CIV | Fruit

❦

Today,

there's progress
in our relationship!

Rowan and I
are sitting

under the school's rowan tree.

She's leaning
against my shoulder,
sleeping.

Her sleeping face...

I don't want
to share it with you.

I want to keep the memory of it
all to myself.

Rowan is the one
who taught me
to treasure
little things like this.

And it's one of the
only good habits I've developed.

Nothing else

about me

has changed.

'You're wrong about that,'
Rowan says.

I glance down at her.

Her eyes are still closed.

'You're not sleeping?'

She opens one eye,
then the other.

A big yawn.

'What time is it?'

'Not late enough,' I tell her.

The tips of her ears
turn red

and she pushes me
away from her.

'What are you thinking about?'
she asks.

I tilt my head.
'I thought you knew.'

She frowns.
'I'm not a mind-reader.'

'But you said—'

I sigh.
'Nevermind.'

The rowan tree
above us
has begun to bear fruit.

A tangy smell
surrounds the tree
all the time now.

It's a fresh,
new-plant smell.

'What are you thinking about?'
she asks again.

I tell her about what happened yesterday
at the supermarket.

Rowan watches her winged donkey
peering out the school gate.

(It looks exactly like Eeyore from here.)

I'm tempted
to tie a ribbon to its tail.

'You're pretty cheerful
'for someone who's witnessed
'one more death.'

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]