo:

Not Just a Pretty Face: Women of Horror Vol. 1

Enter the minds of these women in horror feel your way through the darkness and escape the terror if you can, but above all enjoy the fear. These women are not just a pretty face. Featuring, in order of appearance: Jo-Anne Russell, Caitlin Marceau, Joanna Parypinski, Joanna Koch, Abby Andresen, Valerie B. Williams, Morrison, Laura J. Hickman, Faith Dincolo, Kala Godin, Suzanne Madron, Hailey Piper, Sara C. Walker, Erin Shaw, Aubrey Campbell, Mei Kerr, RL Meza, Emma Johnson-Rivard, Naching T. Kassa, Hayley Wynne, Gemma Files and Alice Loweecey.

Available on Amazon!