The Spare Key on the Blue Ribbon

When Liv moved out, she placed her spare key on her mother's kitchen table. She wanted independence to look decisive. Her mother tied a blue ribbon around it and put it back in Liv's coat pocket.

Liv discovered it on the train. She considered posting it home, then left it in a drawer. For six months she called every Sunday and insisted everything was fine.

After losing her job, she stopped calling. She could afford rent for one more month, but feared going home would prove she had failed. One evening she took the key from the drawer and stared at the ribbon until her phone rang.