Arrivals and Departures

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Forgotten Letter

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Forgotten Letter

The Friday 100-word Story (+ announcements)

Reena Kapoor
Aug 18, 2023
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Forgotten Letter

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“lost leaves” Photo by Reena Kapoor (c) 2023. Instagram @1stardusty

It’s Friday and it’s time for a new 100-word story!

Forgotten Letter

The movers wrapped and packed her life in deft, raucous motions. Zohra finished making lists, something Harish would’ve done, if he hadn’t passed. Right now he’d be counting how in their 42 years, they’d tended to three kids, twice as many dogs, the garden, innumerable travelers. Her hand passed absently over the armoire they’d fallen in love with in Shanghai. Her fingers slid behind the door to the secret compartment. The letter had lain there for over twenty years. Opening it, she read, Call me. Tomorrow, the day after, a hundred years hence. I’m waiting. Zohra reached for her phone. 

###

Reena 8/18/23

A biggie!!

Thank you for reading Arrivals and Departures — your support allows me to keep doing this work. But last week, this newsletter gained its FIRST PAID subscriber!

As you know, all of my work is FREE, because I don’t paywall any of my writing. So the patronage of this very first subscriber has been extra sweet. Many thanks to MohitB for this generous support.

I appreciate all of you for the love, appreciation and sharing of my words with friends and family.

Other Announcements

  • I’ve been invited to read my short, short story Prayer Beads and Samosas by the Flash Fiction Forum for their 10th anniversary celebration on August 23rd! You can watch this via Zoom, if you’re having trouble falling asleep that evening. No seriously, I’d be honored if you came (email me).

  • A modified version of my story, Interstellar Sympathies — Who needs them!? that was created as the final chapter in the Great Substack Story Challenge 2, will be published in an anthology to be published later this year. Stay tuned!

And finally…

  • A new play is in town!! A new play by yours truly will be stage read (full cast of actors under professional direction, sans a full production) and presented as part of the "When Ganesha Met Shakespeare" New Works Festival hosted by EnActe Arts on Sept 16th in San Jose. The play will be performed as a staged reading and after that there will then be a talk back with the audience to gather feedback on the play so it can be developed further. I would of course be honored and delighted if you came and saw my play and gave me your thoughts.

    NOTE: The festival is a whole festival with much more -- including art, food, theatre, etc. Here’s the link to the event -- https://www.eventbrite.com/e/when-ganesha-met-shakespeare-enactes-new-works-festival-tickets-631615929247 but do watch the video about the festival here: https://enacte.org/.

Referrals & Gifts from Arrivals and Departures

If you enjoy Arrivals and Departures, it would mean the world to me if you invited friends and family to subscribe and read this newsletter. As a token of my gratitude for doing this, you can receive special gifts as follows —

How to participate

1. Share Arrivals and Departures. When you use the referral link below, or the “Share” button on any post, you'll get credit for any new subscribers. Simply send the link in a text, email, or share it on social media with friends.

Refer a friend

2. Earn benefits. When more friends use your referral link to subscribe (free or paid), you’ll receive special benefits.

  • For 3 referrals you can get a copy of my poetry book “Arrivals & Departures: Journeys in Poems” (ebook/ paperback depending on your location) via Amazon.

  • For 5 referrals you can get one of my poems paired with one of my photos in the form of a frame worthy PDF.

  • For 25 referrals receive a never published before “chapbook” containing 5 of my poems paired with 5 of my photos in a PDF.

Visit the leaderboard

To learn more, check out Substack’s FAQ.

Thank you for helping get the word out about Arrivals and Departures!

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Forgotten Letter

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Forgotten Letter

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Arjan Tupan
Writes trpplffct
Aug 23Liked by Reena Kapoor

What a beautiful story of love. Well written.

And congrats on the first paid subscriber!

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1 reply by Reena Kapoor
Meg Oolders
Writes Stock Fiction
Aug 19Liked by Reena Kapoor

Loved the story. My heart leapt at the end. Wonderful twist into "what next???"

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