Photo by Ussama Azam on Unsplash
by Sandra Arnold
She pulled the book from the top shelf, opened it on the table and took out the paper tree she’d made all those years ago when her children were small and she cut off the five leaves she’d shaped and coloured and pasted onto the tree and spread them on the table. The smallest leaf was the daughter who’d died, the middle-sized one was the son who’d caused such a destructive rift in the family, the largest leaves were herself and her soul-mate and these she re-attached at the top of the tree, carefully placing the leaf of the eldest daughter between them before she stood back and looked at the reassembled tree which now had three leaves on the tree where there used to be five. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember, before turning to a new page in her book and placing the tree there. Then she closed the book and put it back on the shelf. She picked up the two remaining leaves from the table, lit a match and let them burn all the way down to the tips of her fingers. Then she blew the ash high into the air and watched the tiny fragments fall and drift away.
Sandra Arnold’s work includes seven books, including her two 2023 books, The Bones of the Story and Where the Wind Blows. Her short fiction has been published internationally and received nominations for The Best Small Fictions, Best Microfictions and The Pushcart Prize. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Central Queensland University, Australia.
