The Red Ribbon

Emma walked slowly along the lane, her feet were hurting her, but she had to make it home. Her parents would be worried about her by now. She had been gone too long and it was almost dark. She knew that she should not have stopped at the river, but it had looked so inviting that she had had to dip her toes in. The cool water had felt wonderful against the hot skin of her feet.

The sun was beginning to set behind the hills and she knew that there would be just enough daylight left for her to make it home. The breeze blew a strand of auburn hair across her cheek and she tucked it back behind her ear. The hedgerows on each side of the lane were sprouting new leaves, small green buds were everywhere. Emma loved spring it was her favourite season, new life sprouting wherever you looked. A spider spinning it's web around a hawthorn bud caught Emma's attention, and she stopped for a moment to watch it working away. The spider's labours made her think of how hard her mother worked at home, she should get home and show her mother the present that she had bought for her. After she had bought everything on her mother's list there had been a few coppers left over, she had been told to buy herself something nice with any change. Emma smiled as she thought of what she had bought, there was a little something for each of her parents. For her Father she had bought some seeds for him to plant in his little vegetable garden, he was so excited about growing their own food, and she knew that he would love the seeds.
For her Mother, Emma had bought a piece of red ribbon, she could not remember the last time that her mother had worn something bright and colourful. The ribbon would look perfect against her mothers dark hair. A small bird was sitting on the branch of a tree calling to all the other birds, she stopped to listen, but as if he knew she was listening, he flew away.

They would have a feast with all the things that Emma had bought. She had even managed to get a bacon bone so mother could make a soup. Bacon was a luxury, they had not had any since Father's accident. The injuries to his back had meant that he had been unable to work and they had lost the cottage that came with the job. Luckily for them a local farmer had brought them to live in a small shepherd's cottage on his land. All Father had to do now was to keep an eye on the sheep in the field around the cottage. Her basket was getting heavy now, and her feet were hurting her more than ever. She wished she had a proper pair of shoes. It would not be long now before she was home, but it felt as though she had walked a hundred miles and not just four. The sun was getting lower and lower in the sky, and when the cottage finally came into sight, it was almost dark. The lights shining from the windows made the cottage look cosy, and she found the energy to run the last few steps. There was a horse outside the house, and the front door was open. That was odd they hardly ever had visitors, Emma listened and she could hear the sound of her mother crying, so with fear in her heart she crept into the room. There was something very wrong she just knew it.




As she walked into the kitchen, Emma saw her mother sitting at the table with her head in her hands and she was crying. Sitting next to her was a man that Emma had not seen before, he looked uncomfortable and kept looking at the door. Neither of them had looked at Emma, and did not even appear to have noticed that she was there at all. At the sound of more horses, Emma turned and watched as another man entered the kitchen and sat by her mother. He held her hand while he spoke to her softly and Mother began to sob even louder. Then Emma watched in disbelieve as the man handed her mother the piece of ribbon that she had bought earlier and said" This was in her hand, we thought that you might like it". Her mother looked down at the ribbon and then closed her hands around it. Emma could not understand what was happening, how did that man have the ribbon, and why had no one noticed her yet.

Suddenly Emma knew! She thought back to the river and those stepping stones. The last stone had been too far for her to jump, she had slipped and hit her head on the corner of it. She had been dazed but she was all right.......wasnt she?
A voice whispered her name and Emma turned to see a woman standing behind her, and Emma knew that she had come to take her away. The woman held out her hands and Emma took hold of them, she looked over to her mother holding the ribbon and whispered something. The woman then led Emma out of the door and along the road to heaven.

Inside the cottage, the Mother sat holding the ribbon in both hands, she loved it more than Emma could ever have hoped, and it would mean the world to her for always. Then as though she had caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye she lifted her head and looked out towards the lane. With the tears rolling down her cheeks she whispered "Goodbye my darling".