Sonds In The Night

All was still in the night.  The household quiet, lost in dreams of pleasant escape.  A vagrant breeze brushed the wind chimes hanging by the door.  They jangled in light twinkling tones as they danced.  The lady of the house awoke to the sound and slipped out of bed.  She made her way to the door and listened.  Silence greeted her in the shadows of the entryway.

It must have been in my dream she thought and turned away.

A knock on the door brought her back around.

“I forgot my keys.”  Said her teenage son from outside the door.

Friday Night

One of the wheels on her shopping cart squealed its protest as she pushed it up and down the aisles.  It was Friday evening and she had decided to get the grocery shopping out of the way before the weekend.  To her astonishment it seemed everyone else in town had the same idea.  Every aisle had someone in it, blocking the way, impeding her progress.

Finally she completed her list and rounded the last corner only to come to a sudden stop.  The lines at the checkout extended several feet.  With a moan she picked the shortest looking one, behind a grey haired woman.  The woman turned with a smile.

“Pretty busy isn’t it?”

“Yes, more than I thought it would be on a Friday night.”

“I like coming on Friday night.  It’s easier to blend in.”

Surprised by the unusual comment she looked a bit closer at the woman in front of her.  The pale skin, the luminous eyes, the grey hair seeming to shimmer in the fluorescent light reminded her of moonlight and the soft night air beside a still pond.

“Are you from town?”  She asked.

The woman smiled and arched an eyebrow before placing a tapered finger to her delicate lips and shushing. 

“Come visit me, when you have the time to chat.”  The woman said with a laugh.  She snapped her fingers and faded from sight.

“Hey you going to unload or what?”  Said the man behind her as he waved at the empty spot at the register.

She blinked, looked around, nodded to the gentleman behind her and moved forward to the conveyor belt unsure if she had dreamed her encounter with the grey haired woman or not.

The House Cat

Sunlight streamed through the window highlighting a patch of the floral pattern in the carpet.  On the back of the sofa a large grey-stripped cat opened her luminous green eyes the tiniest amount.  Her paws were crossed in front of her and her tail hung down the backside of the overstuffed piece of furniture she had made her own.  Without moving she observed her surroundings looking for what had disturbed her nap.

There!  By the entertainment cabinet!  A movement!

Without effort she descended to the floor, paused, her tail tip twitched and she pounced, catching a mouse under her paws.  

Needing More Words

I felt the need to write something uplifting and inspiring today after the events of last week. 

The first thing to come to mind was playing hide and seek both as a child and with my grandchildren in the backyard.  The scramble to find a place to hide, the laughter and debate over who stayed in the place sought by two players and the anticipation of waiting for the seeker to finish their countdown and start to look and the, bound to happen, distraction of spotting a butterfly alighting on a nearby flower.

When I finished writing it I felt a resistance to paring it down to just 100 words to meet the definition of a drabble, so instead I let it stand as it was and created another label for the stories of the exact count. 

Sometimes you simply need more words to express the feelings and tell the stories.  Keep safe, hold the injured and weary in your heart and thoughts and look for the joy in life. 

The Joy of Childhood

“One, two, three, ready or not here I come!”

Avery’s shout warned the other children that the game was beginning.  Most of them had found places to hide and with indrawn breaths crouched lower or froze in place, trying to make themselves as small as possible. 

The gentle flap of butterfly wings had distracted Terry.  A monarch butterfly had come to rest on one of the flowers in her mother’s flower garden.  Enchanted she forgot about the game.

Avery came up beside her to see what had kept her from hiding and he too became transfixed at the beauty and wonder of the seldom seen insect.

“Look, how beautiful it is.”  Terry whispered, as the rest of the children came out of hiding to gaze in amazement at the orange and black wings. 

Endless Winter

“When does spring arrive?”

“March 21^st.  Why?”

“Isn’t it April?”

“You’re right it is!  In fact it’s almost May!  What happened to spring?”

The Robins bobbed their heads as they peered around at the snow-covered ground.

“Ha, ha, ha.  You Robins didn’t pay any attention to the weather forecast or you would have stayed south where the food isn’t covered by snow.”

All three Robins glared at the Cardinal before flying off.

“Silly birds, they never do know what’s going on.”  The Cardinal fluffed her feathers and settled down to wait for the sun to melt the latest artic blast.

In The Middle Of The Night

At one o’clock in the morning the dog barked, a short, single yip.  Not enough to be alarming, but enough to wake me from a pleasant night’s sleep.  The rising moon lit up my room outlining the shape of my reading chair and lamp.  It seemed someone was sitting there gazing back at me.  I rubbed my eyes and looked again at the empty chair.  It must have been my imagination.  I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

The dog barked.  My eyes flew open to sunlight shinning through the window and the dog curled up on my chair.

Tax Day!

Knock!  Knock!  Knock!

“Coming.”  She called out as she got up from the dinning room table and headed toward the front door.  It was mid-morning and she had just sat down with a cup of coffee and the last piece of apple pie.

She opened the door to see a man in a suit standing on her step.

“Here to collect.”

“I’ve sent in my taxes.  I have a receipt from the post office.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not here for taxes.”  He said producing a long form with a flourish.  “On April 15, 1993 you offered your soul for, let’s see, ah yes, the man of your dreams.  You verbally agreed to a twenty-year contract.  It’s all in here. It’s all in order.”

