TheBanyanTree: BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON

[Sharon Mack]

My cousin sent me a prompt this morning, she had found a white satin and Toole wedding bow in a similar park described in the story and asked me to write a story about it.

BY THE LIGHT OF THE SILVERY MOON
(To Zoë, the inspiration for this story)
by Sharon A. Mack

Late autumn and Mother Nature had once again changed her costume. She was preparing for winter snows, covering the earth in a blanket of colorful leaves now turning brown bit by bit.   I walked along the leaf-strewn path, under the yellowed maples and red stringy leaves of the staghorn sumac that drank deeply from the river's edge.  Swaying pine boughs mixed in behind and between the smaller trees casting their large dark shadows along the way.  Twilight's purple light had just begun.

I take the dogs to walk there when time allows.  I love to watch them adjust to each season's temperatures and their surroundings, bounding through the not yet grown grasses and budding shrubs in spring, the tall grasses in summer, and the now, crispy crunchy leaves of autumn.  They snuffle and roll and play so happy to be outside, stretching their freedom for all it is worth.

We move to the center of the park after duty is done and enter the formal gardens.  Only residue of summer's green now remains, as brown and gray as the rest of the park.   It is here where we become quiet and companionable.  They back on their leashes, panting and slowed by the expenditure of their energies; me sitting, allowing my mind to drift.  I begin to draw mental pictures of the weddings that took place in this very spot.  I close my eyes and let the evening breezes chill my cheeks....and I dream of Paul.

We had come to this spot many years ago.  I can see him now.  Young, strong, full of life, his dark hair falling low over his brow, smiling at me with his jaunty, crooked smile.  I think I can even smell him.  He is on the breeze and I warm to the memory.  I sense the excitement all over again.  I remember the satin of my gown, the Toole and satin bows that adorned it and my hair.  He had plucked one out from under my veil after the ceremony.  He'd kissed it tenderly with his lips and smiled at me.  I wondered now what had happened to that bow.  He'd stuffed it into his pocket.  I never saw it again.

The dogs became restless; I opened my eyes and saw that darkness had come.  The moon and stars shone brightly in the cold black sky.  The light cast on the leaves and brown branches was silver and gray.  Slowly I gathered the pups and their leashes.  I didn't want to leave my thoughts behind, but I knew they would be there when I returned.  I turned slowly toward the path and that's when it caught my eye*.a small white glint visible under the pale light of the moon. It was half hidden beneath a large maple leaf, so unlike the other.....you see, it was still bright green.