Thursday, August 12, 2010

Flying to the Moon - #fridayflash

There, behind the dusty heaps of crumpled doors and rusted engines, hidden from streetlights that banished the thin curve of the moon, they escaped. Below the hillock where they lay spread-eagled under Pegasus and Cassiopeia, the creek’s thin gurgle whispered through cracked earth. Grass poked spears into the girl’s thighs, and she momentarily worried about ticks and snakes, about today’s school suspension and her mother’s wrath still stinging her cheek. The boy reached for her hand, and squeezed. Night swaddled them.

“I always wanted to be an astronaut,” she murmured.

She closed her eyes and the sky opened. A star cascaded in rainbows, fireworks in reverse, scattering spent ash. The warmth sanctified her, a mother’s softer touch. Heaven tilted, the jinn spirits catapulted her higher faster towards the pock-marked orb, shining satin with benevolence. Asteroids showered silver rain as one horizon opened, then another, and another, galaxies bursting in an infinite slide-show of the absolute, and she reached up up up into blinding white to touch to hold to know to be.

“God?” she cried, and shuddered.

The boy leaned close, his breath golden clouds. “Fly, baby, fly,” he said. “Fly to the moon.”

Dew-wet fingers traced her lips, pushed in another bit of fleshy mushroom. The universe expanded, taking her with it.

***

Inspired by the 52-250 Flash a Year Challenge theme: space camp. <<< Take a gander -- lots of gorgeous work. And aren't the summer skies amazing?

Peace, Linda

31 comments:

  1. Beautifully written. I was captivated from the first line.

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  2. Tantalizing writing. Excellent as always.

    I wasn't expecting the mushroom- but something else ...


    ha ha ha!

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  3. This was well written - I also did not expect the mushroom!

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  4. "A star cascaded in rainbows, fireworks in reverse, scattering spent ash." Lines like this. This is why I love your work.

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  5. Good story! Great descriptions throughout. Well, that's one way to get to the moon without leaving orbit...

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  6. Scary. Poor thing will have to come back to earth sometime. Brilliantly written.

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  7. Beautiful + painful + moving.

    i look forward to the space collection in 52/250 - and now joined #fridayflash, too: http://virtual-notes.blogspot.com/

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  8. Shrooms, man... food of the God.
    Grooooovy story, Linda.
    "Heaven tilted, the jinn spirits catapulted her higher faster towards the pock-marked orb, shining satin with benevolence."
    When I grow up I wanna write just like you.

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  9. Poetry, lovely lady. I am never disappointed when I visit you. Gorgeous imagery.

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  10. Gorgeous writing. Lets us imagine. And see. For ex.: "...mother's wrath still stinging her cheek."

    And the last paragraph is so, so wonderful because it expands our understanding that her date with a boy meant traveling through a galaxy.

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  11. Some gorgeous writing here. When I first started reading this, I thought you might have taken inspiration from this week's Perseids meteor shower...

    Lovely.

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  12. A transcendent little moment... very nice.

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  13. Oh, how perfectly beautiful. Exquisite and powerful writing.

    I'm glad her lovely escape was with mushrooms and not something else.

    Just beautiful.

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  14. Gorgeous! And also really makes me want to do shrooms, LOL! Love the imagery :)

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  15. Boys are so one-tracked, they she was with her poetic soul soaring, & he's only got his eye on the main chance.

    Dispiritingly good!

    Marc Nash

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  16. I enjoyed being led in one direction to find that she was launched into another. I am star-struck, Linda. Well done!

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  17. Love the notion of the shower as fireworks in reverse, Linda.

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  18. Thanks all for reading! The 'space camp' theme stymied me, but then a scene from Janet Fitch's White Oleander stuck in my head, and I imagined the night sky in the flat wash outside of LA. I think I need to do more work here, though -- seems not everyone got she was tripping with her guy. Oh well...

    I've been writing madly much of the day, popping in and out to read as my reward, and now can dedicate my free time to reading yours! Peace, and happy Friday!

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  19. Fantastic imagery.
    Adam B @revhappiness

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  20. Ah, magic mushrooms. I thought it might be metaphorical descriptions of first time sex, but the fly, baby, fly and stuffing another bit of mushroom in her mouth made it pretty clear. Wonderful descriptions, both real and hallucinatory.
    ~jon

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  21. Loved the story. These lines together especially:

    "Night swaddled them.....She closed her eyes....the sky opened..... The warmth sanctified her, a mother’s softer touch"

    Just fyi? I don't need mushrooms to make me feel like this. :0) Beautifully poetic.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Karen

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  22. Thank you all for reading. What I am loving with writing these super shorts of < 250 words is the challenge of writing the story, building the character(s), and imbuing with enough sense of backstory as to add depth. This one was tough, and I think I'll keep working it. But I may need another 50 words or so to get it just right. Peace...

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  23. Yes... wildly poetic and transcendent... Loved it, Linda.

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  24. What gorgeous imagery and description, Linda. Your words are so poetic.

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  25. Wow, wow, wow!
    That's all that seems to be coming to me Linda. Just wow.

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  26. Beautifully written. I love, love, love your descriptions. Gorgeous.

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  27. Thank you all for your kind words. I appreciate your taking the time to read. peace...

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  28. Thurs 8-14, I was gratefull that the swelling went down from my wasp sting

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  29. "She closed her eyes and the sky opened. "

    This and the next four sentences are just gorgeous, lush, as fleshy as the mushrooms she's eating.

    Your descriptions are worth waiting for every week. You have a way with language that is marvelous.

    Really well done.

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