Yum's necklet

Everything quietened down in the cave after Yum's fight with the woman in the fish trap. The woman's husband would have been cross but he knew his woman was greedy. He couldn't see the problem as they would manage by themselves. 

Yum and Dong went to the beach to collect shellfish when fish were few. Fish tasted good when put on the fire but the shellfish were best eaten raw. Soon there was a big pile of shells outside the cave and Yum had an idea what to do with them. The ones with the best colours of similar size she collected from the pile and found if she was careful she could make a hole in the thick part to thread some twine through that they used to fasten things with. When she had a number fastened on the twine she held them up to look at the pretty shapes. Then she put one round her neck and leaned over a rock pool to see what they looked like. She loved it so much she made another one and when Dong wandered up the beach to join her she gave it to her.

Dong wasn't sure. "Doesn't Dum like how you look now?" she asked. Yum laughed "Dum would like me even if I had a smelly fish hanging round my neck. No, this is to please me. Now let me put yours on you too Dong" 

Dong tried unsuccessfully to look at herself so Yum pointed to the pool to see herself in the water. Dong looked at herself, saw the necklet and how it emphasized her face and even made her tangled hair look good. "It's good Yum; it will show we are friends. You teach me different ways of seeing things and now I am even beautiful like you. I will keep it."

310 words

 Image found at www.pixabay.com

.

Going nowhere but down

The park gardeners found his body that morning with nothing to say who he was. A vagrant no doubt, with empty Bourbon bottle and a tattered bedroll. The police were called and his body was taken to the morgue and they were no wiser as he had nothing to identify himself. There was no address, no letters just a rusty penknife, a few coins and a tatty bible with a scribbled name inside that was unrecognisable.. An ambulance now appeared and the team placed him on the stretcher and put his few belongings in a bag before taking him to the mortuary. He was kept there until the police had made their enquiries before interring John Doe. Clearly he had had a hard and grim life with no one to care for him. A photo of him was put on show to find anyone who knew or had met him but no-one provided any further information. When all the investigations were over a simple burial of his ashes was carried out in a pauper's grave. Barely three people were there and an old lady standing some way off.  She used to let him have unsold bread and cakes from her shop at closing time.

                                                None knew who he was

                                            His body was found that day 

                                                    With Bible in hand

Image from www.pixabay.com

My secret affair

 

"How did you get on?" he asked

"She's married my dear fellow" I answered

"What difference does that make" he replied

(Three lines from Balzac;s short story, Domestic Peace)

...and so it was from that day on

I had a secret affair with her

A polite grin at first from me

And then her sweet smile in response

Meeting by chance at the town fair

Blushed when I pointed to a cafe

But in the end she did agree

So much more of her I did see

Eager to show me where she lived

Not long she took me home with her

Lead me around to show me all

'Til we both gave each that first kiss

That commenced our pure love affair

That lasted to the start of fall

We parted one day at the fair

...husband guessed; that was end of me

Illustration from www.pixabay.com

The Romantic Thrush

I love the sound of rain

A male thrush looks on

Singing by the window

Knowing its time to go

Back to his shaded nest

As the night calls him now

When his family sleep

Safe now in the trees shade

Chirping always for food

Which chick the first to leave?

As he now imagines

Being alone with her

Yum is cross

 

Most mornings Yum and Dong would go down to the beach soon after the tide started going out, to check their fish trap. This day they hadn’t gone early as they talked about their husbands now they were both off hunting. Noticing that most of the other women had already gone they put their babies on slings to be rocked by their walking as they went down to the beach.

There were one or two women waiting to look for fish after Yum and Dong had taken theirs first. Already in the pool was a woman looking for fish and tossing them out on the sand nearby.

When the two friends arrived Yum handed Wah-Wah to Dong, strode up to the woman and hit and scratched her face. She told the woman to take the fish she had stolen and go and tell her husband to build his own fish trap as she was not allowed in this one anymore.

All the other women were scared and started to walk away but Yum called them back to look for fish for their families with her and Dong. Dong was amazed at how strong but fair Yum could be.   

Everything quietened down in the cave after Yum’s fight with the woman at the beach. The woman’s husband would have been cross with Dum had it not been the fact that Grunt and Dum did everything together as well as him knowing his woman was greedy. When he learned that Yum had given her the fish he didn’t see a problem. It wasn’t long though before the couple left the cave and peace was restored,

270 words

Maisie's Rosary

 

Maisie was an old lady down our street

Who scared us kids if ever we did meet

She wore a rosary our parents said

The cross of which that was made of bone

From her dead husband's fingers; how we moaned!

