He smiled and slid his hand under
my head, lifting me gently. I sat up for the first time in weeks. As I moved,
the globes rose higher above me, still spinning and gathering light. I watched
them with delight, a smile stretching my lips, cracked and dry as they were.
“Rosa! Blessed be!” Mama exclaimed
and clasped her hands together. “It’s a miracle!”
She moved toward me, and the man
held up his hand. “You must not interfere. Our work is not yet done.”
Mama faltered, then stepped back.
Tears shone in her eyes. I grinned at her, then returned my gaze to the globes.
They were so beautiful, light from inside and out by the setting sun. The light
still rose off my body and poured into all of the globes. How much could they
hold? Would it be enough?
They slowed, one by one, until
each one hung motionless for a moment, then dropped into the man’s ever-ready
outstretched palm. He neatly tucked each one back in his bag.
When he plucked the last one, the
blue one over my knee, he stood and picked up his bag and hat. Mama clutched
his free hand. “We can never pay you enough!” she cried.
He gently pulled away from her
with a slight bow, then he turned to me and nodded, tipping his hat. I saw a
gleam in his eye and a quirk to his lips. I smiled back. I didn’t feel the need
to speak.
You needn’t. I heard his voice, but I had been watching his lips
and they had not moved.
My eyes widened again, but I
somehow knew this was for me and not for Mama. I said nothing.
Good girl. When you can leave the house, come to see me. Our real work
has only begun.
He stepped through the doorway,
with Mama fussing after him. Swinging my bone-thin legs over the side of the
bed, I rested my feet on the wooden floor. Not trusting myself to stand, I
stared out the window at the last of the sun’s colors. I opened my mouth and
drew in the deepest breath I ever had, filling my lungs with sweet, fresh air.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow I would go and
see the spin doctor.
|
Dogs in house
|
Houdini
|
|
|
|
|
Time writing
|
65 minutes
|
|
|
|
|
December word
count
|
7,029
|
Prompt: The Spin Doctor, Part 3 (well, Part 2)
ReplyDelete“How long have you had this spin?” Bert asked.
“A week or so,” Sandy said.
“And it’s been doing this the whole time?”
“Don’t know. We ran it when we first got it, and I think for longer than this, but it’s been just sitting here until today since.”
“Huh.” Bert nodded, chin grasp between thumb and index finger. “Did anyone ride it that first time?”
“Jenny was on it, but she wasn’t on any of the animals.”
“Anyone ride it today?”
“No,” Sandy said.
“Good. Don’t.” Bert strode towards the carousel, stopping at the edge. He looked back. “Could you step away from the controls, please?”
Sandy did so, wondering what it mattered. It almost sounded like Bert wanted to be sure it couldn’t be started while he was near. He remembered Bert’s original expression, which seemed so different from this casual questioning. What could have shocked him so? It was just a carousel, after all.
Time writing: 15 minutes
Interesting! I was half-wondering at the end of Part 1 if it was going to go SF-y, but I'm thinking magic now. Don't quite have a good handle on how old the narrator is, but I'm thinking an older child -- preteen/early teen, maybe?
ReplyDelete