Lock
By airyfairy
- 6754 reads
Hello, visitor.
You want to capture a remembrance? No problem.
Ah, well, the cost depends on how long you want to hold it for.
Twenty-five quid will get you one of those bronze padlocks. Our Grade 3. They’re all right, but a stiff wind might get them loose. You do get the key with them, so when you get bored with holding that remembrance, you just turn the key, open the lock, and it will fly away, disappear, and never trouble you again.
Fifty quid gets you a silver one, our Grade 2 lock. Once you’ve whispered your remembrance into that, it will hold for a least a decade, maybe longer. We hold the key for the ten years, and then it’s handed back to you, so you can unlock it and let the memory fly, or you can leave it there until eventually time and the elements do their work and it floats away without you even noticing.
A hundred quid, and now you’re talking. The Gold. Our Grade 1. Nothing will shift that, not storm, not flood, not hail, fire or the end of the universe can break that lock. And we keep the key forever, so you can’t let that one go. That one will stay, fixed, for the rest of your life, and you’ll even have the privilege of passing it on, should you feel the need. Let those you’ll leave behind put their ear to the lock and catch the whisper, and they’ll carry it forever too.
For better or worse.
So, visitor. You want to capture a remembrance?
If you would like to hear this story read, it's here: Lock by Jane Ayrie (soundcloud.com)
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Comments
£100. Lasts forever. Longer
£100. Lasts forever. Longer than a life. Sounds about right. Put myself under lock and key. Nicely read. Rather read than dead.
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I thought you read this so
I thought you read this so well Jane. Your voice is perfect for capturing the atmosphere. I've never heard of these locks before, so thank you for introducing me to them.
Jenny.
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What a lovely quirky IP
What a lovely quirky IP response. Those locks are a relatively new thing aren't they? do you have them in York somewhere?
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Padlocks on the bridge do
Padlocks on the bridge do show a desire for strong committment I guess.
This padlock idea does cause thought about how much do we want to remember this or that. Do want to remember something, or forget? The latter is less easy. I've sometimes had to pray help to forget something I've read, and wished I hadn't, as it seemed to encourage dwelling unhelpfully on a matter best forgotten. Hopefully if a memory is good enough to want to buy a gold padlock, it will have lodged itself firmly in our heart and brain!
But it can seem odd the childhood and later scenes that have stuck in the mind as if they must have been so important at the time. Rhiannon
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Ah yes, these padlock
Ah yes, these padlock thingies are very popular aren't they? Usually attached to a bridge somewhere. Felt like there was an underlying message in this. Beautifully read, of course (your diction is so much better than mine!). I have listened to all of your Pad Life tales on SoundCloud too. Highly recommended to anyone following this thread.
Paul :)
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HI Airy
HI Airy
That was a nice advert. They make a big deal of those locks on the bridge for sealing true love on one of the Australian soap operas. I never saw it as much of a deal, but now I know there is money to be made out of it - well let's hope you get lots of customers.
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Us and rivers. If there are
Us and rivers. If there are river gods what do they think of tiny keys compared with the swords and stuff people used to throw in to try to buy good luck. I didn't know the bridge in France nearly collapsed :0) You made me think of the whole cycle, lock sellers happily totting uptheir takings, wondering about a new angle for advertising, while councils have to pay people to clear the locks off and sell them for metal scrap. And if a happy relationship suddenly turns as the wire cutter snips through the padlock hoop, the hopeful feeling when it ws put there flying up like a butterfly and falling into cold grey water
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This is our Facebook and
This is our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day!
Please share/retweet if you enjoy it too!
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Great piece of short / flash
Great piece of short / flash fiction this.
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Can these be shipped to America?
Lovely advert. A big fan of your writing.
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I've heard of the locks on
I've heard of the locks on the bridge in Paris but I hadn't heard of them anywhere else, so this was interesting. I enjoyed the materialistic, advertising bent on what price you’re willing to pay for that lasting love, and as always your perspective is humorous. It was a nice part of my day to find something new from your pen.
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When this goes on facebook expect to be inundated with orders!
I would buy a padlock for a strongbox to put my memory inside so I won't loose it when I get old.
gotta be a market for that too :)
well deserved golden cherries (what do they cost?)
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I loved this. It caught my
I loved this. It caught my eye because of the Pero Bridge in Bristol, covered in padlocks. But it also sounds like the premise of a quirky fantasy story of some kind. I wonder how much choice we have with our memories? It built up nicely to the last paragraph, really thought-provoking.
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I'm a Buyer!
Go Girl Go* & with a sales pitch like that, I'll take 2 gold...
I feel better already!..... .. #loveit
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Hi airyfairy .......
Enjoyed reading this.
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