An Eve Tit-Bit…

Surprises. The boy was a surprise; he really was.

My last recollection of him was as I was falling and he was falling too, but on top of me. My exhaustion had burnt a hole through my resistance and he was about to take advantage. His hot body, stinking of sweat, reeking of something else as well, fell upon me and I was doomed. It was later that I learnt that Mother’s arrow had felled him.

Ruth had taken me through the cellar and out into the back field that bordered onto the edge of an orchard. The orchard wrapped itself in the intoxicating aroma of apples; a scent I was now beginning to become accustomed to. She said nothing as we moved carefully between the trees, but she did keep halting to check that we were not being followed. The further we went into the orchard, the more I realised how bounteous their world was. We walked, shifted between trunks, and walked. All along, Ruth kept her vigil. Finally, we stopped.

“I can trust you, can’t I?”