Where the Sky was Once Blue Part II – 18+

I was trying to wake up, but I kept dreaming of green fields in the sunlight below mountains, of rivers overflowing feeding oak trees and the willows. Cold air in the autumn. Mari was there dancing in the field, and Fernando was planting pine tree seedlings.

A few minutes later brushing my teeth brought me to my senses, while Mari was singing in Spanish, in the shower. Once she was done, she snuck up behind me, barely covered in a towel… as I watched her hands in the mirror reach for my belly. “I know a reason you and I are together”, she whispered.

“Don’t do it!” I said loudly. Too late. “It’s because we both have bellies!!” And she shook my tummy, laughing her head off, running away. I rinsed quickly, about to chase her, but when I looked up she was sitting on the edge of the bed, towel discarded, her jet black hair still dripping wet and falling over her shoulders, as she questioned me with her smile.

Uh-oh.

We never did make it down for breakfast. But by lunch time I had placed some grilled cheese sandwiches in a pan. I was slow cooking them so the cheese would melt. Fernando was at the table reading a book on sweetgrass, so I asked him if he wanted a grilled cheese. “No I’m making burgers in the basement.” “The basement?” I wondered if Mari knew.

Mari came down adding an explanation. “Fernando has his own kitchen downstairs…. actually two, one for food and one for plant science.” She added, “his burgers are plant based…” Eyeing my work she said, “Oh yum! Grilled cheese with cheddar. I’ll make the salad! By the way we have 4 levels of basement” “What??”

When we sat down to eat, “Mari said, “Hold out your arm honey”. I did but wondering why. She quickly held out hers. “Look”, she said “We are both brown…so that’s the real reason I think Emma placed us together. She knew I couldn’t tolerate a white man’s—” “Ok, ok I get it!” I cut her off. “I get that… but listen, white people are not our enemy”.

Mari looked shocked. I continued by reaching over, touching her with one finger where I thought her heart was. “The problem is in here, not their skin color.” She said nothing but seemed to let something go. Then she said smiling, “I knew you were good for me… in more ways than one….” I felt her foot on my leg.

Mari’s phone began buzzing. She took it out, stood up immediately yelling, “Fernando!! Start the healing bath…. Make it on the 3rd floor and hurry! Emma’s hurt!!

She yelled at me to get the emergency blanket, as I looked out the window, I saw Emma flying in. All I could say was, “Oh no!!”

When we opened the front door, Emma was on fire.

“Oh dear God.”

“Her wings!”

Writing and Image © Copyright 2022 rivers renewed

Next Saturday: Does Emma survive her injuries? And what is the name of the main character/narrator? And do the dreams mean anything?

Where the Sky was Once Blue 18+

In the Not Too Distant Future,

As I looked at my phone, Emma’s text said. “Meet her at the corner of Banner St. and Oak Leaf, and her name is Mari” As I drove the final mile, the sky was still its normal colors of fire. There was orange and pink and sometimes swirls of purple, where it had once been blue. Another missile screamed overhead trailing black and gray smoke.

And there she was! Another human being still alive, and was that her son? As I got out of my SUV limping with my hiking pole, both of them waved. We all had our masks on and protective equipment. I beamed at her, and I was hoping she could tell.

She introduced herself and Fernando her 10 year old, when a cloud of orange exploded, and a popping noise began to rain not far away. I yelled, “A Searching Drone! We need to get inside!”  With our masks and protective clothing off inside, I noticed her middle was large. Was she pregnant?

She mentioned, “I can still have your child…. if that’s what you want….” She smiled with eyebrows raised in a question. I wasn’t shocked at all, and these were desperate times, but I said, “Honey, I’m too old for you, and besides I’m just looking for conversation!” I hadn’t seen anyone in months.

It was actually cozy in her kitchen as she took out a platter of fruit and cheese. Another drone scanned the neighborhood. “I’m sorry the fruit is canned, that’s all we have left now.” I understood. I was so grateful, and we made small talk about how much supplies we had, and would the plagues ever end? Everything was going just fine until she took my hand and began massaging it with her thumb.

She said, “It’s just that I really need…I mean I really really need some…some…company.” Well I admit it. I was nervous. Who wouldn’t be?

When I found out she wasn’t actually pregnant, that was it. I was in trouble for sure. I didn’t know what to say. She practically dragged me up the steps to the bedroom, mentioning on the way up that Fernando would be in the basement, tending his plants. “His plants?”

Later, after I thought our wildness had subsided, I was beginning to doze off when she moved in close again. I felt her rub my arm.

