Girl
by Joseph Young
The tadpoles flipped on the brown mud bottom. She dipped one out and held it near, seeing it in her belly, shaping arms and feet and a small, blond head. She set it back and stood, breasts out, arms up. The ducks in the weed, eyes hard like hungry boys, waited for bread. She would call, I hate you, or, I love you, and the ducks would scatter. She would do neither. The mud sucked her shoes, the minnows showed their silver stomachs and rolled away.
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Author's Note
One of the oldest stories collected in Easter Rabbit, Girl was also my first collaboration with encaustic painter Christine Sajecki, cover artist for the book. To see the lovely painting that inspired Girl, entitled Raise Your Hand, and to see more work by this gifted artist, visit www.csajecki.com.
Other stories by Joseph Young
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This is gorgeous and beautiful read aloud, Joe.
Excellent, particularly "The mud sucked her toes."
Have to go look up "encaustic."
So imagistic. Love "the mud sucked her shoes"--
This is great work. Wonderful really.
Thanks much, Kathy, George,
Cami, and Sam. I appreciate the read.
Very nice, Joe. I like this especially:
"The ducks in the weed, eyes hard like hungry boys, waited for bread."
Oh blimey...indeed it is mud sucked her shoes. I like that a lot too. Yes, the eyes hard like hungry toys is also a great line. Wait, what? Oh, yes, hungry boys. Great job.
Thanks, Kat! George, that's okay, I like toes too. By the way, encaustic is painting with hot, pigmented wax.
I really like the idea of this piece of work. Very nice.
So much packed into such few words. Almost as if each phrase has been picked out after a careful filtering process. Liked it.
effing gorgeous.
"the minnows showed their silver stomachs and rolled away"
Excellent!