Fic: Mrs. Hudson Carries On: Gen

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Title: Mrs. Hudson Carries On
Length: 500
Rating: Gen
For: the monthly prompt: carry on
Summary: While running errands, Mrs. Hudson has a touch of nostalgia.


Mrs. Hudson had crossed several items off her list when she sailed into the shop, the same shop she’d sailed into countless times before. The owners had changed over the years. There had even been an unfortunate fire, but the location was a good one and the structure sound and rather perfect for any commercial business, but especially the sale of quality cloth goods at reasonable prices to discriminating landladies.

The shop was full, every clerk had a queue of customers.

Mrs. Hudson gave a knowing glance to the most trustworthy and sensible of the clerks and then stepped to a place of waiting along the counter, near a large, street-facing window.

Mrs. Hudson looked out the window, through the painted lettering proclaiming the shop’s current moniker.

She froze. No, more precisely, she drowned in a sudden, unexpected wave of memory.

It was here, at this very spot, that Mrs. Hudson’s heart had broken.

How many years ago? Goodness! Mrs. Hudson abandoned her calculation when the number exceeded two score.

So very long ago.

She’d seen someone she’d fancied through the shop window, walking along the street, arm-in-arm with someone else, the unmistakable look of love’s blush on both countenances.

It had been mere moments, but Mrs. Hudson recalled the sinking of her stomach, the way the world seemed to stop and tilt on edge at the same time. She remembered the flush in her cheeks, her shame, her sorrow. The pounding of her heart, the touch of vertigo.

Right here.

So long ago.

What was the name?

Mrs. Hudson scratched and scratched at her memory. The face was clear, but the name, elusive.

How could she not remember the name? It had been on her lips, etched in her heart. It had been so important.

She sighed. She could not remember. Fancy that!

How had she carried on? Her world had shattered. How had she made her purchases? How had she checked her change? How had she walked out of the shop, bag in hand, when she had been certain that life had not been worth living?

And to think, now, she couldn’t even remember the name!

Sometimes, Mrs. Hudson wished for young limbs, a young back, young knees, certainly, but never youth, no.

Such folly! It seemed so real at the time. And it was real, to the young heart.

Could Mrs. Hudson’s old heart ever be shattered like that?

“No,” she said aloud, with finality.

“Ma’am?”

The bright young clerk was blinking owlishly at Mrs. Hudson, a pile of highly suitable dustcovers on the counter between them.

Mrs. Hudson smiled in business-like fashion. “I’m sorry. I was wool-gathering.”

“I’m sorry. We’re very busy today. These are the new ones, just in. We spoke about it last time…”

Mrs. Hudson nodded, and in that nod, the memory, through the window, in the street, became a ghost and faded like dew in late morning sun.

And Mrs. Hudson did as she always did, always had done:

she carried on.

Comments

[smallhobbit]

Poor Mrs Hudson, although I am sure she will carry on - after all she has plenty of other things to occupy her mind!

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, it wasn't meant to be so melancholy, more about those moments when you look back and realize that you can't remember something that was once Very Important. You don't know how to survived but of course you did.

[debriswoman]

Awwww….

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

:)

[dustbunny105]

This is so lovely! It really captures that feeling of not even remembering something that seemed so very important in the moment, the way it still resonates but has lost its power over time. And it's always nice to see more of Mrs. Hudson for her own sake, of course.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes, you can remember being so upset about whatever it was, but so much time has passed that you can only remember the shadow of it, not really what it was. Sort of hollow thing.

Thank you very much for reading!! Glad you liked it!

[gardnerhill]

For some people it's a madeleine in a cup of tea. For others it's the smell of a particular shop.

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Yes. And sometimes it hits you so hard and so unexpectedly, you just are overwhelmed and confused. Like a song from your adolescence coming on at the grocery store and you remember your 6th grade dance or something.