Unseen
We hide in the yarrow, its lemon yellow a striking contrast to the ancient house.
Julia whispers. “I think a witch lives there.”
The door creaks. An old man emerges. We stop breathing.
He looks directly at our spot. “It’s medicinal! Julia, I could fix your bee sting.” He laughs.
The “Unseen” backstory
This is a 50-word short story based on the challenge prompt, “lemon.”
Sometimes intent comes through in micro-fiction and sometimes it doesn’t. For those who read this tale and are left scratching their heads, I’ll share how this story emerged. I thought about the prompt word, which gave many of us “Fifty Worders” fits. (And yes, I came up with that prompt, so I have only myself to blame!) Each week our little community works with a prompt I supply in the challenge post. Sometimes I get squeals of glee over the potential for the prompt, and sometimes I hear groans of discomfort. Let’s just say that the “lemon” prompt was not as well-received as some!
I wrote out several ideas for stories inspired by the word lemon, as well as the aroma of lemons, the color and feel of lemons, lemon memories and the fact that a lemon is both bright and happy, and yet its taste can be sour or bitter. It is a complex little fruit that can evoke many different feelings. A squirt of lemon in your tea is lovely, whereas in your eye it stings terribly. A bright yellow lemon in a sunny window is pure happiness, while the notion of being handed the sour lemons of life feels grim.
I began thinking about a girl in a yellow dress, and what might be happening in her life. I saw her in a field. Not unhappy, perhaps, but recovering from something that she had to deal with in the past that seems to surround her, not unlike the flowers of the field. I began looking for images involving “yellow” and “field,” and when I came upon this image, a completely different story came to mind. Especially when I zoomed in and saw that there is an elderly man standing in the doorway.
I am going to guess that this image was taken in China. But that doesn’t matter for this story.
This tale is based on an age-old theme of children fearing what must be concealed behind the doors of a dark, sinister-looking home. In this case, the old man who emerges is a seer and healer who grows the field of yarrow for medicinal purposes. While he can’t “see” the children in the yarrow, he not only knows they are there, but he knows their names, and that one of them has been stung by a bee.
Who knows whether they will accept his offer of help, or run away in terror. That is a story for another time.
Thanks for reading!
p.s. I have no idea what kind of plant this really is. It may be yarrow, or perhaps rapeseed.
