Requiem for an Old Contemptible
According to the rules of Ripon Writers’ Group, a mini-saga is a story told in a maximum of 50 words, with a clear beginning, middle and end. The words in the title are not included in the word count and the title may be of any length. This one came first in the last competition we held.
Giving old Mr Townley a hand in his garden was fun, until the morning he slipped in the mud and sprawled helplessly, weeping about the Somme. Mother said he was unfit company for a child and stopped me going round, even though it meant no more free vegetables for us.