Sunday's Whirligig

 Posted Saturday July 9


This week’s 12 given words are:-  have, reason, filled, when, room, child, love, irrational, blooms, wild, season, bright

"I’d love to come with you but I can’t right now" He didn’t give me a reason, but the estate agent bore an anxious expression as he handed me the keys to number 8.

Struggling with my umbrella I fought my way down the footpath against the unseasonably wild wind and torrential rain. When I eventually persuaded the key to turn in the rusty lock, I tumbled my way inside. It was dim, gloomy. A rancid musty odour assaulted my senses. I gagged. As I slowly edged my way along the hall a door creaked and opened a fraction as if inviting me to enter. I found myself in a vast room devoid of furniture. Wallpaper hung limply from stained walls and a shattered chandelier lay on the floor. In the stillness, the only sound I heard was my pounding heart and the foul weather taunting me from outside. 

I dragged open a curtain, and as it fell to the floor I was dazzled by bright sunlight. Before me, a cloudless sky and a picture book garden of colourful blooms wrapped around a carpet of manicured grass. On a stone beside a shimmering pond sat a small child, his back turned to me. In his hand, a little fishing rod fashioned from a twisted branch and a length of twine. He slowly turned his head to face me. I can’t describe his eyes. They burned into mine, and I fell backwards writhing with a searing pain.

My phone rang. It startled me. I was sitting in my favourite armchair and I smiled as I realised it had been nothing more than an irrational dream; the agent, the house, the boy. I pressed answer. 

"My colleague went round to the property earlier and found your umbrella on the floor" the caller said. "So, what did you think of number 8?"

Sunday's Whirligig

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