Stories

Stories

By Francis RosenfeldFiction
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Stories episodes

  • Between Mirrors - Chapter 1 - Ritual

    She wasn’t used to seeing coffee in that cup, given her usual fare as a young girl which consisted of linden tea with lemon and honey or chocolate milk. It made her sad that there was a grown-up beverage in it now, especially since she hadn’t managed to figure out how to be a grown-up yet.

    “Milk?” Grandmother offered, as if she’d heard her granddaughter’s thoughts.

    Claire poured milk in the already full cup and made the coffee spill into the saucer in the process.

    “For luck!” Grandmother dipped her forefinger in the saucer and smeared coffee on the young woman’s forehead, another one of the many customs Claire never questioned. One threw salt over one’s shoulder, ate beans on Wednesdays, wished on the first fruits of the year, wrapped up the outdoor activities at sundown. Life had different ways of marking the passing of time in their household - by the songs of the pigeons in the morning, by the height of the sun at noon, by the sounds of the old bell in the church nearby in the late afternoon. Seasons were announced by scents - the fragrance of the tree blossoms, the overheated aroma of the herbs, the sweet heavy scent of the harvest, the damp smell of the rain. The grandfather clock was the only exception in this world that marked its own time, as if it were brought there from outside just to make a point.

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    8 min
  • Between Mirrors - Chapter 1 - Memories

    “Get out of the doorway!”

    The words boomed like thunder in Claire’s ears, now almost thirty years later, with the same intensity and pronouncement they carried the first time she’d heard Grandmother utter them, the first time of many. She smiled vaguely to the memory.

    It was vast, this mansion of her grandparents where she had grown up, but Claire didn’t know it at the time; she never questioned what she saw because she’d never known another way of life, she’d never ventured past the end of the formal alley flanked by huge oak trees, hundreds of years old, which led straight to its front doors. For her the mansion and its garden were the world.

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    7 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 24 - Love. Always.

    Keep your house in order, your garden well tended, your body strong and your mind on praiseworthy thoughts. Never assume anything but trust that you'll have good guidance to find your way through the haze of uncertainty, because, my dear, that love you have in your heart is

    everything.

    Blessings,

    Sister Mary-Francis

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    9 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 23 - Life Crafting

    “Most of us stumble upon our purpose later in life, but you have to have one if you want your time here to make sense. Imagine trying to make a cake by adding random ingredients into the mix, just because you have them: there isn't a single chance of it coming out edible. Your life works the same way, you have a cupboard full of ingredients and you have to select the ones that aid you in your purpose in order to make it happen.

    The real art begins later, when after knowing what the ingredients are, you refine their quantities, the timing, the quality, with higher an higher standards of excellence, until the results become extraordinary.
    With craftsmanship comes enthusiasm, with enthusiasm mastery, with mastery a legacy to future generations.”

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    14 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 22 - The Temple of Your Mind

    Those people who entered our happiness and burned it to the ground never really did anything to us: they didn’t rob us of our vast fortune, they didn’t hurt our bodies, they didn’t force my brother to hate me.

    All they did was to seep darkness into our lives, and they carry no blame for that in the eyes of the world. The rest of the damage, we volunteered.All you have to do in this life is guard the temple of your mind. While you keep that temple sparkling, with light shining though, there is nothing in this world that is beyond your reach. But when it’s filled with darkness and doubt, nothing has value anymore.

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    17 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 21 - Drive

    I don't believe in destiny, Lelia, nor do I believe in exceptional circumstances, obstacles impossible to overcome, or other people's power over my life. That is not to say that life is easy: some fights you don't win, but you have to fight them anyway, because this is the guiding principle for all those who have the audacity to chart their own

    future.
    The farther you get in achieving your goals, the harder you'll have to fight for them. The harder you fight, the stronger you get. The stronger you get, the more you feel responsible to protect those who aren't as strong as you are, yet.

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    11 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 20 - Facing Yourself

    “What is it exactly that you are trying to

    accomplish?" sister deAngelis asked one of the children, who had
    been moving the cookies from a plate to a basket, and then to a
    wire display, and was now preparing to move them again.
    "Sister Mary-Francis said we should find a
    display for these," the little boy replied, with his hair in
    disarray and a perplexed look in his eyes. He looked so much like
    Jimmy that sister deAngelis couldn't suppress a smile. The boy
    couldn't have been more than eight years old and was fidgeting to
    consume a little of his boundless amounts of energy.
    "What was wrong with the basket?" sister
    deAngelis's curiosity got the better of her.
    "The cookies are bunched together too tight,
    you can't tell what kinds they are," he expertly explained.
    "Why are you trying to put them back in it,
    then?" said deAngelis.
    "The wire rack doesn't look right, too
    spread out," he said.”

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    17 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 19 - On Both Sides of the Mirror

    “Mom, why did you let Ael use my room? She

    never puts anything away!" Lelia complained to her somewhat
    distracted mother. Lily looked up.
    "Oh, this whole house has turned into
    ceremony headquarters, your room was the only quiet place left, she
    needed to finish a project," she explained.
    "What's wrong with her room?" Lelia
    protested.
    "Sys commandeered it for manufacturing last
    minute items," Lily explained.
    "Why can't she work at the Institute, she's
    always there anyway," Lelia didn't give up.
    "Never mind about your sister," Lily
    remembered. "Did you practice your ceremony steps?"

    "Yes! Dad made me go over them a million times!" Lelia frowned,

    annoyed.”

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    11 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 18 - Blessed Touch

    “Don't tell me we have to redo all of these!

    This is the seventh time!" sister Mary-Francis cried out over the
    sea of lavender gauze that refused to drape itself as planned.
    "The pleats should fold in the other
    direction and the folds are two small, try to imagine this in the
    actual setting," Lily pointed out the objectionable items on the
    punch list.
    "You said six inches wide, they are six
    inches wide!" the sister protested.
    "I know, sister, I'm sorry, I was wrong! Why
    don't you ask Sys to fix these real quick, you don't have to do
    them by hand," Lily compromised.
    "A piece of information I could have used
    during the last three changes," Mary-Francis pointed out the
    obvious.

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    14 min
  • Letters to Lelia - Chapter 17 - Emotional Liability

    “You didn't find any other place for this?"

    sister Jove asked the group of children who had dropped a basket of
    cookies on her desk and were getting ready to leave.
    "Oh, no, sister Jove, these are for you!" a
    cheerful seven year old clarified, grinning from ear to ear to
    reveal the gap that took the place of her front upper teeth. She
    had lost her baby teeth the week before and she was brimming with
    pride about it. She couldn't stop touching the gums with her
    tongue, trying to feel the jagged edge of their permanent
    replacements.
    "You baked me cookies?" sister Jove asked,
    touched.
    "No," the seven year old answered, matter of
    fact. "I brought them to you because you need to wrap them, Ms.
    Lily said.”

    📖  Found yourself in the middle of a story? Visit STORIES by Francis Rosenfeld.

    13 min

About Stories

From the publisher's feed

Somewhere between the familiar and the impossible, a story is waiting for you. Listen to short fiction and unfolding novels by Francis Rosenfeld: strange worlds, intimate encounters.