Short Stories by Sharonlee
Riana’s Rainbow
Riana gazed absently out the
kitchen window, pleased with how well the garden was growing; the vege patch
flourished with the extra water she recycled from the bath and laundry. This
left water for the garden itself. Hers was the greenest yard in the street and
she was proud of it. Enough food was grown to supply fruit and vegetables all
year round and this way she never ran out of food for Cadence and herself.
Riana pushed a grey-blond dred back from her eyes, smiling at a random memory of
Cadence dancing in the yard on her 16th birthday. And now her baby
girl was 18, and moved away to Agriculture Collage. Her little laughing dancer
was all alone and far from home.
And so am I alone, Riana thought deeply… turning away from the
window. Still deep in thought she made coffee and gulped from the cup, scalding
her mouth a little; she inelegantly spat the steaming liquid into the sink,
splashing the window as well.
Damn! She thought, near to
silly-no-reason-tears… and began to wipe up the mess. Her anklets jingled as
she moved; muted bell-like music in the quite sun-lit kitchen and again Riana
smiled as she returned to her window-gazing.
The bell anklets had always
symbolised an act of defiance. She was only 14 when she wore her first one; her
mother had been furious that she would wear hippy-gypsy trash trinkets on her
ankle. And ordered her take them off; but Riana had refused. Just as she
refused the job at the beauty-house-of-fake-looks, where her mother had worked
for 11 years; Riana’s first after-school job had been at the animal hospital,
but by the time she was 17 Riana had moved to live and work on a commune in the
mountains. That was where she met Rusty, Cadences’ dad.
So lost in memories was she, that
Riana didn’t notice the gathering clouds. She merely shivered slightly at a
stray cool breeze that wafted in the open window, absently reaching to half-close
the glass, her thoughts too stubborn to be side-tracked.
Rusty Collins…. her greatest,
most foolish love; Riana fell for the dark brooding artist and after 8 months
together at the commune she agreed to go with him to the city. They were to
rent a loft and follow their dreams of joining the art elite. Rusty demanded
that she take her anklet off then, serious artistes do not where noisy anklets,
he had informed her, handing her a red beret. In the artiste world they had to
look the part. But city life didn’t suit Rusty, nor Riana for that matter but
for completely different reasons. Rusky’s addictive personality and propensity
to be moody lead him (them both for a while) into an explosive lifestyle of
drugs, alcohol and stray sex, broken up by fevered episodes of painting obscure
art that no one bought. For Riana it was the absence of nature and fresh air;
she lost any inspiration to paint her ‘whimsical little wood nymphs’ as Rusty
dryly dubbed her surreal art.
By the time she was 20 Riana
realized that she was pregnant. Rusty was seldom home, so she took a job at the
factory two streets away, so the rent was covered and she had food. Rusty
returned periodically, two or three times a month; sometimes he brought food,
other times money. Riana never asked where he got it from, she didn’t want to
know.
But Rusty was nowhere to be found
when Riana went into labour and she gave birth to Cadence alone in a city
hospital. When Cadence was put into her
arms for the first time Riana burst into tears. The nurse thought she was
missing her husband who was ‘working in the tropics on marine biology
research’. That was the last time she let Rusty make her cry. When she was
released from hospital Riana found her old bell anklet and put it around her
ankle; it has been there ever since. For next 5 years Riana did her best to
survive and raise her little girl in the city. After Cadences birth Rusty’s
visits became less and less until one year he didn’t visit at all.
A loud rolling rumble of thunder
startled Riana, making her jump out of her reverie… she focused her far-seeing
eyes on the dark sky, thinking groovy… a storm. But as she watched the storm
clouds scud into each other her thoughts again turned to those early years.
Cadence was 7 by the time Riana
finally gave up on the city… but having nowhere to go she sold everything she
owned and moved back to the commune. That was a bad move; despite having kept
in touch with Sky and Chip, who owned the commune, she was not prepared for
what she found. The gardens had long been abandoned and the fruit tree’s looked
like something from a children’s witch story; the commune now made its money
selling pot, grown down by the river where they use to swim.
With Cadences help and the help
of Sky’s 3 children Riana re-established enough of the vege garden to feed
them… and found a lot of the child raising and minding fell to her. Riana grew
silent and reclusive around all except the children, but after 2 years she
could take no more. When she noticed a small cottage up for rent Riana applied
and moved her and Cadence in. It had been difficult leaving the other children,
but she had no choice.
Suddenly the rain fell with a rattling
crash on the cottage’s roof. Thunder still rolled reverberating across the sky
and Riana turned away from the window to make fresh coffee. She took her coffee
to the window seat, dreds bouncing in time to chiming anklets. Sitting
cross-legged on the worn cushion she watched the storm, her thoughts
momentarily stilled… fragrant coffee steam rose in the air around her face.
Silence grew undisturbed by everything save the rumbling thunder and pelting
rain; Riana shivered with delight at nature’s natural power and reached under
the cushion for a small silver tin, dinted and tarnished with age. She rolled a
small joint with quick fingers, pausing to smile at how well those plants had grown too, only three
tucked in between the compost and banana patch. It’s all she needed.
Life had been in a sort of stasis
since moving into the cottage, Cadence grew up, I’ve grown old, Riana thought with self-depreciating humour. Riana
had started painting again and hung her surreal wood-nymphs in a local gallery;
she sold something most months. The man who ran the gallery in town was full of
praise for her whimsical style and urged her to put higher prices on her
pieces, but Riana had trouble believing her art was actually good. Besides, as
Cadence pointed out, he may just be trying to flatter her, for the gallery
owner had shown signs in the last few months that he thought more of her than
just an artist.
He looks at you like you’re a woman, mum, Cadence had whispered
recently when they were in the gallery…. Riana had actually blushed. Now she
smiled to her herself as the rain splattered the window…. he is an interesting
man…. a sculptor with the most amazing hands… lost in thoughts Riana finally
lit the joint, leaning back on cushions to smoke it as she gazed out at the
rain pummelling down on her garden.
After some time Riana noticed the rain
easing… then stop; parting clouds revealed a setting sun with just enough rays
still clinging to day that the garden looked like it had been visited by faerie
folk… above the tree tops a faint rainbow appeared… stretching across the
fading sky. Riana smiled; she was going to be ok. Life was untraveled road and
she had a passport to the stars.
sharonlee©
4-Sep-11
12:01 PM
