“They say.” The old woman rocked forward and hocked one off the front porch. “They say old women shouldn’t chew,” she cackled. “It’s unseemly. They say.”
She directed her sharp eyes at the young woman sitting on the step. “They say all number of things, made up things, hurtful things, say them as cowards, after you’ve turned your back on them. They can’t take a turned back; makes them wonder about themselves.”
“Great Aunt Fannie, they say you disappeared.”
Phwoot! She hocked another into the tall weeds. “Yes, they’ve always said that. Because they can’t explain me being here.”
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Carrot Ranch July 19, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about Fannie Hooe. Although she is a legend in the Kewenaw, feel free to go where the prompt leads.
Fact/fiction… oral histories/they say stories… legends that grow like a twisting vine, putting down its own roots as it reaches, needing the dark anchor of soil as well as the bright promise of light. The persistent legend of the Lake Fannie Hooe region of Charli’s Kewenaw is that the young Fannie Hooe disappeared without a trace from her 1844 visit to Fort Wilkins. Do click over to Carrot Ranch for more on that story as well as all the flash fiction takes on this prompt.
ShiftnShake 
I love the amount of character you gave to Fanny. Well done!! ❤
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Thanks. She just showed up on the porch. But she’s been sitting there chewing things over for a long time.
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So much depth in so few words. Excellent. ❤
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Hehehe. There’s nothing like hiding in plain sight. Well done. Love it. Your characters are so real, so three-dimensional, or maybe four. They cross the barriers of time.
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I loved the phrase “they say story” and wanted to play with that idea. Fannie showed up wizened and wise. I think what’s happening is she’s not hiding, the they-sayers are, hiding behind their sense of decency and decorum, denying her with their lack of acceptance. They are more comfortable with the thought of a mysterious disappearance.
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It’s often the way. People like to be blind to truths they don’t like. 🙂
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I think many of us have had a Great Aunt Fannie… via Hubby’s side – I did.
And she lived a long time – though too many years not remembering who she was.
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If we don’t have an actual relative we at least know who she is in our towns. So there, she didn’t disappear at all. Good ta have ya by, Jules.
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Such a great point about they-saying — they say many things to try to rewrite the world as they say it should be. And Fanni spits in the eye of that idea! Great characterization, too, D.
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Thanks Perfessor Mills. Good ta see ya saddled up an’ riding’ the range.
Gotta tell ya, I did not like this prompt at first, but now this Fannie Hooe, whoever she is, is growing on me.
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This Fannie Hope has a future in your created world.
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Oh she’s had a good romp around the ranch with all your buckaroos. They say she’s living’ on the ranch even now, up over the ridge with Ornery Ernie, making’ moonshine.
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Thought I smelled mash and smoked bacon!
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