She whispered, “You awake?”

Writing and Image © Copyright 2022 rivers renewed

Next Saturday: Why did Emma place us together?

Life Back Then

It was all about God in those days, working those hours

children in the minivan, McDonald’s

we were so young then,

oak trees could still reach up, able to breathe

California was not on fire yet,

and the Earth

had not yet rebelled against humanity’s insanity.

We left our guns at home

rarely concerned about a break-in

and this was all before Fox news was ever invented

and before trans people had to run for their lives,

France they say is still safe,

and we remember, Josephine Baker.

Poetry and Image © Copyright, 2022 rivers renewed

Farewell

It has been a long time coming, and since I don’t like good-byes I’ll use the term farewell. Many of you know I’m not here much anyway but I need to take it a step further and make it official. I’m retired from blogging.

There are a few reasons. My wife’s health hasn’t changed, and she is still receiving treatment. Love is stronger than fear though.

I’ve decided to do more studying. Many of you that have been with me for a while know, that I love anthropology. What is anthropology? The study of people. I’m also studying gender. Yes. Gender.

We all need and enjoy healing and positivity. I have written that way for a long time. That’s how I used to write though. It’s beautiful but that’s not who I am now. Now I write more like the Emma stories, edgy females that don’t take crap from anyone!

Adding a little supernatural is always fun too. Is there an Emma novel waiting to be written? Absolutely.

Finally the extremism from the far-right is the most dangerous element our country has faced in a very long time. The threat is from the right… not the left. The most the left will do is spend your money.

In a few years we may not have democracy. It’s called fascism. I could rant and rave about this all day on a separate blog, but I simply don’t have time. Yes it does affect my writing.

Finally and most importantly is to say thank you! I cannot thank you enough! Some of you have been with me a long time. I’m in tears as I write this part.

Thank you!

If you don’t mind I’d like to hang around once in a while, visiting.

I wish you peace.

Writing and Image © Copyright 2022 rivers renewed

Emma on the Border

The French cuisine was exquisite along the border. Emma reached for her steak knife, cutting deeply

into the honey glazed chicken, as she was bathed in the soft glow of candlelight in a quiet corner of the café. The meal reminded her of a certain general who always wanted her, honey glazed

The plan worked.

show ‘em a little leg, have him caught in a web of a beautiful seduction, and before he could be her champion… she called forth the wolves,

he learned his deadly mistake as he quivered on the marble steps. She had towered over him

another Nazi leader decimated,

eliminated,

then fertilizing the moss covered soil that would one day carry Allied tanks.

Emma poured herself another glass of wine, smiling sardonically, looking at her reflection in the shine of her steak knife. Then she cut deeply again into the honey glazed chicken, while a wolf howled in the distance.

She would never be the victim of anyone.

It was 1941.

Writing and Image © Copyright 2022 rivers renewed

Emma on the Train

If the spirits of the poets are subject to the poets

then the spirits of wolves are subject to the moon,

and Madrid never gave away any of her treasures

because there were too many vampires

in Belgium,

night clouds cascading

into dark poetry.

It was 1941.

Narrator: Emma wrote these notes on the back of a napkin, while taking the train to Paris.

Writing and Image © Copyright 2022 rivers renewed

Decisions

This is why many religious people voted for the EX-president.

In spite of what the news calls immorality and lying, they voted for him.

They wanted someone on their side, to appoint people that would reflect their views, to turn the tide against secular views of morality.

The problem though is that not everyone believes the way a conservative Christian does. We are a nation of many faiths, ethnic groups and viewpoints. Only 30% of our people wanted this decision.

I recently heard a pastor put it this way: We now have two different views of what Christianity is. One says our views are important, and you need to adhere to them too. The other says I have faith, I’m a Christian, but I don’t have the right to control you’re body. And I shouldn’t.

And if you want to adhere to the view of what our founding fathers thought, think again. Many were deists. I’ll let you look that up. Then of course there was slavery.

Normally the Supreme Court goes through a series of opinions and negotiates an outcome. That didn’t happen this time. Extremists on the court pushed the decision through simply because they had the raw power to do so. What does this remind you of? Democracy? No.

I’m hoping that in the future we as a people will make better decisions reflecting who we are, not who we were a hundred years ago. By this I mean not only in elections, but in the way our government is structured. That we can fix the parts that are broken.

That raw power will be limited, and radicalism will not be allowed to destroy us.

I wish you peace.

Writing and Image © Copyright 2022 rivers renewed