Cracks in the Firmament

April 7, 2018April 8, 2018 ~ Piece, of the Sky

fire and ice

Dani could see Bear Claw cabin through the dormant tree branches. She grabbed hold of a clump of brittle bramble in her gloved hand, to steady herself on the muddy shore. The trail couldn’t be far away – or at least Dani hoped so, because she couldn’t stand ducking and weaving through the underbrush. The thin, dry branches snagged on her wool cap or conspired to bend over double, under the weight of her hand, before springing forward to smack her in the eye. It was harder for her because she was tall, almost seven feet, a former starter on her high school basketball team.

These days she studied pi mesons at Caltech, with her college buddy, Cara. Pat was her life. Pat could read her faster than the blurbs on the jackets of her new novels. Dani turned back toward the cabin. The pale green copper chimney was nestled above the trees. Now, if she could just watch where she put her feet, she might get home without rolling her ankle again.

“Dani!”

One moment, she was facing the cabin and the next moment, she was watching Pat disappear through a dark, blue hole in the ice. The moment stretched; Pat’s arms seemed to lengthen and undulate in the air.

Dani waved at her. Pat smiled at Dani, before glancing toward the cabin. She had always eyed Cara, Dan’s friend, a track star in college. But she didn’t think Cara would ever fancy her. Cara had a sly, fast, devilish, cosmopolitan look, that suggested that she favored Italian women in pastel pantsuits.

Pat had rather flat, limp hair. She wore a sagging black winter coat, so that she could buy Dani the newest cerulean smoking jacket to impress her friends at their local alumni club. Cara had a new color for her socks at every dinner party and subscribed to Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.

“We’re almost there,” Dani was saying, up on the bank, between the trees.

“Sure thing,” Pat had answered.

The cracks had been too faint to hear.

frau holle not wotan wild hunt spirits

Control the Dream

February 26, 2018May 6, 2018 ~ Piece, of the Sky

Fuji Elsa-wave

Raindrops in the sea. Ghosts of mist and clouds floated out to the horizon, into the black night. The rain threw up little explosions of sand on the beach, constantly washed away by the waves. The sky was the color of slate, streaked with pewter, like a block of marble.

It was a warm rain; the gusts were controlled and mild. The palm trees sashayed in the wind, their fronds leaning back and forth, water sliding off the resin on their leaves. Ran and Alli watched this vista from the hardwood patio of Ran’s cabana. Their perspective was framed by the posts of the porch and thatch sticking out from the roof, providing a dry patch of sand for them to burrow their toes in.

Ran’s boat was moored in front of them, lashed to a log standing in the water, near the dock. They had covered it in blue tarpaulin, before the rain started, as the wind was chasing the clouds and covering up the moon.

They stared at the rain, their pants’ feet rolled up over their ankles. The boat lolled up and down in the water from another shore. Rocks and sand were carried out to sea, caught on currents meant for somewhere else.

Alli glanced at Ran’s yellow, fiberglass surfboard, leaning against the cabana façade, and said, “So, you surf too?”

“Yes, since I was a teenager,” Ran said, watching the darkness and leaning on her knees.

“Is that why you came out here?” Alli asked.

“Somewhat,” Ran answered. She turned to Alli, still hugging her knees, “Why did you come out here?”

“Well, Xen invited me out here,” Alli said. She crossed her arms and leaned on her knees also. She sunk her toes deeper into the cool sand. The rain pelted a smaller island, farther out at sea.

Ran turned and looked back at her feet, “You said I reminded you of someone. Who?”

Alli looked at Ran, “A friend from high school.”

“Is she still your friend?”

“Yes,” Alli said. She looked out over the gray water. A streak of lightning flashed, illuminating the distant island.

The rain picked up and it became colder, the dampness seeping under the thatch roof. They shifted together now, for warmth, yet still left a space between them – two hedgehogs in the downpour.

“What do you do?” Alli asked.

Ran smiled, crossed arms holding heat to her chest, “I work in a surf shop, of course. But I also write fiction. I wrote one novel that sold well, while I was still in college, but I haven’t been able to follow it up since. I just write short stories and book reviews now.”

“What was your book about?” Alli wondered.

Ran turned to Alli now, “The tendrils of love that still linger.”

“Romance, huh?” Alli said.

“Yes. I guess it just caught the zeitgeist of the age. Nostalgia for Generation X, or Y – or something,” Ran said. She looked back at her toes.

Alli moved so that her shoulder touched Ran’s. The thunder growled out beyond the tiny island, buffeted by the sea, lone palm tree swaying in the gathering gale.

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