In horror she stared at the man recalling a night of drunken delight in her misspent youth.  Her mind flashed over the past twenty years and the changes wrought in the man of her dreams.  No longer youthful, no longer fit and, yet, she didn’t want any change as they were content to grow old together.

“Can I have an extension?”  She asked.  “It’s not uncommon to pay in the future for what’s due today.”

He considered a moment and nodded his head.

“It can be granted.  At a price, you understand.  The interest will be your husband’s soul in addition to yours.”

“Yes.  Yes.  That will be fine.”  She said and signed on the form in triplicate.  She shut the door and returned to the table.  She picked up her plate of uneaten pie and gently wrapped it up for her husband, feeling it was the least she could do.

Keeping Vigil

In the dark, moonless night underneath the rosebush in the far corner of the garden, in the deepest, blackest, shadow of lightless space, a tiny light came on.  A radiant glow, mimicking the twinkling stars far overhead in the vast reaches of the night sky, blinked into being.  Soon other lights popped into existence creating a galaxy in miniature, swirling and twinkling at the edge of the wooded wilderness.

Unseen, the minuscule winged denizens of the woodland gathered at the boundary, keeping vigil.  They watched for the cat, ready to alert the animals of the forest of the approaching danger.

Winter

Winter just will not let go of its hold on the land.  Snow yesterday and snow today.  The highs are in the thirties and it dips below freezing at night.  The only bright spot are the multitude of singing birds I hear when I go outside to shovel the sidewalk, reminding me that sooner or later it has to warm up.  Or does it?  At this point I wouldn’t be surprise, disappointed, but not surprised to see it snowing in May. 

Maybe, I shouldn’t have been so determined to put in garden this year.  Last year when warm weather showed up in March and stayed I wasn’t planning a vegetable garden.  My outside gardening was focused on finishing up the landscaping in the front of the house and some lawn care.  We had a crazy busy schedule last summer and I figured that would be the extent of what I had time and energy for.  I was right.  This year I am all ready to get out there and set up a vegetable garden and what happens?  Winter stays and stays and stays.

It might be a sign I need to stay focused on finishing my novel, instead of spending my time out doors, digging in the dirt or playing with the dogs.

Ready For Winter To End

“When will it stop?”  She asked her husband.

He looked up from the newspaper he was reading and gave her a fleeting look before glancing out the dinning room window.  He watched as big, fluffy flakes of white drifted down slowly covering the sidewalk and lawn.

“When did it start snowing?  There wasn’t anything in the forecast about snow, just a possibility of rain showers which we need.”

She looked at him in astonishment and pulled the paper out of his hands.

“This is from last August.  It’s April and they have been predicting snow for the last three days.” 

Summer Holiday

Happy day!  The bathroom is clean!  Easily the most dreaded job in housekeeping and easily the most appreciated room to have clean.  Tina sighed in relief at having finished her list of chores.  It wasn’t often she was done by noon, but today she was highly motivated and worked her way down the list expeditiously.

“Done!  Finished!  Time to celebrate!”  She said to the family cat lying on the back of the sofa.  “Mom won’t be home until four, so you and I have the afternoon to ourselves.”  Without hesitating she clicked on the stereo and turned up the music.

Shift

Without fail, it happened again.  She had gone to bed early the night before, snuggling into her soft bed, drifting off into dreamless sleep and woke up someplace else.  She lay on a thin mattress covered by a musty, scratchy blanket.  Stonewalls dripping with moisture enclosed the tiny space of the room creating the feel of an underground chamber far removed from the fresh air.  Through the window high above the bed a faint yellow light, failing to penetrate the shadows lurking in the corners, streamed.

She sat up, frowning.  Was this the dream or the reality of her life? 

Two Large Dogs

Two large dogs share my home with me, providing me with company during the day and encouraging me to take breaks from the daily routine of chores and work.  

One is a retriever/lab mix and will spend hours bringing a ball or anything else I am willing to throw back to me, the other is an Akita, who loves to chase but refuses to play fetch, often watching us from the woods.  Sometimes he stands in the middle of yard causing the retriever to run around him as she goes after the ball and returns with it.  It’s as if he is trying to entice her into dog play with him and she often obliges by dropping the ball and mouthing him about the face and neck and its on.  He responds with open mouth and they wrestle, rolling around on the ground until she breaks away streaking across the yard with him in hot pursuit.  I laugh at their antics and join in the chase, getting my exercise in for day until I am gasping for breath.  They break apart, with tongues hanging out, panting to cool off.  He lies down, she picks up the ball from where she dropped it and trots over to me with tail wagging, clearly asking me to throw it again.  

I look down at her and smile, oh to have the energy and spirit of a retriever, what great things could be accomplished or would I spend the day chasing after balls in between naps?

Off The Beaten Path

Exhausted, he lay on the rock outcropping.  Two days ago while traversing a rocky slope he had slipped, sliding and tumbling down into the brush at the bottom, coming to an abrupt halt against the lone pine tree clinging to the cliff edge.  He awoke to excruciating pain radiating up his left leg.

A brief effort convinced him of the impossibility of climbing back up.  Now he wondered if they would find him, miles from his planned route.

As the sun beat down he heard the beat of helicopter blades, a welcomed sound to the ears of a foolish hiker. 

Happy April Fool's Day

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html