Gone but not forgotten

Ning finally reached home, and plomped all her shopping on a table. How dreary!. How she wished in an instant, life would change.

She took out what she had bought one by one. First, a broccoli. What could she do with it? Blanch it as usual, and mix with a knob of buttter?

Next, she drew out a nail clipper. She had bought it in a whim. All because on the lever it had almost the same pattern as the favourite umbrella she had lost - whirls of flowers against a pink background. She had prized the umbrella,  carrying it with her wherever she had gone to. It had been a gift from her granny.  One day, before entering a changing room, she had hooked it at the doorknob outside. But by the time she had finished trying out a skirt n come out, it had disappeared without a trace.

She studied the design, and her eyes moisted. Did the person who had taken it know how much it had meant to her?

Sighing, with a click she put down the nail clipper, and strided towards the kitchen with the broccoli in hand. She cut off the veggie bit by bit, and gave it a quick rinse.

Halfway through, she remembered something. She made for the bedroom n extracted  a hanger from the closet. It was red in colour, the only odd one out.

She had bought the red hanger two days before, thinking it could brighten her closet a bit. But it didn't . There was one more plastic bag with her new blouse in it. She went back to the sitting room, collected the blouse and ran the hanger through it.

Now the blouse looked quite alright on the hanger.  She put it back into the closet. The red hanger was finally occupied. With the blouse on, only a little red was visible.

All of a sudden she felt better. The dreaded feeling that she had been nursing was now gone. She whistled, n headed back to the kitchen. After getting done with the broccoli, she returned to the sitting room, where she stretched herself on a settee, playing with the nail clipper.

' Well, he won't come back,' she said to herself. ' and so does the umbrella. But now I have the whole broccoli to myself.'
She looked at the nail clipper , and added, 'You remind me of something I once held dear. But you are different.'

She kissed the nail clipper, just like how she had kissed his cheeks before. Granny, old umbrella and him. They were all gone. Gone, but not forgotten.