Alive by Julie Smith-Allen

Prompt: wild around the edges

I was 11, 
sweet, shy, solitary,
the darkness sliding into the night sky 
outside the bedroom I shared with my sister,
the day’s heat still pulsing through the open screen.

Alone in the two-storey house,
I was changing 
into my nightie, peach-coloured, nearly transparent,
when a distant, unfamiliar excitement 
sent me from the bedroom 
down the hall
down the stairs
feet barely touching the cold linoleum.
Anticipation quivered 
as I swept through the kitchen
out the door 
into the yard.

Distant stars looked on
as a breeze tousled my long brown hair, 
riffled my nightie 
and breathed through the thin material
onto my bare chest.

I stood tall on the cool grass, 
arms outstretched, alive--
then, seeing headlights 
I moved back inside
through the kitchen
and up the stairs. 
(Fifty years on, it stirs me still.) 

---

Julie Smith-Allen lives in Lethbridge and has been writing since her angsty teenage years, as therapy, as joy, as a way to make sense of life. She has a Creative Writing Certificate from U of C, has had a couple of items published, and is proud mother to two adult offspring and two feisty felines. In her off-writing hours, she works remotely for Jasper National Park.