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Leavings

June 10, 2018 9 Comments

Leavings

By DL Shirey

The dreamy, slow circle of the overhead fan. The sound of a fly making lazy pivots on this hot afternoon. “Sweltering,” Mom would have said, “but the lawn won’t mow itself.” A push mower leans against the maple we named Old Man. His leaves cover the tall grass. The rake is just outside the screen door. So are the grass shears. Mom would have made iced tea, jangled cubes in the sweating pitcher to tempt me, to show my reward for doing her yard. I’m nursing a beer instead, satisfied, having trimmed around her headstone and raked up all the leavings.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David Silver says

    June 10, 2018 at 7:23 am

    Fabulous.

    Reply
  2. KA says

    June 10, 2018 at 7:56 am

    Applause!

    Reply
  3. Virginia says

    June 10, 2018 at 8:08 am

    Powerful images. Well done.

    Reply
  4. James Bonnor says

    June 10, 2018 at 10:31 am

    yep, that was corking

    Reply
  5. rauthor68 says

    June 10, 2018 at 11:13 am

    A good story with a tinge of regret. But the grass still grows.

    Reply
  6. sudhabalagopalblog says

    June 10, 2018 at 5:55 pm

    Loved this!

    Reply
  7. Susan says

    June 10, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    Wonderful! I can almost hear the jangling cubes…

    Reply
  8. Ellen Black says

    June 13, 2018 at 7:06 pm

    Beautiful!

    Reply
  9. D. Avery @shiftnshake says

    June 13, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    Well done, all wrapped up and revealed in the final sentence.

    Reply

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