Being with Georgette #3
Georgette said, “This is the apple tree I fell out of when I was a child.”
I said, “It looks smaller than it did back then.”
She said, “We’ve grown. It’s been pruned.”
“Where is the large stone you fell on?”
“My father put it in the garden, but later you carried it down to the bridge and dropped it in the river.”
“I don’t remember doing that.”
Georgette said, “It was when you weren’t well.”
I said, “Oh.”
***
Georgette moved from the apple tree to the swing hanging under the long arm of the oak tree.
I said, “Don’t sit in it, the rope is as old as we are.”
Georgette sat in it. She began swinging.
She said, “Come join me.”
I said, “I weigh four times what I did the last time I sat in it.”
Georgette slowed the swing and made room for me on the double-sized board.
***
The rope had broken and we lay in a tangle in the shade of the oak tree. The grass against my face smelled of summer.
Georgette laughed.
I said, “We could have hurt your other leg.”
Georgette stood, brushed herself off, and walked across the yard to the picnic table.
I studied her limp, but it was no worse than usual, no worse than it had been since she recovered from her fall from the apple tree long ago.
***
Georgette said, “Why are you looking at me like that. Are you getting ideas?”
I said, “I’m lusting after your potato salad.”
“The chicken is still cold.”
“That’s the way I like it.”
I grabbed the frayed rope still dangling from the branch above and pulled myself up, half-expecting the limb to break off and brain me.
Georgette laughed again as I hadn’t heard her laugh in years.
She said, “Come eat.”
I went and ate, and I ate with the appetite of a growing boy.
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Originally published March 25, 2020
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Wonderful! You paint the story with so few words, which is difficult and requires a skill that the end product must necessarily conceal. Again, poetry.
Glad you like it. 🙂
Ya had me at the Peach tree!
And cobbler!
The writing is so sparce, so concise. I think this is one of your finest series. I have read it in its entirety before, but each time i reread a segment, and fall in love all over again.
Thank you, Violet. I agree with you and enjoy sharing it. 😀
Such a charming little tone piece, Rick.
Mmm. Chicken and potato salad.
This is a delightful bit today!
Wonderful last line. Brevity boiling over. True writing.
I like the bit about potato salad and cold chicken. Very nice personal details.
I was thinking if it was a deja vu until I read it was already published.
🙂
deja new for me – loved it, clever people write good.
This is a sweet and touching story. The writing feels real and full of heart!
😀
Thank you for the link to the beginning of this story, very well written.