October 12, 2014

From “Leaf Kinetics” by Nick A. Stiefel

Posted by alexp01 under Excerpt | Tags: , , , , , |
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Lots of kids stomp the fall leaves in their yard.

Especially after you’ve been raking, there’s no more tempting thing for a small child. With no snow on the ground, they’re just drawn to those fireworks of foliage. Evan was no different; I watched the leaves fly about with pleasant crunches as he stomped. I suppose I might have been angry since I’d spent all morning getting them into a pile, but I wasn’t.

Lots of kids stomp the fall leaves in their yard.

People have told me, in retrospect, about the time when they realized their children were…special. Everyone has their own story about what first caused them to sit up and take notice of the differences, what set their child apart for the others. For me, and for Evan, it was that fall day when he got into the leaves, just as the first snap of cold was creeping into the air. It wasn’t anything in the way he was playing, or yelling, or something like that.

No, I first knew Evan was special when I stood there in the window, watching the leaves fly about outside crushed and flaking, while Evan stomped energetically on the kitchen floor directly behind me.

Lots of kids stomp the fall leaves in their yard.

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September 5, 2010

From “Speaking with Dead Leaves” by Van Bullock

Posted by alexp01 under Blog Chain | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |
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This post is part of the September Blog Chain at Absolute Write. This month’s theme is seasons as a metaphor for an aspect of one’s writing.

A little late-season drizzle trickled onto Peter’s car as it crawled through the morass of city traffic during rush hour, just enough to get the wipers moving.

“Another lovely fall day,” said Sedena from the passenger seat. “I do wish Littleton & Associates would find somewhere tropical to send me during this time of year.”

“Sure it’s a little rainy now,” Peter said. “But in a day or two it’ll be all blue and crisp out, and all the park trees will be lit up like Chinese New Year. People sometimes drive up north to get a good gander at fall, but we’ve got all the fall you could want right here. I love it.”

Sedena sighed. “I can’t stand autumn,” she said. “I don’t want to seem needlessly contrary, but I hate it and spring. They tear at me, cloud things, make them difficult.”

A car ahead tried to exploit a gap in the traffic; rather then ruthlessly cut them off, Peter waved them ahead. “What’s to hate? Fall is about beautiful colors, mild temperatures, and that hearty bite to the air before things get too cold. And spring’s a marvelous season of flowers and rebirth after a long winter. I don’t want to seem needlessly contrary either, but I don’t see how anyone couldn’t appreciate that.”

“Not appreciate the highly variable weather patterns that make them a nightmare for people in my line of work?” Sedena said. The driver ahead repaid Peter’s kindness with an obscene gesture, which Sedena returned with gusto. “Autumn is all about death, everything growing gray and cold and the streets choked with photosynthetic corpses. I don’t like to be reminded of that. And spring…granted, there’s new life, but you also get to see the world at its most dead uncovered by snow. Spring for me is soot-choked piles of lingering snow and barren branches with nothing to beautify them.”

Peter’s knuckles whitened around the wheel. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to stir up any bad memories.”

Sedena shrugged. “Forget about it. More than a little of that is my father talking, anyway. The part of me that’d criticize an artist into giving up his craft and then berate him for quitting.”

Check out this month’s other bloggers, all of whom have posted or will post an entry of their own about a seasons as metaphors for aspects of writing:

Ralph_Pines (direct link to the relevant post)
Aheïla (direct link to the relevant post)
DavidZahir (direct link to the relevant post)
LadyMage (direct link to the relevant post)
semmie (direct link to the relevant post)
llalah (direct link to the relevant post)
hillaryjacques (direct link to the relevant post)
AuburnAssassin (direct link to the relevant post)
laffarsmith (direct link to the relevant post)
sbclark (direct link to the relevant post)
FreshHell (direct link to the relevant post)
PASeasholtz (direct link to the relevant post)
IrishAnnie (direct link to the relevant post)
SF4-EVER (direct link to the relevant post)
T.N. Tobias (direct link to the relevant post)
Proach (direct link to the relevant post)
Regypsy (direct link to the relevant post)
WildScribe (direct link to the relevant post)