Allessa walked into the park with her mother’s grey hound in tow. A feisty boxer snipped at the skittish hound, causing the slender animal to yelp and attempt to cower behind her legs. The result was a tangled collision of both owner and master, and a ungraceful plummet to the pavement for the small woman.
“Lexie!” Is the only word she can utter as she falls.
She’d unfortunately been wearing cargo shorts and a baggy white t-shirt. Her clothes were suitable for a romp in the park with her favorite furry friend, but not good at preventing the gruesome looking scrapes that now decorated her knees and arms.
The black and white dappled Egyptian grey hound gazed at Allessa with mournful, liquid brown eyes, ears tucked low in guilt. Lexie timidly nudges her human’s dainty, angular chin with her wet nose. When Allessa simply stares at her, eyes layered deep with disapproval the half hearted wagging of the dog’s bony tail trails to a crestfallen halt.
Unable to bear the pitiful site Allessa laughs, and gently strokes the top of the dog’s head.
“Get me hit by a car and you won’t like the ending sweetie.” She tells Lexie.
She loved talking to the dog, and didn’t find it strange that she did it often. She loved evenings like these, when the sky was grey and the air warm. It reminded her of being encased in a blanket. She looked at the area, eyes alight, eagerly searching for just the right tree to climb. Instead she spotted a small vacated grassy area. She knew immediately it was perfect for ‘doggy play time’ as her mother had often called Allessa and Lexie’s daily walks.
On the island of St. Thomas, relatives would simply shake their heads in affectionately whenever they saw the petite girl sprinting lithely through the trees. Allessa was the baby sister of four brothers who never found the need to prove her merit. Free spirited and distractible, her mother had refused to listen to other’s warning’s that Allessa was a bit too coarse or tactless for her own good. With the occasional sharp word or two, she’d simply let her daughter roam and tumble where she willed.
That was until they moved to Philadelphia. Allessa had been 13 when she found herself thrust into an environment that was the polar opposite of her home. At 19, she still felt displaced. Like a toucan thrust into a cage of canaries with the demands to sing like a little petite canary.
Lexie yipped with impatience, jolting Allessa out of he reverie. She grips he slim black leash tighter and sets off at a sprint to the little clearing, nimbly avoiding people on the crowded pathway with spritely agility and grace.
Spectators who were not regular visitors would pause only briefly to watch the tiny dark woman with thick long dreads flash by. Others simply did the subtle routine side step, or even flashed a familiar smile at the wily woman keeping pace with the graceful hound.
Oblivious to the reactions she was eliciting Alessa smiled, her pearly white teeth setting a shocking contrast to her dark brown skin, almost glowing as brightly as the whites of her eyes. She reached the clearing, and instead of stopping excitedly chased Lexie around in circles. This was their spot, their own little abode. For the briefest moment, she was back on the island.
Gone were the cars, the sirens, the reek of misery and fear. Her eyes were on Lexie. The hounds tongue was lolling about, happy pants of exertion sounding out softly as she nimbly avoided Allessa’s slender, delicate fingers. This was their game of play, basically ritual now.
Momentarily winded, Allessa lets her knees buckle. Lexie ceases her prancing lopes over to Allessa. She nudges her chin, this time pleading.
“In a moment, in a moment…I was not made for running like you dog.” Allessa sighed.
Relenting, the hound gracefully lays herself beside the woman, eyes halfway lidded with a comical expression of contentment. Allessa stares at the dog, and laughs.
“Mama is right. You are just as strange as I.” She declares softly in her soft, raspy voice.
She’d heard men say o her she has a bedroom voice. She’d simply laughed, having no understanding as to their meaning. She’d strangely had little interest in the opposite sex. She had no interest in either sex, if she wanted to be honest to herself. Her brother’s were quite content with this. They found that they could be wholly justified in fending off any man who dared give their sister the roaming eye. Their steady warming glares were quite effective. Lecherous old men and young suitors couldn’t help but obey her brothers’ overpowering presence. All like their father, they were dark, strong of features, and monstrously tall.
Their mother, on the other had, was concerned.
Allessa knew her mother saw loneliness in her eyes. It was hard for others to see due to the fact that the young woman was always shifting and moving restlessly. Upon question much of Allessa’s family could not even name the color of the child’s eyes. They were always averted and wandering. But a mother knew her daughter.
Allessa’s eyes were a dark, natural storm grey just like her great grandfather’s. Strangely beautiful in their innocence, so hard to find in an industrial, sickly world, they had the potential to be alluring yet simultaneously virtuous.
Allessa absently stroked Lexie’s silky smooth fur, recalling how her mother would reminisce the first time she saw the great grandfather she never knew.
“Yolanda” Her mother had said, narrating the dying man’s words. “You are of the earth, strong and demure. I have not known you because I am of fire, and I have nearly destroyed the ones who loved me beyond healing. My grandchild, who I have loved from afar, I beg you,”
Yolanda, her mother, had stared at her daughter, sixteen at the time with an inscrutable expression.
“Do not let your nature sweep you away. The earth nurtures and provides, but can often be unmoving and stifling. You must always be wary of the need to protect, were as I was too self indulgent to protect the ones I loved from myself.”
Yolanda recalled how she was allowed to give her strange grandfather a gentle peck on the cheek before saying goodbye. The next day, he passed away. It was one the same day she turned ten years old.
Allessa shivered suddenly. A cold, indescribable chill had settled upon her skin. It was like a thin, transparent sheet had encompassed her in an eerie, insidious embrace. She knew better than to ignore that feeling. Her eyes, which had been dreamily flickering about, lost in memory abruptly, grew alert. She intently observed each park resident, searching for the source of her intuitions out cry. It wasn’t long before she found him. He was the only one who was sitting on the bench, three yards north from her.
