A little bit of writing I did recently |
Sarah sat at the kitchen table, staring blankly out of the window, a cup of tea rested between two hands, steam warming her face. A Canadian robin caught her eye as it hopped cautiously across the new spring grass, weary of the neighbouring cat. She thought how different Canadian robins looked to the little ones back home in England. Looking down, she noticed the growing roundness of her belly, it was slight, but to Sarah, visually a big difference from her previously flat stomach. Breathing in hard, it was non-existent, which was comforting to the uncertainty and fear she felt everyday as it grew, and parallel with her occasional wishes. The front door closed, and with a start Sarah spilled warm tea into her hands. She heard George kick off his shoes at the front door and walk through the front room, where he entered the kitchen. Sarah faced the doorway smiling before he even came in. “Hey Darling!” she sang in a jokey way, that was theirs. “Alright Dearest?” George continued the joke. If people heard them they would laugh at their old fashioned language. He almost skipped over to the kitchen table, where Sarah stood up with her damp hands and they wrapped their arms around each other. He was 5ft 10 and she 5ft, their height difference to some seemed comical, though Sarah had never really noticed it. Bent in to the embrace, George stroked Sarah's long dark hair, which trailed on to her back. He was glad she was here, in his arms, after six long months of separation. Sarah felt the warmth of his chest on her face, and wished her mind could be eased the same way her body could. But without telling him she was pregnant she carried a weight that could not be lifted, but grew heavier everyday. ---------------------------- George was 19 when his family finally got the paperwork through that said they could immigrate to Canada. He had known for more than 3 years it was going to happen, but it hit him hard out of the blue when the papers were dropped on the mat, and they were to leave in 3 months. His parents so excited, so jubilant, they had the go-ahead to their dreams. And all he could do was force a smile for their happiness, before tears took over his face, his pillow was the only place he would let them roll free. Sarah could feel it was getting close, though it was something they rarely spoke about. It was a thought pushed away whenever it occurred, so as not to upset herself, or George. They had been together for 3years, and it had come up in conversation even before that; George would be leaving the country soon. Neither of them believed at the beginning of their relationship as 16 year olds that they would last together long, it seemed they were destined to be apart. Just another youthful passing relationship. But looking back on it, Sarah wondered if that's what kept them together, the thought that it was going to end. He never cried in front of her until the final days before he left. Sitting at his computer with a game running and Sarah on his lap, he burst into tears. He had been ignoring it for so long and it had crept up and dragged him into a state of frenzied reality. Immediately she felt it and her face became a sea of tears. |