A Grave Error

A spooky tale in one hundred words.

Every year, on his birthday, Matt’s wife Helen and daughter Lisa took a picnic to the churchyard. Helen baked his favourite cake and Lisa always made cucumber sandwiches because he’d eaten them once at a Buckingham Palace garden party.

Lisa slid three slices of cake onto china plates and placed one on Matt’s grave.  

‘Happy Birthday Dad.’

They were finishing the cake when the first fat drops of rain splashed against the headstone.

‘We should go,’ Helen said.

She collected the three empty plates and stowed them in the picnic basket. Next year, they would remember to bring an umbrella.