The first thing she thought when she saw him was that he was fading. He was wearing a brown, faded t-shirt and grey cargo pants. His brown shoes were resting on the pavement. His face would be pleasant if it weren’t fpr the blank expression. She took a short survey of his features. He had a deep brow, strong jaw, straight nose, four o clock shadow and short cropped blonde hair. Good looks wasted others would admire, but made her wary. She had a sense that he’d been idle for a while. Maybe he’d been watching her for some time. His stare wasn’t filled with lust, or even curiosity. She had the sense that he was simply observing her. At the same time, she realized why she was so unsettled.
He wasn’t blinking. His eyes were completely still. They did not explore her face, her clothes, or her hound. The blue eyes stayed riveted on her own with an unnatural stillness. She slowly rose to her feet. His eyes stayed on hers, much to her growing unease.
“Excuse me ma’am?”
Allessa walked into the park with her mother’s grey hound in tow. A feisty boxer snipped at the skittish hound, causing the slender animal to yelp and attempt to cower behind her legs. The result was a tangled collision of both owner and master, and a ungraceful plummet to the pavement for the small woman.
“Lexie!” Is the only word she can utter as she falls.
She’d unfortunately been wearing cargo shorts and a baggy white t-shirt. Her clothes were suitable for a romp in the park with her favorite furry friend, but not good at preventing the gruesome looking scrapes that now decorated her knees and arms.
The black and white dappled Egyptian grey hound gazed at Allessa with mournful, liquid brown eyes, ears tucked low in guilt. Lexie timidly nudges her human’s dainty, angular chin with her wet nose. When Allessa simply stares at her, eyes layered deep with disapproval the half hearted wagging of the dog’s bony tail trails to a crestfallen halt.
Unable to bear the pitiful site Allessa laughs, and gently strokes the top of the dog’s head.
“Get me hit by a car and you won’t like the ending sweetie.” She tells Lexie.
She loved talking to the dog, and didn’t find it strange that she did it often. She loved evenings like these, when the sky was grey and the air warm. It reminded her of being encased in a blanket. She looked at the area, eyes alight, eagerly searching for just the right tree to climb. Instead she spotted a small vacated grassy area. She knew immediately it was perfect for ‘doggy play time’ as her mother had often called Allessa and Lexie’s daily walks.
On the island of St. Thomas, relatives would simply shake their heads in affectionately whenever they saw the petite girl sprinting lithely through the trees. Allessa was the baby sister of four brothers who never found the need to prove her merit. Free spirited and distractible, her mother had refused to listen to other’s warning’s that Allessa was a bit too coarse or tactless for her own good. With the occasional sharp word or two, she’d simply let her daughter roam and tumble where she willed.
That was until they moved to Philadelphia. Allessa had been 13 when she found herself thrust into an environment that was the polar opposite of her home. At 19, she still felt displaced. Like a toucan thrust into a cage of canaries with the demands to sing like a little petite canary.
Lexie yipped with impatience, jolting Allessa out of he reverie. She grips he slim black leash tighter and sets off at a sprint to the little clearing, nimbly avoiding people on the crowded pathway with spritely agility and grace.
Spectators who were not regular visitors would pause only briefly to watch the tiny dark woman with thick long dreads flash by. Others simply did the subtle routine side step, or even flashed a familiar smile at the wily woman keeping pace with the graceful hound.
Oblivious to the reactions she was eliciting Alessa smiled, her pearly white teeth setting a shocking contrast to her dark brown skin, almost glowing as brightly as the whites of her eyes. She reached the clearing, and instead of stopping excitedly chased Lexie around in circles. This was their spot, their own little abode. For the briefest moment, she was back on the island.
Gone were the cars, the sirens, the reek of misery and fear. Her eyes were on Lexie. The hounds tongue was lolling about, happy pants of exertion sounding out softly as she nimbly avoided Allessa’s slender, delicate fingers. This was their game of play, basically ritual now.
Momentarily winded, Allessa lets her knees buckle. Lexie ceases her prancing lopes over to Allessa. She nudges her chin, this time pleading.
“In a moment, in a moment…I was not made for running like you dog.” Allessa sighed.
Relenting, the hound gracefully lays herself beside the woman, eyes halfway lidded with a comical expression of contentment. Allessa stares at the dog, and laughs.
“Mama is right. You are just as strange as I.” She declares softly in her soft, raspy voice.
She’d heard men say o her she has a bedroom voice. She’d simply laughed, having no understanding as to their meaning. She’d strangely had little interest in the opposite sex. She had no interest in either sex, if she wanted to be honest to herself. Her brother’s were quite content with this. They found that they could be wholly justified in fending off any man who dared give their sister the roaming eye. Their steady warming glares were quite effective. Lecherous old men and young suitors couldn’t help but obey her brothers’ overpowering presence. All like their father, they were dark, strong of features, and monstrously tall.
Their mother, on the other had, was concerned.
Allessa knew her mother saw loneliness in her eyes. It was hard for others to see due to the fact that the young woman was always shifting and moving restlessly. Upon question much of Allessa’s family could not even name the color of the child’s eyes. They were always averted and wandering. But a mother knew her daughter.
Allessa’s eyes were a dark, natural storm grey just like her great grandfather’s. Strangely beautiful in their innocence, so hard to find in an industrial, sickly world, they had the potential to be alluring yet simultaneously virtuous.
