Rosey had been honing her ability since she was much younger. She had always felt light on her feet. She could remember watching the film clip of the moon landing and loving the bouncing lightweight action the astronauts displayed. That was the way she always felt, lightweight. Not in the sense of being of no consequence but light on the ground, as though gravity didn’t have so much influence over her as she could see it had for others. She had really made her mark at school on the athletics field. High jump was her specialty but she was also a great runner. She seemed to have an extra long stride even though her legs were an every-day sort of length.
At her thirteenth birthday party, it had finally become apparent that she had a special ability. She and her friends had been playing cricket on the front lawn. Someone had hit the ball way over the fence into the paddock next door. Rosey had volunteered to chase after it because she was a good runner. They all knew that it was in the bull paddock but Rosey was confident that she could pick up the ball and get out of there before the bull noticed.
It didn’t work that way. Just as Rosey stooped to retrieve the ball, the bull began lumbering towards her in a very determined way. At first she didn’t notice. She could hear her friends yelling at her but couldn’t understand what they were saying. The bull gathered pace and was approaching like a steam train.
“Run, Rosey. Run,” her friends were shouting. “It’s the bull. Hurry. Get out of there.”
Now she could hear a terrible pounding of hooves. She turned, saw how close the bull was and realised her predicament.
She started to run. She heard his laboured breathing and felt his hot steamy breath. It was as though everything was moving in slow motion. Her strides lengthened. She felt a special lightness, an uncanny spring in her step. The fence was close now. Safety was only metres away but she would not have time to scramble through the fence. Her mind went into overdrive. On another level of consciousness she knew that she had to jump the fence. She was coming straight at it. Instinctively she raised her arms over her head and leapt.
Her knees crumpled as she hit the ground on the other side. She lay on the ground, panting with exhaustion and fear. Slowly she became aware of her friends gathering around her, staring, open-mouthed.
“Rosey, you were flying. You looked like Superman.” They spoke breathlessly, awestruck.
For Rosey, it was as though it had always been so. It had been an intuitive response to the danger for her to leap into the air and fly. It was a power she knew she could call on whenever her life was threatened in the future.
She rolled over on the grass and stared up at the clouds. From now on, anything was possible.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Heather says:
I love your Rosey, Kerry. She has a feisty, grounded certainty that really DOES make anything possible for her. She's a wonderful character. The next chapter might be Rosey at the Olympics.
Although the sequence is clear and easy to follow, I'm wondering if the story up to the encounter with the bull could somehow be anchored in a particular incident. If this reflecting is in Rosey's point of view, when was she thinking it?
Jenny says:
I like the description of the pivotal moment when Rosey realised she could fly.
It didn't quite gel for me with the opening line - I wasn't sure whether the POV was at the day she realised she could fly, or looking back years later (after the honing), or whether the honing was not flying, but the athletics. In that case, the realisation that she had been honing should have come later, not before the incident.
I liked the incidental details of a country childhood, too - very well-drawn.
Peta says:
I really love the way you set the stry and draw us in to Rosey's thoughts. Anything seems possible for Rosey. I would love to have heard her description of the actual flight over the fence - what did it feel like, what did she see and experience?
This is a sort of coming of age story. Rosey has always been light yet never knew what this might lead to. Her encounter with the bull is so frighteningly told, reminding me of nightmares I've had.
Her specialness is captured nicely in the encounter. She goes into instinctive mode and like an eagle stepping out of the nest, knows what to do.
Good tale.
Post a Comment