"Broken Wings"Drawing by Rusty Harden
More Glorious by Rusty Harden
The hikers kept pace as they passed by her, offering a greeting. Responding with a nod and brief eye contact, she turned back to lean over the rail of the bridge. Below, a gorge cut deep by centuries of eroding elements like a crusty wound in the earth that never fully healed. The air smelled of dampness and decaying foliage. She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. “Get on with it”, she spoke out loud, surprised how commanding her own voice sounded. Tentatively she opened the cloth bag that held her treasures. Reaching in she pulled out her Cinderella watch. The blue band was cracked and worn. Her grandfather had given it to her. One of the few times anyone had ever given her anything. Closing her eyes, she threw the watch fast and hard. She opened her eyes and looked around to see if anyone had watched her. In a moment of panic she searched to find where it had landed. It was gone as if it had never existed.Next she took out an old newspaper clipping with her name among other winners of an essay contest. (A shining moment for a dumb girl.) Letting it loose, the clipping floated down as a leaf dropping from a tree. She watched as it rested as insignificantly as the other debris.And so she flung her other treasures one by one down into the gorge. The last one she held tightly. “Get on with it. Get on with it”, her voice urged. She noticed it was heavy with her worthlessness, plundered innocence and despairs. Consoling herself, “It will be over soon.”That afternoon several hikers had passed by but did not notice the broken body below. The following morning, a couple of hikers crossed over the bridge. One had peered over the rail and called to her companion, “Look! Someone dropped a doll down there.”
Check out the other fine submissions.
http://theartistchallengeinferno.blogspot.com/
The hikers kept pace as they passed by her, offering a greeting. Responding with a nod and brief eye contact, she turned back to lean over the rail of the bridge. Below, a gorge cut deep by centuries of eroding elements like a crusty wound in the earth that never fully healed. The air smelled of dampness and decaying foliage. She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. “Get on with it”, she spoke out loud, surprised how commanding her own voice sounded. Tentatively she opened the cloth bag that held her treasures. Reaching in she pulled out her Cinderella watch. The blue band was cracked and worn. Her grandfather had given it to her. One of the few times anyone had ever given her anything. Closing her eyes, she threw the watch fast and hard. She opened her eyes and looked around to see if anyone had watched her. In a moment of panic she searched to find where it had landed. It was gone as if it had never existed.Next she took out an old newspaper clipping with her name among other winners of an essay contest. (A shining moment for a dumb girl.) Letting it loose, the clipping floated down as a leaf dropping from a tree. She watched as it rested as insignificantly as the other debris.And so she flung her other treasures one by one down into the gorge. The last one she held tightly. “Get on with it. Get on with it”, her voice urged. She noticed it was heavy with her worthlessness, plundered innocence and despairs. Consoling herself, “It will be over soon.”That afternoon several hikers had passed by but did not notice the broken body below. The following morning, a couple of hikers crossed over the bridge. One had peered over the rail and called to her companion, “Look! Someone dropped a doll down there.”
Check out the other fine submissions.
http://theartistchallengeinferno.blogspot.com/
The stories on this blog are works of fiction. All images and stories are ©2009 Rusty Harden. Unauthorized use or duplication -in any form-is absolutely restricted by Law.
1 comment:
Our ritual of treasure keeping should be carefully considered. It could be that we keep the treasure not as a reminder of the wonderful moment but to hold on to the defining negatives. She was bold to disgard the treasures and those definitions. They didn't have to be true anymore.
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