HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
And to mark the occasion I won a small competition on a writers' forum with this 200 word story, prompted by the word GLITTER. I make no apology for the fact that my background theme is again Christmas - in Tenerife the festival isn't over until after tomorrow - EL DIA DE LOS REYES - Kings' Day.
So - Felices Reyes to everyone, and may 2015 bring peace and prosperity to us all.
WINGS
At the cry of a
newborn the villagers rejoiced – a new life was always worth celebrating but on
Christmas Eve it was a double blessing. They clustered round as his father held
him up.
“What will you
call him?” a woman asked.
“Jesús,
naturally,” Josef answered.
An hour later a
dog barked and was instantly silenced, but it had been tied up deliberately far
from the village and had done its job before it died.
Josef woke his
children with his hand over their mouths. “Run and hide in the caves,” he
ordered and they slid silently away, Maria close behind them carrying her baby.
The villagers
cowered deep in the caves while rebels burned everything and then rampaged
through the forest, slashing wildly with glittering machetes. Maria’s children
clung to her skirts and Jesús whimpered.
The rebel leader
stopped, listening.
The villagers
watched in horror as Maria, with tears pouring down her face, held her hand
over her baby’s mouth.
“They have
gone,” the lookout reported eventually but the cave remained silent – Maria’s
baby lay limp in her arms.
Then the air
moved as if wafted by angel wings, the tiny chest heaved, and Jesús lived
again.
