50 Word Non-Fiction: Friendship – Batch 1

Every week, we publish the latest 50 Word Non-Fiction stories of Friendship. Read this week's pieces below!

*

The white hare burst from under my feet and hurtled zigzag across the hill, scattering snow. Beyond gunshot she stopped, watched, scratched. Unafraid. Thinking, maybe, that the uninvited, unarmed human on her hill might be friendly after all?

That was twenty years ago. Now there are no white hares here.

*

'How long has it been?' Naila asks me.

I moved away three years ago. 'Too long,' I say instead, and soften my jaw to smile.

'How are things?'

'I’m engaged.'

'About time! Congratulations!' she says, embracing me.

Sipping our fizzy wine, easy conversation resumes, as if no time has passed.

*

We'd fled the rare fury of an Edinburgh heatwave to cloister in the cool chambers of the oak-lined library, fondly chatting in the shadows. On leaving, an inspired trip sent us cascading and laughing onto the Meadows; a dropped coin blazing madly in the sun, like our love.

*

You don’t have to see a true friend every day, week, month, or year. Time has no bearing on real friendship. We may miss them. We may think of them often, but when our paths cross, it is as if there has been no separation. Friendship lives in the heart.

*

40 years

The first time we met, you were wearing a pink suit you’d made yourself, and small black dancing shoes.

The last time we met, you were stick thin and carried a washing-up bowl. We did a simple crossword and ate smooth spinach soup. Then we hugged and said goodbye.

*

We met in classroom 23, third floor. Never knew how much my life would change that day. Polo sweeties and an Independent sealed the deal, and my lifelong friend and companion came into my world, giving it a glow and a shine I never thought possible. Happiness reigns forever.

*

Christmas 1982: I unwrapped a bagpipe chanter. Disappointed, I told classmates I'd gotten clothes.

Forty years later, my fingers feel their way across the same wooden companion, composing new music to be performed at Piping Live. The gift I never wanted became the friend I never knew I needed.

*

Friendship is not formed by one singular bond, but through many threads combining to forge a thick rope. We use it to pull each other up, to carry and hold. Friendship is not a tug of war, but give and take. Sometimes the rope slackens, but we never let it drop.

*

She Makes Me Toast

The kind after a baby comes.

But it's me being reborn at her kitchen table. Examining myself. My head, a red light, my heart, viridian.

She’s in full support of my fucked up traffic lights.

'It's fine.

So long as there’s bread, butter,

me. It doesn't matter which you choose.'