Sea in a Bottle


Zizi regarded the space yet to be filled in her basket then looked at the sea. What could she use to hold it in? She pulled out the half full bottle of water from her coat pocket. It was getting late in the afternoon and she had things to do at home. She wouldn’t finish the water.

She walked to a nearby shrub and shared her water with it before continuing down the steps, towards the spot where the freshwater stream met the sea. Once Zizi was satisfied she had enough water, she walked back.


She spread out all the things she gathered on her work bench at home. With a cup of tea in hand, Zizi started dividing up them into piles she thought would work together. She’d hold something up to her ear every now and then or stroke it with her hand before deciding where to place it. At the end she had sorted everything except the water.

She laughed. It was a bit of a silly impulse to have gathered it. She’d never used water in one of her jars before. Maybe she’d keep it for her personal collection. She went to find another jar to transfer it to, when she saw the box of random treasures a friend had given her. A bit of sea glass, a tiny sand dollar, a small jar…yes, she could make this work.


Zizi just finished arranging her display on the vending table when a woman from another table came over.

“These are so beautiful,” she said. “I’m Jenna, by the way.”

“I’m Zizi. Thanks.”

Jenna picked up the jar with the seawater, sand dollar, and sea glass. She immediately got an image of herself as a teen, visiting the shore with her mother. They had both played hooky from school and work that day. It was a blast. Jenna still missed her so much.

Zizi saw the look on Jenna’s face. “I never know why I make the things I do, but I know when they’ve found a home. Care to work out a trade,” she asked, nodding towards Jenna’s table.

“Oh yes,” Jenna said, with the sea’s scent and her mother’s smile still lingering in her mind.

Photo by Mohamed Ahsan on Unsplash



Song Choice: Time in A Bottle by Jim Croce

This piece of flash fiction was created for Poets and Storytellers United's Weekly Scribblings #3: Salt-Water Poetry.

26 comments:

  1. I enjoy a story that does what it says. The whole time I was reading, I was wondering, what is she doing? Then, I get to the end... and I'm all sighs and smiles. I like the idea of all our actions having some meaning. Even more, I love the moment when meaning shows its face.

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    1. I'm glad my wee tale was intriguing and satisfying

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  2. I love this story in itself - and the suggestions of back stories which are intriguing yet somehow complete as they are.

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    1. I had hoped those hints would come through :)

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  3. This is absolutely lovely!💝 I resonate with having a box of treasures and gathering things the way Zizi does in the story, the ending left me with a smile on my face! Thank you so much for writing to the prompt,Rommy!😘😘

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  4. Who else could write an engrossing story about a bottle of saltwater. Rommy? I was intrigued by your character, Zizi, and her bakset of objects from the sea, dying to know what she was going to do with them. I loved that she shared her drinking water with the shrub before filling it with sea water, and the loving way she sorted the objects on her work bench. What a satisfying ending!

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  5. I always think that a collector of natural things is someone who loves the Earth. Whata delightful story this is Rommy.

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    1. There probably has to be an element of love (if not more) for those that do.

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  6. playing hooky as a team, nothing beats that
    Happy Wednesday

    much love...

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  7. Great flash fiction, especially accompanied by Jim Croce and one of my favorite songs! What a pleasant interlude! Thank you

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    1. It's a sweet song. I always smile if I catch it on the radio.

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  8. What an absolutely beautiful story Rommy!

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  9. A gorgeous tale with a beautiful revelatory ending. Those images that lingered in her mind- I love how you arrived to it.

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  10. I love collecting nature's gifts and their magic being revealed in the future.

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    1. There is something rather fun about figuring things out

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  11. I wonder if each item in Zizi's collection has some type of clairvoyant power to the proper and true person it should belong to. The magic where this could lead...

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  12. I really enjoyed reading this uplifting story.

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