Excerpt: Cloudy, Rainy Tales (working title)

After quickly vacuuming around the room she took a shower and then settled herself in the kitchen with her English literature book and the dinner in the oven.

This class seemed pointless to her major but at least this book was good for something. Its stories and analyses would keep her amused for a while.

Aesop’s Fables… She remembered these from way back but some of them didn’t quite click immediately. Like she remembered the spider but the others were sort of hazy. She couldn’t quite recall if there’d been a jaguar or a puma. Jaguar? Hm, didn’t seem right but she’d go with it. Then there was the one about the lion. She remembered something about a lion indeed but in rereading Emily couldn’t quite recall what. Curling up she proceeded to read.

There was a small, rocky peninsula jutting out into the sea. All around, waves crashed violently, and a storm wailed, throwing debris about in a fit of rage. The cold spray, the icy wind was unquenchable by any warm sun that might break through. Still, no sun came through and the storm only seemed to grow louder and more terrible by the moment. Even the rocky peninsula threatened to be dashed to sand by the building waves. All around there was chaos and in the wind, there was the cry of mourning. A sad, grave song that seemed to cut through rock and wave to reach Emily’s ears. The sound of a low growl reached her ears too. Spinning, there was a huge lion, steady in the wind, it’s intense eyes focused on her.

She turned to run, quite forgetting the terrain or indeed, the fact that the ocean lay only feet away. She tripped and caught herself barely on a nearby boulder, covering her head, waiting for the impending claws and teeth to come. There was a powerful roar and then, quiet. Emily looked up and the storm was subsiding, the sun was coming out to rest sweetly on her and the waves lulled themselves into a peaceful lapping. Turning tentatively she saw the lion laying down peaceably and at it’s feet was a pile of coins- all bronze, and all bearing the same insignia. The Chi-Roh.

She was stunned to lift her hands to her face and discover tears coming down her face. Amazed to discover she was warm. Suddenly she heard such a gently rush of waves and in the singing wind, was a sweet, reverent melody. A song of joy, who’s words she could not understand, yet the tears overflowed. She crawled to the lion, suddenly exhausted but happy, laying her head on one of it’s massive paws. She picked up a coin and turned it over, and over, and over again. Watching the light bounce off it each time, noting how warm and dry it was, compared to everything around her… But then, even she was dry now. Dry, warm and at peace. It was like something akin to what she might remember in childhood, except mobiles that caught the light; large soft animals: they were simply too old a memory to recall. Yet, the feeling was understood and it was there, all through the night.