The prompt for December's meeting was "I found a rainbow in my pocket" and I came up with this festive little tale of joy:
I found a rainbow in my pocket
The last candle dwindled and died. The cupboard under the stairs, our home for the last few days, was now completely black. The sound of grenade blasts and machine gun fire had faded and been replaced by isolated rifle shots as they went house to house. It would be us soon. A bullet for me and for the two kids who were sleeping in my arms, too weak to cry or complain.
I kissed them both on the head, being careful not to wake them and then I clamped my hands over their mouths and noses until they stopped breathing. It didn’t take long. I reached in to my trouser pocket for the tiny razor I was going to use on myself but instead of thin metal I felt a spongey object. I pulled it out and the cupboard was filled with light as if someone had shone a car headlight into it.
Both kids woke up and covered their eyes
The last candle dwindled and died. The cupboard under the stairs, our home for the last few days, was now completely black. The sound of grenade blasts and machine gun fire had faded and been replaced by isolated rifle shots as they went house to house. It would be us soon. A bullet for me and for the two kids who were sleeping in my arms, too weak to cry or complain.
I kissed them both on the head, being careful not to wake them and then I clamped my hands over their mouths and noses until they stopped breathing. It didn’t take long. I reached in to my trouser pocket for the tiny razor I was going to use on myself but instead of thin metal I felt a spongey object. I pulled it out and the cupboard was filled with light as if someone had shone a car headlight into it.
Both kids woke up and covered their eyes
“What’s that, mum?” asked the boy.
“It’s a present I made for you both, it was hiding in my pocket”
“What is it though?” asked the girl
I threw it into the air as if releasing a bird “Why it’s a rainbow of course!” and it burst out of the cupboard and on into the garden. We tumbled out after it, laughing.
The little baby rainbow was sitting on the grass, spinning and shining white as it prepared itself for that thing rainbows do.
“Mind your eyes! It’s going to..”
It exploded in a glittering burst of blinding red, filling the sky with an electrified neon glow. As we looked at each other’s amazed faces, everything turned emerald green, including the neighbours who had come out to watch the show.
A flock of seagulls, painted green by the embryonic rainbow, flew in circles overhead. Their favourite part of rainbow-birth is the violet stage, which came next, transforming them into glowing, winged blackcurrants which, for seagulls is the funniest thing imaginable. They laugh so hard at this that they can’t fly, so they all landed in the garden and rolled around, squawking their helpless laughter as they looked at each other’s stupid purple bodies.
As each of the colours was ignited into existence, the rainbow itself took shape, planting one end of its self firmly on the lawn and stretching up towards the sky. As the world went from solar yellow to inky blue, the rainbow was tall enough to lean over and form the giant arc that is their mature stage.
The kids and I sat on the grass together and gazed at the giant rainbow that sprouted from our garden, stretching to goodness knows where. I kissed them both on the head.
“It’s a present I made for you both, it was hiding in my pocket”
“What is it though?” asked the girl
I threw it into the air as if releasing a bird “Why it’s a rainbow of course!” and it burst out of the cupboard and on into the garden. We tumbled out after it, laughing.
The little baby rainbow was sitting on the grass, spinning and shining white as it prepared itself for that thing rainbows do.
“Mind your eyes! It’s going to..”
It exploded in a glittering burst of blinding red, filling the sky with an electrified neon glow. As we looked at each other’s amazed faces, everything turned emerald green, including the neighbours who had come out to watch the show.
A flock of seagulls, painted green by the embryonic rainbow, flew in circles overhead. Their favourite part of rainbow-birth is the violet stage, which came next, transforming them into glowing, winged blackcurrants which, for seagulls is the funniest thing imaginable. They laugh so hard at this that they can’t fly, so they all landed in the garden and rolled around, squawking their helpless laughter as they looked at each other’s stupid purple bodies.
As each of the colours was ignited into existence, the rainbow itself took shape, planting one end of its self firmly on the lawn and stretching up towards the sky. As the world went from solar yellow to inky blue, the rainbow was tall enough to lean over and form the giant arc that is their mature stage.
The kids and I sat on the grass together and gazed at the giant rainbow that sprouted from our garden, stretching to goodness knows where. I kissed them both on the head.
