Event
(I wrote this for Sunday Scribblings and Weekend Writer’s Retreat – it features Nate and Laurel, from my novel-in-progress Heart’s Chalice. These stories take place before the main action of the novel and are not necessarily being written in chronological order.)
Hiking to the waterfall, Nate spied something poking out of the dirt off the trail. It looked like a rock, but it was oddly curved and glimmered with a dusky sheen like polished hematite. He stopped and prodded the dirt around it with the tip of his boot.
Laurel stopped, too. “What is it?”
“I don’t know.” Nate squatted down and began digging with his hands.
Laurel sat down beside him. “Looks like a rock to me.”
“That’s what I thought at first, but there’s something weird about it.” He kept digging. Before long, he pulled the object out. It wasn’t a rock but a piece of dark wood, smoothly shaped like a thick crescent moon. On it had been carved a strange face, visible not only from the front but also on its sides, in profile. It wore a half-smile, and its eyes were slitted as though in deep thought.
Nate turned the figure over and over in his hands. He’d bet it was old. Part of the fun of hiking was that you never knew what you’d find. Ghost flowers. Mushrooms or weird fungi. Once in a great while, an arrowhead.
But running across an artifact was quite an event.
“Wow,” Laurel said. “Can I see it?”
He handed her the figure.
She examined it with a slow smile. “It reminds me of you.”
“Huh?” That was the last thing Nate had expected to hear. Laurel was like hiking. You never knew what she’d say. And he loved her for it.
“Look at its face,” she said. “So serene.”
Nate couldn’t help but chuckle, and he touched her leg affectionately. “I think it looks sleepy.”
She giggled. “Sometimes you’re sleepy, too.” Then her expression sobered, and she put her hand on his. “But you’re the steadiest, kindest person I know.”
“Well, I’m glad you think so.” Nate didn’t think of himself as serene, but he knew about steady. Steady was a matter of survival in his turmoil-tossed household.
“Really, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” To his surprise, tears had sprung to her eyes.
“Fight with your mom this morning?” he guessed.
“Yeah. She gets so mad at me, no matter what I say. And I’m sick of it.” Her head was down, but Nate could tell she was crying.
He pulled her to him. Yeah, Mrs. Nave could be pretty hard on Laurel. Laurel’s mother meant well, but the two of them were just so different that finding common ground was tough, and misunderstandings arose all too frequently.
“Well, don’t worry,” Nate said. “You can say anything in the world to me.”
Laurel hugged him tightly, crying so hard she couldn’t speak. He held her as close as he could.
When she calmed down, he pressed the figure into her hand. “Here. Keep this.”
She looked at him, surprised. “But it’s yours. You found it.”
“Yeah,” Nate said. “But I found it for you.”
Tags: flash fiction, short stories, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat
Filed under: Appalachian fiction, Heart's Chalice, Southern fiction, Sunday Scribblings, Weekend Writer's Retreat, flash fiction, short stories
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They have such a sweet relationship. Is the item they found like one you’ve found out in the mountains, or is it something you came up with?
1 bunnygirl said this (May 2, 2010 at 3:26 pm)
Thanks so much, Ann! The object is actually something I dreamed about the other night — dreamed about finding it up on the mountain.
2 ThommaLyn said this (May 2, 2010 at 3:34 pm)
So sweet, so passionate. Nate’s love for Laurel shines in this piece. I loved it. Big hugs, KS.
3 Dorothy said this (May 2, 2010 at 6:14 pm)
How beautiful–and wonderful that they found each other. It sounds like they both have difficult family situations. Hope you can work this into the novel in progress; it’s just wonderful.
Kate
4 Kate Comings said this (May 2, 2010 at 6:48 pm)
Hi, Dorothy! Thanks so much, ((((((((((KS))))))))).
Thank you, Kate! Yeah, I’m glad Nate and Laurel have each other, too. And their difficult family situations do indeed have bearing on what will happen in the novel.
5 ThommaLyn said this (May 2, 2010 at 6:51 pm)
I’m a big romantic and look forward to more.
6 tammy said this (May 2, 2010 at 7:26 pm)
Lovely piece Thomma.
Pamela
7 pamela said this (May 2, 2010 at 7:40 pm)
Thank you so much, Tammy and Pamela!
8 ThommaLyn said this (May 2, 2010 at 8:51 pm)
That’s lovely! I shall be reading more of Hearts Chalice now
Fancy a new prompt? try Saturday Soapbox: http://understandingalice.blogspot.com/search/label/Saturday%20Soapbox
9 understanding alice said this (May 3, 2010 at 4:50 am)
What a last line! perfect..the photo really helped put me there with Nate and Laurel..and the dialogue was spot on..Jae
10 Jae Rose said this (May 3, 2010 at 7:34 am)
Thanks, Alice! It’s fun writing these Heart’s Chalice-related stories. They aren’t a part of the novel itself, but they fill in the backstory and some of the interstices.
Hi, Jae! Thanks so much, and I’m glad you enjoyed.
11 ThommaLyn said this (May 3, 2010 at 1:08 pm)
Awww I just want to hug them both. Very cool artifact, I wish I remembered my dreams.
12 Dee said this (May 3, 2010 at 10:18 pm)
*grin.* Thanks, Dee! I’ve been doing pretty well at remembering my dreams lately. And I love it when they inspire me for stories.
13 ThommaLyn said this (May 4, 2010 at 12:20 am)
I think is was Kurt Vonnegut that invented a description for a close knit indivisible group, which was a “Karass.” When couples get that feeling of togetherness and trust in each other as Nate and Laurel have they have established their karass of two.
Beautiful piece. Much success to you.
14 old egg said this (May 4, 2010 at 1:34 am)
What a lovely comment, old egg. You’ve made my morning.
Thank you so very much.
15 ThommaLyn said this (May 4, 2010 at 10:14 am)
Nate is so strong and tender and romantic!
16 Julia Smith said this (May 5, 2010 at 3:15 pm)
Thank you, Julia! I’m glad you like him. I’m quite fond of him, too.
17 ThommaLyn said this (May 5, 2010 at 5:35 pm)
How very sweet, TL. It’s nice to see the sweeter side; we see so much hurt from these two. Not that it’s not deserved… man, is it ever deserved…
18 Susan Helene Gottfried said this (May 7, 2010 at 2:50 pm)
Thanks so much, Susan.
Yeah, they are really lucky to have each other.
19 ThommaLyn said this (May 7, 2010 at 6:27 pm)
Someone mentioned you at my place
20 Paige said this (May 30, 2010 at 9:45 am)
Thanks, Paige!
21 ThommaLyn said this (May 30, 2010 at 10:36 am)