It's Still Life

At an Intersection Named After an English King and a Saint
Six Sentence Story: 1965: The Night of June’s Strawberry Moon

1965: The Night of June’s Strawberry Moon

And I say, ” …hours before, the sky was a fruity blush colour, but now in this fading light the full Strawberry Moon hangs low and lonely, shiny as a pearl button fastening the hour to darkness.

I lie awake in bed, listening to the heels of Grandmother’s shoes as they clip along the granite kitchen floor; she’s punching the air out of bread dough, kneading it into tight little balls of saffron buns while whistling a tune thin as a piccolo.

It’s a tune without name, without words, without beginning or end, and it will haunt me when I’m an adult.

And there’s a rooster calling to the dim freshness of morning as the clock in the hallway chimes four times … Grandmother slips a woollen blanket around her shoulders and disappears into the forest with the other women, the wise ones, she is the old one.

That morning I follow her, and she turns to see me, smiles and says, ‘I forgot to close the garden gate; be home with you, Brigid,’ … and I am chased by the wind, retracing my tracks through morning dew while the church bells call out a warning of peril to young ones who venture beyond garden gates.”

And Hanzō leans back in his chair, he smiles volumes beyond what words can express, “Hai,” he says … and I ask if he’s been with the Gatekeeper; “Hai” and “Aye” sounding so similar to my ear.

---

Previous Instalments – To access all of the instalments on one page, please use this link

Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Story, include the word “punch”. Some artwork is created using Midjourney AI, and is identified as such in the ALT text or captioned. Images are copyright and not to used without permission, which I willingly give when asked, and when not for commercial use. Imagery and poems/prose ©Misky 2006-2024.