Saturday 25 July 2009

deja vu?

My words from the Jackie Kay quick write exercise were...


branches, wind, storm, field, warning, leaves, secret, mother, cherries,
fall, help, scattered, levitated, gale, rooted, flew, picture, landed

The result reads like a kids story, and can you guess which famous movie I took inspiration from?


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I was scanning the orchard from my bedroom window. I'd heard the wind throwing leaves against the panes, jumped as branches creaked and twigs snapped outside in the yard. The weather was closing in and the once stagnant air was now pushing and pulling its way through the cracks in the window frames and under the badly finished doors.


I could see the storm heading this way across the barley field. To the left was the orchard where mother had gone to pick cherries for a secret birthday cake we would bake later for father. A siren was raised in the distance, a gale warning. I saw mother fall from her ladder. I hoped she'd landed softly but my fear took hold and I imagined her lying there with a broken leg.


Suddenly the most amazing thing happened. As I called for help (not that it would have been much use, as the nearest neighbour lived miles away), I saw an incredible picture; my mother was uprooted by a small tornado. She was levitated, along with the cherries which were scattered all around her; she flew a hundred yards or so and landed, splat, on a great big piled high compost heap.

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