kneeling silently to send our thoughts and prayers
silent bows of surrender
Once again … twelve more murders to add to our list of shame. Twelve more people gone because our so-called leaders refuse to stand up to the NRA. Twelve more deaths that will be met with the useless platitudes. Twelve more families to add to the seemingly unending list. Twelve more ….
I’m not sure when I drifted off or what woke me. The birds? Or maybe the chill in the air? Whatever it was, it interrupted a great dream. We were dancing. Just like we did the night we met. I could still hear the fading beats of Crazy in Love in my mind and I fought to fall back into the music. But it was too late. Consciousness flooded in. Ruining my return to sleep. Spoiling my chance to revel in the hot stickiness of that dance floor.
But even awake, I manage to conjure up the thrill of that night. I remember the pounding music and the flashing lights. Seeing you. Surrounded by people. Laughing and twirling like you didn’t see me. But, I knew you could feel the tension running between us. Crackling like lightening in a storm. Pulling us together. Showing me that you were destined to be the one.
I would have happily sat with that thought longer, but my waking reverie was broken by a shaft of light penetrating the trees. Its brilliance illuminating our special place, as if the gods themselves understood the holiness of that night. The light filled me with almost indescribable joy, but it also signaled that morning has come. Time to hit the road. But I knew I’d be back next year. I never visited the others. But even after fifteen years you’re still special. The first one. Our destiny fulfilled.
It finally arrived. I was scared that it wouldn’t get here in time for your birthday but it came on the train yesterday. Daddy will be angry but there’s nothing he can do about it now. When I saw our names together I fell to my knees. I love you so much. We talked so much about leaving this place. Being together. Going someplace where daddy couldn’t stop us. Then you left me. Alone. But daddy can’t stop us now. In death, we can be connected forever.
Till tomorrow my love.
Always Your Cora
This 99 words of completely unsubstantiated fiction (based on a real headstone) was written for Carrot Ranch’s FF challenge.
If you haven’t done so, check them out. Twas fun! Especially for this historian who loves to write about long-dead women!
She sat on the breakwater and hoped the sound of the waves would soothe her. His words hadn’t. “In between the clover and the dampened earth.” That’s how the minister described it. Sounded poetic. Nicer than “here’s where we buried her body.” But that was reality. Ma was dead. And no pretty words were going to change that.
PHOTO CREDITS TO MY FAVORITE HUSBAND
I’ve been a bit morbid lately. Perhaps I’m feeling my own mortality. Or maybe it’s the side effect of living in Trump’s world. But thankfully my own mum is alive and well, so this really is fiction. Therefore much thanks for the inspiration to the following:
Tina Stewart Brakebill 