Day Two of my drabble-a-day challenge. Here is today’s drabble:
The Fortune Tree
I slipped out quietly, but I got back to find Mum at the kitchen table with a pot of tea. And tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry! There's this tradition..."
"I know."
"Before you leave, you hide something you value in the tree."
She looked up. "Something you value?"
"My fountain pen."
I'd written all my exams with it, all my stories. I'd rammed it under the rough bark, high up.
"We always said something of value. I stole my mother's wedding ring."
I looked at the damp ceiling. Mum's worn, lined face.
"I guess that didn't bring you fortune."
I woke up this morning thinking of one of my favourite novels. In particular, trying to remember the name of one of the central characters. Was it Isambard? Surely not, that is a name which is uniquely associated with building bridges and tunnels.
I could check either by rummaging around in the shelves for the book, or Googling. Naturally, I chose the latter because it didn’t involve getting out of bed: Ralf Isambard.
The book in question is The Heaven Tree, the first book in Edith Pargeter’s epic trilogy. I highly recommend it if you enjoy historical fiction (Edith Pargeter is better known as Ellis Peters, the pseudonym under which she wrote the Brother Cadfael whodunnits).
Anyway, it set me off thinking: could I write a very short story with the title The Heaven Tree. The answer appears to be “no”, but I got reasonably close.