(Image: Alicja_ from Pixabay)
“Where have you been?!” her mother’s elbows speared the air like wings on a falcon, keen to dive.
The lass lowered her head and hiked her apron in an offering. The contents would not account for hours wiled away from chores, but they might reduce the heat of what promised to be imminent suffering.
“I went out to the hazel wood, because a fire was in my head,” the child demurred, unpinning one side of the apron to reveal a mound of early hazelnuts, “in eagerness to bring your favorite, Mother. Seeing how the morrow is your saint’s day.”
The woman’s scowl budged none. “A flatterer as well as an idle hand. I know a hasty crop when I see it. Now, as you are so eager, fetch a switch of hazel and I’ll give your hide a fire that will not soon fade.”
For the dVerse prosery challenge
Poetry prompt from W. B. Yeats
Na'ama Yehuda 
Oh dang! I was working on this prompt and was kinda stuck so I went to my email and this wonderful submission was just sitting there, begging to be read. Wonderful! (less the whupping, of course)
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Oh, well, I hope this will unstick you! 😉
(sorry, had to…)
Thank you, my friend!
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No worries. If it does, it does; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t yanno?
My pleasure!!
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🙂 I was kinda’ going for the double meaning ‘unstick’ and … ya know, a switch … but … 😉 If it does it does and if it doesn’t it doesn’t … 😀
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😀
It’s almost there 😉
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Most excellent news! 🙂
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Oh you… you’re such a lovely one! 🙂
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😀 xoxo
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Oh so harsh! You’ve the gift of story telling Na’ama.
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Thank you, Sadje! Alas, as in my reply to Kim, there were (and still are) too many children whose parents use harshness as a measure of control.
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What a vivid image to open with, Na’ama: ‘her mother’s elbows speared the air like wings on a falcon, keen to dive’! I’m glad my mother wasn’t scary. I feel sorry for the child, trying so hard to please her mother and then to be beaten for her trouble – and expecting it too. And even worse, having to fetch a hazel switch!
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Ah, yes, alas, we know too many parents who were (and some are) keen on confusing discipline with corporal punishment, and seeing fear and intimidation as a child’s measure of respect. I hope there is at least someone in her life who cherishes her, for I do not blame her for seeking to while hours away from this parent …
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A joy to read. Well done.
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Thank you, Doug! I’m so pleased you liked it.
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Poor child! Sounds like she is resourceful enough to survive though.
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I agree … and … I agree … 😉 Thank you for this comment! 🙂
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Your poetry is brilliant … alive with the emotion of mother and daughter. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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…. and I am so accustomed to typing the word poetry, apologies this is great Prosery.
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🙂 I’ve done same before … 😉
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Thank you so much for this comment! 🙂 I am so glad you enjoyed it and that the little scene ‘came alive’ for you! 🙂
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Most excellent prose, Na’ama! From “elbows speared the air like wings on a falcon,” we are overwhelmed with pity for the young girl.
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Thank you, Dora! I think she can use all the sympathy she can get, poor lass!
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Poor kid… I think she should be forgiven for bringing the nuts..
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I agree … but I think that her mother is not the forgiving type … poor lass.
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