Which made us scared before we went to bed

We would laugh at the tale when were older

And would pass her house when we were bolder

For it was one way she still had him close

Ma said it was because she loved him so

Dad said it was she wouldn't let him go

Young sis Ann covered her ears filled with dread

Definitely devine

It was almost dark the night was falling

I listened to rattle of the screen doors

There's a bell, I expect them to ring

"Answer it" my wife's green eyes do implore

Slowly I get up to check who it is

To find a sweet lass whose lips I could kiss

"Sorry to worry" she says with a smile

"Could I see your wife for a minute or two?"

So opened the door (she was quite nubile)

So pointed to lounge door to enter through

She was a stunner; you know what I mean

Apparently her first name was Eileen

So in she came, I took her to my wife

Apparently a student at her school

Most beautiful girl I'd seen in my life

Studying history, still made me drool

Some kids really grow up so fast these days

"You're really such an old fool" my wife says

Dum's stone axe

Dum and Grunt were now friends and while the women looked for fish on the beach the men wandered off to explore the forest, streams and mountains. Yum liked having time with Dong to talk about their men and laugh.

That day the men followed the river upstream, finding it cool and dark whilst looking for animals in the forest. Grunt carried his spear as did Dum who also took woven bags for their finds.

The terrain got rugged and birdsong and animal cries ceased. Cautiously they pushed through the undergrowth following the stream where they could. Although Dum's sight was impaired his hearing was acute. Now and then he would cover his mouth to tell Grunt to keep quiet, Grunt was too noisy for Dum and he felt like hitting him. 

Suddenly Dum heard a noise it was the sound of stone striking stone. This time he hushed Grunt and whispered there was someone close by. Grunt strained his ears but shook his head. Dum listened again then pointed to where the sound was, then started off toward it. He then turned to Grunt indicating someone else was close by.

Then they saw him. The man was crouched by the stream chipping at stones collected from the water. He was tying the stones to short sticks with strips of vines. Eventually he fastened one tight and tried it out but the stone loosened immediately. Frustrated he gave up, took some stones with him and walked away.

They waited awhile then checked what he had been doing. Dum picked up some of the stones from the stream and put them in his bag. They kept looking for small animals but none came no doubt sensing the humans.

Dum wanted to get back home now as he knew where the man had erred. The stone head should be inserted in the handle and tied with vine strands. He knew he could make that weapon.

.

Word count 324

Image found at www.pixabay.com

She smiled at me

 

I met her in my last year at school; she smiled at me as I walked her home. And so it became a habit for us both to meet and play on the tennis court just a short walk from her house. I liked her curvy legs and that she played so well. So I didn't mind when she won the game. But it all went wrong when I finished school and got a job in town. She didn't seem so close anymore and suggested we take a break as she was taking her exams. Just after that was the last we ever met as she found a job in the city forty miles from home. This was more than sixty years ago and my life took a varied course. I never saw her again but after both our partners died just a few years back she found me on Facebook so we kept touch each on the other side of the world. Then I got a message from her daughter who told me that my old flame had passed away. Clearly her mother probably felt she should let me know that all these years she still loved me too.

What is the price of love

When you have a broken heart

As she turned you down?

 

In the rock pool

With Dum's woman Yum and Dong now friends and helping each other with their children. Dum and Grunt (Dong's husband) also went out hunting together.

The women decided that they too would collect fruit and shellfish and Dum and Grunt could catch animals and birds and even fish if they could work out how to snare them.

As the women wandered off together, on the beach the men found the freshwater streams from the hills entering the sea as the sea tried to push the water back upstream again.

Dum suddenly had an idea to make a pond where river met the sea and this might leave any fish in the shallows stranded in the pond when the tide went out.

So they built a rock and pebble wall that would be under the sea at high tide but would retain the fresh water when the tide went out. They went home that night with grins on their faces with a haul of fish knowing that they would get more than a good feed that night.

Dum and Grunt told their wives about the fish trap and said as they had made it the women should collect the fish when the tide went out and tell the other wives they could take some themselves afterwards. It took some time for the other women in the cave to understand as they would go there when the tide was out when it was empty. When they saw Yum and Dong carrying back fish each day they got in the habit of following them down and waiting to get their share.

