Tara Girl

Word Limit: 250 words or less
Three Words: – lustrous, fluttering, eclipse

I peer out the curtains. The streets are dark.

The house is quiet. Our family sound asleep. My faithful friend curled at my feet. I bend down and softly stroke her lustrous ebon coat. She lifts her head gently, stretching out her aging bones. Voicing an energetic yawn, she looks up at me with a playful stare.

“Time for a walk, pretty girl?”

She jumps up. Her happy tail fluttering with anticipation. This was the moment we patiently awaited each day.

We race to the back door, gather our things, and head out into the night.

The streets are silent, but a gentle wind. The boulevard lights that guide our way – out, yet the evening greets us brighter.

I look up past the empty maple that stretches high above our rooftop. The moon is full. It looks so lonely up there. Forgotten. Even the stars grace the evening sky, so often eclipsed by the yellow glow of row, upon row.

The night’s alive in this borrowed light, with artful shadows and cobalt skies, seasoned timbers reaching out, into these surreal hub-urban skies.

A voice in the distance calls the wolf moon.

She stops. Still.

Calling again.

A calendar stance. Perplexed? Orienting. Giving ear to the message of this night.

We continue on our way, pausing occasionally to appreciate this gift.

Moonlit walk on loan. The night light our elders had known.

If only the yellow night turned down, when the new moon began to crown.