A TRICK OF LIGHT
i smile at my image in the mirror. The window behind reflects our embrace, his face visible in a corner.
“I love you,” I whisper in his ear, watching him, expecting a smile.
His eyes roll and his mouth twists. My stomach contracts.
“Do you love me?”
Another eyeroll, another sneer. He murmurs, “You know I do.”
The lying sod. I slip from his arms and collect my toothbrush and contraceptives from the bathroom.
“I’ll pop to the money machine. Get the cash you want.” Another ‘loan’.
“You’re a doll.” He beams, thumb raised, “I’ll start dinner.”
I don’t return.
MIDNIGHT RESOLUTION
I went to bed on Halloween, expecting a good night’s sleep. At midnight the cat’s yowling woke me. On the end of the bed perched a witch. Her breath stank of sulphur, her laugh a brittle cackle. Her long dirty nails scratched at the covers and her broomstick lurked in the corner. The cat shrieked and pounced around.
I threw a book at the witch and she slipped out of sight. The broom turned into a dried floral arrangement and the cat dropped a rat on my pillow.
No more pickled onions and cheese after dinner for me!
GABRIELLE’S EMBRACE
Gabrielle arrived after a day of grey skies and rising wind. Around the house she roared, whipping fronds from the palms, bending them to her will. With vicious gusts she hammered on the windows with persistent rain. The house shuddered. A dash outside to retrieve a rolling pot had me soaked by her drenching drops. Hours later she calmed to a breeze and the trees stood tall quivering with relief, before the wind returned at a lesser strength.
The next day we heard the cyclone’s eye had passed over us. We were the lucky ones. * Others, not so. Others died.
* * * * * * * * *
Sometime ago I wrote a story about a wolf pack and their struggle to survive after a nuclear disaster. Recently it was published in an anthology which is to raise funds to protect wolves and further their existence. My story, ‘The Hunters’ can be read in this e-book of you are interested in supporting the world’s wolf population.