You sat on the tall stool.
You sat on the tall stool. belongs to the following groups:
! Creative Writing & Poetry !, All Things Poetic, Artistic, Philosophical, Core [C.O.R.E] and Up & Coming WritersYou sat, as usual, on the tall stool.
The Sudoku puzzle, neatly torn from the local paper,
positioned ominously on the bench in front of you.
I wondered if it was a beginner, intermediate or advanced.
“Do you want to come down to the waterfalls?” I asked.
You didn’t answer verbally but turned your head and looked at me over the newly prescribed
red reading glasses
as if to say
‘are you blind – I’ve just torn out today’s Sudoku puzzle’.
The waterfall was deserted and the new rains had swollen it to spectacular levels.
As the sunlight spiked in laser beams through small gaps in the dense foliage, the electric blue of the fluttering Ulysses teased my eyes like a strobe.
Sitting quietly on a large spray soaked boulder above the falls
I wondered where you were.
Eventually I arose, stripped quickly and dived into the swirling main pool.
The angry water pulled at my body impatiently,
trying to thrust me towards the jagged rocks on the far side of the pool one minute,
trying to drag me down into its cool sparkling oblivion the next.
I rested in a calm alcove and marveled,
not for he first time,
at the veritable Eden in which I was cocooned.
An endangered waterfall frog nestled in a rocky moss infused crevice.
I had seen him here before and watched as it croaked loudly, but not loud enough for the roaring din of the crashing water. Subconsciously I wished him luck.
When I returned home I noticed you still perched determinedly on the stool.
Your pencil poised like a snake
About to deliver a fatal one fanged bite
To the very heart of the recalcitrant puzzle.
Must be an ‘advanced’ I thought to myself.
Later that night, I saw the cool mottled light of the TV sneaking out mischievously from a slight gap under your bedroom door. The muted shrieks of the game show audience and your own enthusiastic laughter followed the light rays. I went back outside and looked up at the stars in all their sidereal splendor and wondered where you were.
When you passed by the foldout futon in the lounge later that night, you asked me if anything was wrong. “What’s the matter?” you asked, but I couldn’t reply for I was fast asleep, dreaming of the waterfall frog and the thunderous roar of his misty home.
Emraldae
wonderful, very captivating. its always heartbreaking when people’s interests differ so much as they do in this story, or when someone cannot open their eyes to see the bigger picture.
Rex Inkpen replied
thank you emraldae for your very thoughtful comment.