This is another episode in the Caveman series I wrote many years ago. More to come if requested!

Word count 264

Image shows a prehistoric fish trap still existing in Australia

I heard the freight train whistle

I heard the freight train whistle in the dead of night

As across the rooftops it seemed to scream with fright

Looked out from from my window and gave owl a surprise

He blinked at me then flew off with wide glaring eyes

Silently he swooped off through the darkened trees

Tried to get back to sleep to close my weary mind

Dulled with mourning, losing friend who was always kind

We both married other partners much later on

But still it hurts to know that she too has gone

We both went to the same school; and walked her home too

Soon we were both married to loves of our varied lives

Crowded Britain lost us, went 'downunder' to thrive

Sailed to Australia to work and raise family

This was good as weather here is rarely chilly

However it's large, so always warm somewhere

Am old now and my body's sagging to be sure

I looked back, how fortunate we were so secure

No other country margins us, the sea is our border

So being here always has been such a bargain

Visit when you can, there is always a beach to swim

The second of two

I was the second of two

Which was sad as a wee lad

I was bad news for my bro

He bullied me so I was sad

If Ma would see the fine day

"Off you go my little ones"

She would send us out to play

Brother jumped and broke my arm bone

Soon worked out he's enemy

Chose my friends as he was bad

Once left me high in a tree

Other kids came so I was glad

Broken bones and bruises too

Soon taught me to choose my mates

Saw him at home; outside adieu

So left him at the garden gates

We both grew up quite apart

He teased me when we were home

But different schools for a start

Then later, off I went to roam

Saw little of him for years

He wed twice to stunning girls

Both brides ended it with tears

That's life as it's all twists and twirls

But I still remember him

And the girls that he let go

Shouldn't have chose a life grim

Just started so wrong years ago 

Dum does his best

Recently I introduced you to an episode of a Caveman series about Dum and Yum a caveman couple a few thousand years ago. Dum's wife has given birth to a baby boy. 

They have named him Wah-Wah for the present until he shows some new characteristics.

Wah-Wah's cry made Dum turn to find Yum was writhing on the ground. He pulled Wah-Wah baby off seeing Yum vomiting and delirius with some berries in her hand. He strapped Wah-Wah to his own back, picked Yum up and took her to the sea to put some salt water in her mouth. This made her vomit explosively. He repeated the treatment until she pushed him away. He carefully carried them both back to the cave.

Dum knew he must ask someone there to help feed Wah-Wah, So he walked around the cave looking for a mother still nursing her child. He found one near the entrance whose baby was clearly eating other things. He asked if she could help, telling her what Yum had done. She nodded nervously but as her husband wasn' there she settled back to feed Wah-Wah, told Dum to leave lest her man came home. So Dum sat by the entrance of the cave. 

Dong finally called for Dum and handed Wah-Wah back and told him not to tell. But Dum said he would tell her man something himself. Dong looked frightened but finally agreed.

All day Dum wondered what to give him, then just as the sun was setting and Wah-Wah had two more feeds he saw Grunt the husband coming home with two rabbits over his shoulder. So he decided to give him a basket he had made so Grunt's wife would still feed Wah-Wah.

He took Wah-Wah back to Yum to hold and grabbed a basket and met Grunt at the entrance. He beckoned Grunt to follow him to see that Yum was ill and that Wah-Wah needed food and then asked if Dong could feed their baby.

Grunt looked closely at Yum and saw that she was falling asleep again and not holding Wah-Wah properly. Then looked back at wife Dong who was giving her child water and skinning the rabbits he'd caught. Dong would chew up the rabbit meat and put in the baby's mouth. So he looked at the basket and tested its strength then pointed to Dong and shook his fist at Dum not to touch her.

Dum just nodded and touched Yum's face tenderly which was enough for Grunt to laugh at the thought of wife Dong wanting Dum with only one eye.

Word count 389

Flowers for the boy who cared

I once knew a boy who cared

Even though he was impaired

Playing in the garden with his dog

Or by the fish pond and found a frog

Boy did have a sheltered life

But was given a pen knife

Like ever other boy I knew

A turtle was put in the pond too

He'd watch his pets with delight

And Dad read him a book at night

His Mum would urge him to walk with her

He tried his best and did not demur

Each diversion helped the boy

Happily played with every toy

His eyes sparkled at every find

But the disease he had was not kind

Image found at www.colorbox.com