This is for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt.
Winter sunset and the old stone glows red. Blue as a bird’s egg, the sky, raked with bare black branches. So much colour in the biting cold. The night would bring frost and grass collect a fur of white. She used to live in the house behind the black branches. She had thought of it as home. But it had turned into a trap.
If she looked hard she could see the flames of the fire in the grate. It would be warm inside. He probably had another woman by now to cook him exactly what he wanted, to plump up the cushions and make sure the place was spotless. Because that’s what counts after all. The shell must be as pristine as the inside of an abalone, licked clean by an obliging cat fish.
Inside, the flames dance and the house looks at her with its glassy eyes. It had never liked her. She had not taken enough care with its rainbow shine. She had wanted more than the shell, and he, the mollusc’s usurper, could give her nothing else.
She hunches her shoulders against the north wind. Her hands are cold and raw, but at least she feels the way the air moves and flows around her like a river. A blackbird flies past in his low, rapid dash from tree to hedge. He crashes into the glossy-leaved thicket with an irritated cluck. She smiles, hoping he’s found something to eat in the hard ground. His shell is the sky and he is the black pearl.
She makes up her mind, suddenly, turning her back on the house of no mirth forever. She will be a pearl too, her shell, the sky, flushed with the setting sun, and filled with the last notes of the blackbird’s song.
“-at least she feels the way the air moves”.. I wonder how difficult her life was made by the “usurper”.. before she finally end the abusive relationship..
[On a totally unrelated issue (because of the Pearl and Blackbird).. “Why is the rum always gone”?]
You’ve got me there. Why is it? This is a reference that’s over my head, but usually the rum is always gone because somebody drank it. Am I close?
Gotta ask Jack Sparrow.. Hahaha.. Pearl and Blackbird.. I thought you understood the reference..
I’m so out of touch with films. I haven’t seen a single one of the Pirates films. The kids watched one and I popped in for about five minutes. That’s as much as I could stand.
I know what you mean…but i know it because everyone were sending mails with this one.. The last film i watched was…There will be blood.. And not inside a theatre..
I saw that too, at home. Can’t say I liked it much. Last film I saw that I enjoyed was Mad Max Fury Road. Loved it!
Well, to be honest.. I was surprised by it.. But i prefer movies like Forrest Gump.. Strange i never watch in theatres..
I liked Forrest Gump too. Depends if you like going out and getting the social contact aspect of cinema. I don’t. You have to get home afterwards, late and you’re probably hungry and it’s too late to eat. Also I’m terrible about following plots and like to watch at home so I can stop the film while someone explains to me what’s going on.
Me too.. I watch the Big short (of course at home) and a family member too wanted to see it afterwards…I thought OK.. The 2 hour film became 4 and a half our long because i have to pause after every 15 min. to make him understand what was really going on.. It was excruciating..
It does take some of the spontaneous fun out of it 🙂
But i realise why i never go to theatres.. Here at least i can vent my anger out.. It is my space..
People who shout in public theatres usually get thrown out…
I like the thought of being a pearl with the sky as one’s shell. Of course, the house might be warmer.
Not if it’s filled with a cold heart 🙂
I love the analogy, Jane… very apt.
I’m glad you think it works. When I thought it over I wondered if it wasn’t a bit strange.
I like strange 🙂
Well, me too, as you know 🙂
I may have noticed 😉
🙂
I loved the detail in your piece Jane, excellent writing full of hope and determination.
Thanks Michael 🙂 Blackbirds are very determined birds. I take them as role models.
Such powerful writing. There is real depth to your story. I loved the metaphor of the blackbird and the shell.
I’m glad you like it, Suzanne! The more I thought about it, the stranger an image it seemed, but I let myself be guided by instinct 🙂
It is a strange image . I had a go at writing something but it ended up going round in circles with no end in sight. I like your idea of being guided by instinct.
I do it a lot with poetry, just let the image take the shape it wants even if it seems odd on rereading—there was a reason for it.
That’s an interesting working method. I think I’ll try it 🙂
It leads to surprising results. On the other hand, if when you reread you just get a blank—why did I write that? — response, probably best to scrap it 🙂
This is a great story – so sad that she feels so detached from the house and her former life, but the ending is powerful and hopeful.
Thank you! Life isn’t always a bed of roses, but if we can pick ourselves up and start again, it’s never so bad 🙂
Such a touching story, Jane. So well done.
I really loved this bit: “The shell must be as pristine as the inside of an abalone, licked clean by an obliging cat fish.
Inside, the flames dance and the house looks at her with its glassy eyes. It had never liked her. She had not taken enough care with its rainbow shine. She had wanted more than the shell, and he, the mollusc’s usurper, could give her nothing else.”
I battle daily with the house and I feel her pain. I drowned long ago and spend each day fighting my way back up to the surface. I’m also good with the melodrama and solve my problems by writing or getting out of the house.
Hope you’re having a great week.
xx Rowena
Thanks Rowena! I’m glad I’m not alone in feeling that a house can be oppressive in what it represents and what it demands. Thank goodness they’re not all like that 🙂
I have a few sensible friends I connect with about the house and also live with less than perfection. It’s a huge relief. We have a sort of secret society and you’re welcome to join…even if we are in distant Australia!
I wonder how many people share the feeling of terror when someone calls round unexpectedly? I’m willing to live with an unholy mess but not let anybody see the true awfulness. Is that being hypocritical?
I don’t see it as being hypocritical and I’m sure most people are like you. That most of us are messy, but it’s a very well kept secret.
BTW I have a great story about someone popping in unannounced. I wrote a post about our local breakfast radio hosts after they visited my daughter’s school. One of them was Julie Goodwin, Australia’s firat Masterchef. Anyway, I received a message to call the radio station and was told I’d won a prize. This turned out to be a visit to MY HOME by the other announcer. I initially freaked and thought: “You call that a prize!!” Well, a huge cleanup began and I had about a month up my sleave thanks to the school holidays. When the day finally came around, my prize turned out to be Julie Goodwin pulling up in her convertible mini with a meal for the family. The whole entourage ended up in my kitchen where we made a salad. They put a video online and they zoomed onto the hotplate which I’d scrumbed within an inch of its life and it was white on white. Phew! Here’s a link: https://beyondtheflow.wordpress.com/2017/05/12/rowena-the-radio-stars/
It was such an amazing day and more than worth the effort. I was also thrilled that we passed muster.
xx Rowena
I don’t know how you coped. I’d have died! I’m the only one who knows how to work our stove. There’s an intricate system of poles and props to keep the gas turned on, and I have all the dials memorized—there’s no trace of the numbers any more.