Post by Tal on Apr 12, 2019 1:39:10 GMT -5
I am new to writing, encouraged by talking to someone and the gift of a tablet. This is an extract from a book I have started and hope to get finished and published online. I'm working on it. Any advice and comments are welcome. I have not put the whole chapter, but I guess this opening represents the book. At least if the beginning does not attract you to read the story, then the rest with not be a concern. Anyhow, see what you think...
Milo
by Talo Segura (copyright 2019)
Chapter One
The trees cast dappled shadows in long streaks, striping the ground, breaking up the sunshine. A stark contrast to the clear, pale blue sky. A hint of damp lent a chill freshness to the early morning air, but promised to disappear with the heat of the day. Milo pushed the hammock and watched it swing sluggishly back and forth. Devoid of life. Left abandoned, as if grieving its own emptiness. How would he survive the entire summer, alone, waiting, like the hammock?
No one else was awake, he was by himself. The only sounds were those imbued by nature. The tap, tap, tap, of a woodpecker somewhere in the forest. He couldn't see it, hidden by the dense shade. The deeper you went, the more sombre it was. He tried not to think about it, not to dwell on the darkness. But when he was alone like this, it troubled him. It was almost inevitable that his thoughts would drift there.
“Milo! Milo!”
Turning at the sound of his mother's voice, “I’m coming, mama!” He reluctantly moved a step towards the veranda of the old stone house.
“You should wear a jumper outside,” she smiled.
As usual, cheerful. His mother was putting the bread and freshly brewed coffee on the rough wooden table. Like the house itself, that old table must have reined centre stage in the kitchen for centuries. There should be a certain reassurance given by those things, places and objects, that have stood the test of time. But the old house had always scared Milo. As a child his imagination had warned him of hidden monsters lurking in abandoned corners or watching from the shadows of the forest.
“Your uncle will be here today,” his mother announced as she placed the blue and white ceramic butter dish next to the loaf of bread.
Sitting at the table he recalled his cousins pushing him into the attic and shutting him inside, in the cobwebby gloom. They'd made fun of him when he cried, calling him a sissy and cry baby. They had always bossed him around. His uncle, like his father, was kind but distant. The two men spent their time in each others company, joining the family for meals and an occasional outing. But even on those rare occasions Milo usually found himself surrounded by only women, his mother, her sister, and his cousins.
Left to his own devices he would dream of imagined worlds where brave knights rode stallions and defeated fiery dragons, cut down ugly monsters and set the world to rights. However, his cousins would drag him reluctantly into their fantasies. Dress him up as a baby, or give him the role of a servant. In their more risqué adventures he would be the patient. His eldest cousin was the doctor, the younger, the nurse.
“Eat something,” his mother had laid out jam, cheese and ham. “It’s a long time ‘til lunch.” She looked at him. Moved closer, and brushed the hair back from his forehead. “I think you need a haircut. You can’t stay all summer looking like a street urchin.”
A street urchin, he pondered the words. It was like a description straight from a novel by Dickens. His mother always had an inexhaustible vocabulary when it came to these sorts of expressions. It was easy to imagine they had been handed down from one generation to the next, like family heirlooms.
“Tomorrow!” She exclaimed somewhat excitedly as if suddenly struck by a revelation. “Your father is going into town. I’ll telephone and make an appointment.”
It was settled. No point arguing. In any case he had nothing else to do and he could escape his cousins. He finished buttering the slice of bread and reached over for the jam. His mother left the room, satisfied everything was in order.
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