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The hollow, wet thump of fruit smacking concrete still echoed around the fruit stall. Oranges, mangoes, lemons, kiwis all scattered. Rolling underneath the stand upon which stood more neat mounds of fruit. Most still neat, anyway. The rest of the pretty piles lay in ruins. I peered over the short wall separating the beleaguered fruit … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Accepting Assistance
A sedate river of shaggy, horned beasts lumbered across the huge plain in my path. Snorting and lowing, their numbers stretched from the horizon on my right to as far as I could see on the left. Pressed together horns to tails, alternating between eating and walking. A cool wind blew them before it, sending … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Detoured from Death
Eighteen doors. Four atop six on top of eight. Their hues ran the gamut of the rainbow, with like colors clustered together within each layer. The bottom eight doors shifted from navy to indigo to cerulean; the middle six ranged from forest to emerald to lime; with the top four a mix of sunflower to … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Tower of Doors
On the side of an empty stretch of highway, I found a little white stuffed rabbit sitting in the winter-dead grass. It wore a red dress patterned with bursts of yellow flowers. From beneath the hem, fuzzy feet poked out front, seemingly sat there and left behind. Black button eyes turned down toward the toes, … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Weary Drifter
Sneaking. Steps soft in slippery snow, I crept through a city filled to the brim with night. Too dark to see even my hands stretched ahead of me. Feeling my way forward with zero light. Light attracted the things that hunted here. Growls and snarls in the distance. Nearby. My breaths quickened at the fear … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Not Alone
I stood at the foot of a giant, neck craned back to gaze up. Up past the treetops, up past the hilltop, up to the amethyst evening sky. Three vast arms stretched away from the top of the wind turbine, stars outlining the shapes of wide fan blades. These remained still in the evening quiet, … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Ancient Advice
All at once, my senses came crashing in. Leaving behind the bubble where my mind had floated, separate from sensation. I took a breath, surprised at this return to wakefulness. I was seated on the floor, leaning against the wall in the low-ceilinged outbuilding where I had gone to ground. Long enough for my legs … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – A Short Break
As I trekked down a back alley, the memory of rained dripped from the sky in the wake of a thunderstorm, plopping into big puddles filling up numerous potholes. I splashed through these, heedless of the water soaking my socks, as I had no way to avoid the many of them. Yet I pulled up … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Tread Not Here
A face loomed in the darkness outside our stopped subway train. Outlined in glowing white lines. Xs for eyes. A hand-drawn, rictus grin. A mask. It bobbed along up and down the cars, pressing against the windows, fingertips tapping the glass. Giggling echoed down the tunnel, accompanying a high-pitched voice asking, "Who smiled? Whooo smiiiiled?" … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Smiling at Strangers
Thunder sounded as a herd of horses broke from a stand of trees, hooves drumming on winter dead grass as they passed. One, the color of butter with black tail and legs, paused beside me, dancing and snorting. "A mountain lion follows," the horse said. "Climb on, before it catches you!" A rustle in the … Continue reading The Hopeful Wanderer – Swift Hooves
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