Small Change

excerpt

…was a hurricane fence that seemed to go on forever. I hung by my hands and pawed the ground with one foot after the other until I could gauge how fast I’d have to run to stay on my feet and away from the murderous wheels. My feet pounded the cinders, faster and faster, faster than I had ever run in my life, and when I let go, I could only keep my feet for three or four steps before I went spinning, tripped, hit the grass, rolled over twice and just lay there, exhausted, my eyes burning, my chest still seared with pain. . .
After a while I began to relax and my breath came with more ease. The sun felt good on my face and I wanted to stay there forever; or at least to close my eyes and take a long nap, but I knew I had to keep moving. Slowly, I got to my feet and started to walk away from the fence. My jeans were tom and there was a cut on my thigh. Blood was already forming bright beads in the wound. I stopped and cleared it away with my tee shirt. Nothing too serious. When I got home I’d shower and swab it with iodine or Mercurochrome. What I needed now was to get my bearings and find my way back.
The first thing I noticed was how different the trees were. They were huge, maybe hundreds of years old. I spent a long moment just staring into their thick, softly stirring foliage. It seemed so peaceful, so permanently rooted in a place where time went by very slowly. They reminded me of forests I had read about in the fantasy and adventure books I’d been devouring since grade two, except that every twenty yards or so there was a cleared space with a wrought iron bench.
I sat in the grass with one leg up, hugging my knee, and tried to plan out my next move, but after the morning’s disaster, it felt good just being where I was and it was hard to think about leaving. It was soothingly cool under the interlaced canopy of branches and broad leaves that broke the sky into a kaleidoscope of shifting lights. As I watched the sun flakes brighten and dim on the grass I felt myself slipping away into imagined realms…
I woke with a start. The still mood I’d been resting in after escaping the Blue Daemons and staying alive in a tunnel full of toxic smoke faded into the knowledge that I was alone, now, and lost. Keep moving till you come to a place you know, I thought. And what if I don’t? If you don’t, ask someone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763157

Still Waters

excerpt

But Tyne,” Emily Milligan wailed, “you know how long
that will last. He’ll fire anyone who comes to help after the first day.”
Tyne took a deep breath, stalling for time. What could she do from
this distance? “What does Aunt Millie say?” she said finally, trying to
keep her own voice calm so as not to add to her mother’s distress.
“Millie is furious with your dad, and with the doctors. But they
won’t listen to her … they say she’s only a sister. But Tyne, you’re his
daughter. They may listen to you.”
Tyne gulped. “Give me the specialist’s phone number, Mom; I’ll
call him.”
By the time she convinced her to hang up, Tyne could tell that her
mother was somewhat relieved, trusting Tyne to reverse the decision
the doctors had made. But the specialist’s office was closed for the
weekend. Monday seemed a long way off.
It was early Monday afternoon before she reached Dr. Sanger at
his office in Medicine Hat. He heard her out then said gently, “I understand
what you’re saying, Miss Milligan. But if I don’t discharge
him, your dad says he’ll sign himself out, and I believe he means it.”
“Could you please talk to him again?”
“I will. I’ll give it one more try. But if it will make you feel better,
your aunt has assured me she’s close by and can help out, although
she’s not warm to the idea of his going home.”
“I know that,” Tyne murmured.
“But listen, my dear, if your mother has good help, like a retired
nurse perhaps, I’m sure they’ll manage just fine.”
“Dr. Sanger, you don’t know my dad.”
Aunt Millie called on Tuesday. “It’s no use, Tyne. Dr. Sanger tried,
but your dad is determined. He’s asked me to hire Miss Stevenson
from Bradshaw to stay in the house.”
“The retired nurse? Isn’t she quite old?”
Millie chuckled. “About my age. She retired early, came home to
look after her own dad, but now he’s gone and she’s at loose ends.”
“Do you think it will work out, Aunt Millie?”
“No, I don’t. She may last a week, if that. Another thing, he doesn’t
seem to consider the expense; but worse, he doesn’t consider your
mother. She can’t take this, Tyne, she’s not strong enough.”

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1926763068

Ugga

four
The rest of the civilizations
follow as if on a chain
to make logic of the illogic
Nature becomes Existence
weakens
natural environment
they call it, and
oh Plato
oh Hippocrates
all around
the soulless
unnatural environments
tasty and tasteless fluids
with Soul in the middle
oh, you pleasant godfathers
of the Unknown

https://www.amazon.com/dp/192676370X

Marginal

Fire
will take its revenge
after scorching the earth
it’ll become a tamed caged tiger
it’ll light half-standing hovel,
a lonely candle,
it’ll bake bread in a metal pan
placed over two stones
first reborn exterior oven
love of sanity clothes
drying up from
touching pulsing flesh
fire will take its revenge
after scorching the earth
it’ll become the saviour
old mythological saint
depicted in icons
static rock standing a statue
preserved in the endlessness of time

https://draft2digital.com/book/3747032#print

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1771715987