In 500 words, imagine what happens when a character reflects upon a major life decision. Written for the Weekend Write-In Challenge: "Reflection" — 18-20 March 2016.

More wisdom from Grandpa and David.

Interpretations

David scratched his head and looked up. "Grandpa..."

"Yes, Sweetheart." He peered over the tops of his reading glasses. "You seem confused."

"Can't understand what Sister Mercedes says this means. I think she has it backwards."

"Hard for me to tell unless I know what you're reading..."

"Frost's The Road Not Taken. We had to write an analysis of it and she gave me an F."

"Bring your paper over here." He patted the couch cushion. "Let's look at what you've written."

David climbed onto the couch and held out the page.

"Yup. That's an F alright. A huge red one." He nodded and smiled. "I remember many of those." He ruffled Davids blonde curls. "This is one of the most misinterpreted poems ever written, so it's common to get it wrong." He read through David's paper, nodding and smiling wider as he went. "But you got it right, David. It's the teacher who's wrong. She deserves the F."

"So then he is looking back in regret for not taking the other road."

"Yes, Sweetheart. The title gives it away. But also the text." He laughed. "Crazy... Not only is this one of the most misinterpreted poems, but it's also one of the most misquoted. It's very commonly called The Road Less Travelled."

"But it's not." David shook his head. "Here... It says:

Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.

"This tells me that both roads had been equally travelled." He looked up at his grandfather and saw the smiling nod.

"Very good, Sweetheart. I've always wondered where the less travelled interpretation comes from."

"The teacher babbled some nonsense about the poem talking of pioneering spirit and exploring new ways. I got lost."

"Great. I'm pleased you did." He ruffled David's curls again. "Frost wrote this poem when he returned to the States after three years in England around the beginning of the First World War. He later said that it was written to gently mock indecision and that he had modelled it on the frequent indecisiveness that a friend and fellow writer had shown on their many walks together."

"That's what I saw in it. To me, it seemed he was looking back in regret. Reflecting on what might have been."

"And that's the thing, isn't it? In looking back we see things differently, give different interpretations to fact."

"Like I wrote in my paper here. The second last line: I took the one less travelled by. This shows that he imagines one road now as less travelled, where earlier he had seen them as equally travelled."

"Superb, Sweetheart. That's the crux of this. We see a rather reasonable version of reality in the present, but when we reflect on happenings and things in the past, we tend to paint them differently. Probably trying to justify or to explain decisions we've made and the roads we've chosen to follow."