BOG HOLES
Fortuitous Tide
Reminder: Free short story – see below “A Pearl for Your Enjoyment”
Still struggling to settle on a name for this third novel in the ‘Shadows’ Trilogy. With the book two-thirds of the way into draft one, I need to give this some serious thought.
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE. What will you be doing this Easter?
Current Weather and Tides
Floods and impassable roads outside and now, right inside this room, my latest novel drops into a bog-hole of its own – up-to-the-axles type bog-hole. I step out into the mire to assess the situation. Characters with no depth and a plot as solid as wet mud. I grab the shovel and dig the muck away from the front of the tyres – a quick fix – hopefully. Back in the seat, I shift into four-wheel drive and ease my foot on the accelerator – spinning wheels, sinking wheels. I delve through the piles of research notes covering every horizontal surface in this room searching for inspiration.
Time to take up the axe and chop down a few saplings to jam in front of the tyres in the hope of giving them something to grip on to. Exhaustion threatens as the sludge clutches at my limbs making this a monumental task. Major plan alterations and painting the character in richer colours.
Back in the driving seat, I add the pressure. Ever so slowly, creeping slowly, the wheels inch forward. They slip left and right a shade as I make further minor adjustments based on flashes of creative juices in place of vehicle fuel. We crawl out of the bog and gain solid ground. Dried mud coats my body. It cracks, crumbles and falls away as I bend my joints.
Time for a good strong hot cup of tea straight from the pot but first, the scrubbing brush and I need to meet in the bathroom.
Keep safe, Keep smiling, Keep reading, Keep writing.
Elizabeth Rimmington
www.elizabethrimmington.com.au
facebook.com/elizabethrimmington.author
A Pearl for your Enjoyment
This story evolved from a suggestion from our mentor to write of a character in strife and how he manages:
LATHER OF LEGS Part 2
Part One ended:
His body collapsed to the ground where he lay inert with his left knee at an awkward angle underneath him. A small trickle of blood ran down his cheek and dripped onto his shirt.
And now we continue:
When his eyes eventually opened, the darkness confused Ted. It was some moments before he realized the weather was closing in. Black clouds hung low all around him. Flashes of lightning pre-empted the crack of the thunder which filled his head with a haze of red agony. Large raindrops began to splash upon his face but he did not notice. The blue eyes closed slowly.
It was the roar of the rising water through the gorge and the rain now pelting against his face and body which returned him to consciousness the second time. A groan rolled up from deep within his belly as the pain ripped through his leg when he slowly straightened his left knee. The movement stirred the pain devil in his head at the same time. A second groan ground out into the darkness around him. Flashes of lightning provided intermittent illumination as he struggled to drag himself upright leaning heavily against the boulder at his back. A yelp of pain accompanied the placement of his right foot on the ground.
“Oh, shit.” The sound of the gully-rushing waters sent fear racing through his whole being. “This is not good.” With his weight resting against the rock, he fumbled to remove his phone from his shirt pocket. Once in his hand, he cursed again. “Oh, hell, no signal.” He swung his head left and right until his gaze fell upon the branch that he had used to lift the calf. It lay only a few feet away but how was he to reach it when any weight on either the left knee or the right ankle almost stole consciousness from him again.
Snorting breaths and groans of agony accompanied the movement of his body as he used his arms against the rock to lower his body to the ground once more. He hoisted his wet muddied backside over to the branch. Every inch gained drew more moans of complaint from his lips. The attempt to drag his body up this improvised walking stick proved a monumental failure. He slithered on his butt back to the boulder.
He was tempted to remain there but a revelation in the next flash of lightning leant courage to his failing determination. Already the white waters of the gorge were almost within arm’s reach.
Unrelenting suppressed groans of agony accompanied every inch gained as he leant heavily on the stick taking all the weight from his right leg but passing much of that weight onto the strained left knee. Waves of blackness rolled across his eyes as his head struggled with the scarlet fire of pain surging through every nerve of his body. Raindrops felt like solid ice falling on his shoulders. In the slippery mud, he strained to keep to the narrow path.
He knew he could not climb another inch when a flash of lightning revealed the king’s castle. Relief and tears flowed in equal measure. This boulder shaped like a king’s large throne marked the halfway mark up the side of the gorge wall. The water had never reached this mark in his lifetime. He sank onto the seat and closed his eyes. Someone would notice his absence at the tea table and hopefully come looking for him tonight but they would never think for one moment he was here on the wall of the gorge.
THE END
