Sneak Preview: A Novel Chapter
Tuesday, October 29, 2013 at 10:27 AM Fresh out of my imagination... a spanking new (potential) chapter for my upcoming novel... Should I show this or not? It's risky. Yes, it is... but what the heck? Hope you enjoy!!
DAISY AND THE ANCESTORS
The outline of dark figures walked with heads held high and umbrellas in hand as they crossed the spindly bridge that looked like a sidewalk on stilts.
“Ancestors,” Daisy whispered to herself. “These are my ancestors.”
The girl shook her head and glanced back in the direction from where she’d just turned away. The parade continued. Women in wide-brimmed hats fell in line with men in chaps and tails. She couldn’t see their faces, only shadowed paper doll images. Dark blue and eggplant purple. “These are my people,” a voice whispered in her mind.
The girl was confounded by the words that kept popping into her head. The voice sounded like her own, but she couldn’t figure out what it meant by ‘ancestors’ and ‘my people.’ She squeezed her eyes tight one more time then opened them to see that the shadows had sprouted wings and were making their way across the sky like geese thrown onto a rising sun.
©bill hughlett @ h3imagesStanding on the shore of the beach, she turned her face toward the growing light. The flapping of wings died away. Silence filled the remaining space and her toes curled into a bed of broken shells. She imagined the sound of a fragile nautilus shell crashing against the coral reef and being tossed to the shore. Would the breakage sound like shattering glass or would it be a silent scream of a life… a home… being torn apart?
The air rustled through the blue palm trees that stood like sentries behind her narrow shoulders. Beside her, Chauncey chewed his cud and flipped his long blue tongue into the air. It zeroed in on a tiny bee whose mighty buzz punctuated the quiet symphony of the Okapi’s swish and chew.
In the distance a mournful wail broke her trance and while it sounded like a woman in distress, Daisy recognized it as the mating call of an island peacock. Waves crashed on the shore and for a moment she imagined diving into the frothiness to silence the conversation raging in her head.
Blue. Everything was still blue—from the inner curl of the shells, to Chauncey’s lolling tongue, the ocean and sky, her mood.
Without warning, Daisy’s legs buckled beneath her until she lay with her cheek on the broken-shelled beach. Her ear pressed against the ground, she began to listen to the heartbeat of the earth. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The pace of her anxious heart slowed and began to match the beat that lay beneath her ear. Thump. Thump. Thump.
She imagined all was silent—the voices stopped, the waves stilled, the branches calmed… but even in the silence, the ground beneath her continued its rhythm. Thump. Thump. Thump.
She wondered if silence was an illusion; if the color blue, a metaphor; if hearts were truly created to love. She closed her eyes and began to follow her breath. The peacock screamed in the distance like a woman gripped at the neck by death. Another bee buzzed. More shells cracked. Her heart pounded. On and on it went. Endless time like sand slipping through an hourglass.
The silence was deafening. The illusion of silence more so. She longed for raucous laughter and racing cars. She wanted to hear her mother’s nagging voice and her best friend’s narcissistic stories. She was exhausted by all the peace and quiet. She was tired of this island—this hell called ‘paradise’.
Reader Comments (3)
Wow, Kayce - your words of imagery are enticing and engaging. " a silent scream of a life… a home… being torn apart?" were so evocative to my own memories that my eyes teared up. Thanks for sharing - and look forward to the completion of the novel. Bill's art photography added more beauty to the poetic words - almost wanted to hear music in the background to add to the meditative cadence of your words.
Mwah to you, Julett!! xoxo
Really great and powerful! What a treat to have a sneak preview !!