There was a spring in her gait, an elation that propelled her, an eagerness to fly, a yearning to have wings! She had been invited by the university to receive her gold medal. She was the topper of the year. She had waited for this day.
How could she forget this day? The day her bones felt lighter. The day she broke some!
Now what?
“Let’s cancel the program. Your foot needs attention.”
“I am good,” Laila hid her pain with a wide smile.
She ignored the swelling on her foot and got into the car. No broken bone could deter her determination to receive the honor in person.
Thirty years after the fall that had changed her gait, she says, “Sometimes the great bones of my life feel so heavy. Sometimes we take them for granted.”
“Do you regret your insouciance to injury?”
“Never.” Anything for dreams.
Louisa’s post inspired me to play with this prompt that I saw at Dare Boldly and followed the link: Prosery Prompt at D’Verse
The rules and prompt are:
“Write a story of 144 words or less (not including the title). The story must have a beginning and an end, and should not be poetry. Sounds easy enough right? Here’s the twist: You must use the poetry line I have given you within your story. You may alter the punctuation, but you must use the line in its entirety.”
Today, the chosen line is taken from Spring Azures from the book Wild Geese by Mary Oliver: “Sometimes the great bones of my life feel so heavy.”
Emotional Shadows 