Morning all. I hope your week is going well. Let’s kick off this Thursday morning with another writing prompt. Ready to shake the brains awake? Fabulous. Timers set for fifteen minutes and we are off.
I am going to have to think about this but as an opening I kind of like it. There are so many little story bits to play with.
Thursday, September 24th: The leaves started to turn.
The leaves started to turn. She wiped sweat off her forehead with her shirttail. The t-shirt was already soaked through so she didn’t see what harm a little more sweat would do, especially if it kept it out of her eyes. Her house was isolated and even if there were any neighbors within a five mile radius the overgrown plant life surrounding her back yard would have prevented anyone from seeing her exposed stomach, or more importantly the barely scarred over marks across her belly.
There were more marks under the rest of her clothes, but they were already covered with cloth and with her brow clear she didn’t feel the need to shift them to the side.
She stared at the golden and reddish leaves. She tried to remember if there were any that weren’t green the day before. ‘I’m sure there must have been.’
She couldn’t remember them.
The changing of the leaves seemed so strange. For one, she was sweating. She was certain a lot of her sweat came about because of her exertions and because she was still trying to get her body back into shape after so long spent in recovery. She wasn’t as accustomed to physical activity as she had been before and her body let her know in many ways, sweating over minor exertions included.
‘’Not that today was so minor.’
The backyard consisted of a five acre plot of land behind the house. There were another three in the front but the previous owners kept that in check so that the front looked like a well kept suburban yard. She found that disconcerting as the rest of the suburb was missing. She appreciated its maintenance as it meant her efforts were minimal. For a while minimal was all she could do. Minor trims to the front had been enough to get her moving, slowly as she started to recover.
The back yard once featured a large garden, fruit and nut trees and a veritable wall of juniper trees lining the perimeter of the five acres. The junipers were still there stretching high and fanning out. While they were once planted rather far apart as they grew they filled in the distance. There was still space between the trees so no tree felt crowded, but there was also a fence on the other side. The barrier being more visual than physical.
The garden had long since stopped being cared for. She suspected it was not the previous owner of even the two prior to them owners who put the garden in and cared for it. While she could see the outlines of some garden features it had been a long time since this plot of land was cared for.
As she started feeling better, she began some of the work needed to clear the overgrowth from the former garden space. Little by little she revealed the former outlines of planting beds a well a several usable fruit trees. It felt good to move, good to use the machete to hack away at the growth. She was sure Carla would say she was venting her frustration and anger.
‘Except that as a shrink at the top of the field of head shrinkers she would use fancier words.’ Given the price her clients paid for her advice she was certain they would expect the more elaborate word choices. She smiled, then thought of the last time she saw Carla and let the smile fall. She looked back to the leaves. How had enough time passed to bring the turning of the leaves into season?
