writing exercise

20 minutes and 10 words to work into something - an exercise from thesquaretable

hand, curtain, current, supper, rain, time, forgotten, fields, shadow, machine

*****

It was long past supper time and still Joseph had not returned. The market was a long walk through the overgrown fields, and normally they went together, carrying carvings to sell, and grain to be turned to flour in the town’s milling machine, but the wound on Caleb’s foot still festered, and Joseph had left in the early morning, pushing the hand cart alone.

Caleb had forgotten how alone he felt without Joseph by his side. He’d carved out a holding here in the woods, and for years he had lived alone, but now just one day without his partner, listening to the rain fall through the open workshop door, left him twitchy and startling at every sudden sound.

As the shadows had lengthened a current of concern had started to run through his thoughts, and it had taken an effort of will to force himself to take care of their livestock – another task normally brightened by the sharing of it – and to prepare an evening meal. Joseph’s supper was cooling in a covered pot set to the side of the fire, and the small amount Caleb had forced himself to eat sat un-easily in his belly as the sodden night drew on and his fears grew.

His hand twisted in the old cotton of the curtains that flanked the windows which faced the approach from the road. The sore throbbing of his infected foot kept him from carrying a lantern up the muddy track, but nothing could force him to draw a barrier between the lights of their home and Joseph’s approach. It would be cold comfort indeed if anything awful had befallen his love, but waiting and lighting the path was all that he could offer, and if nothing worse than a worn wheel peg or the sticky clay of the road had delayed Joseph, Caleb felt sure his offering would be appreciated.

writing exercise

20 minutes and 10 words to work into something - an exercise from thesquaretable

hand, curtain, current, supper, rain, time, forgotten, fields, shadow, machine

*****

It was long past supper time and still Joseph had not returned. The market was a long walk through the overgrown fields, and normally they went together, carrying carvings to sell, and grain to be turned to flour in the town’s milling machine, but the wound on Caleb’s foot still festered, and Joseph had left in the early morning, pushing the hand cart alone.

Caleb had forgotten how alone he felt without Joseph by his side. He’d carved out a holding here in the woods, and for years he had lived alone, but now just one day without his partner, listening to the rain fall through the open workshop door, left him twitchy and startling at every sudden sound.

As the shadows had lengthened a current of concern had started to run through his thoughts, and it had taken an effort of will to force himself to take care of their livestock – another task normally brightened by the sharing of it – and to prepare an evening meal. Joseph’s supper was cooling in a covered pot set to the side of the fire, and the small amount Caleb had forced himself to eat sat un-easily in his belly as the sodden night drew on and his fears grew.

His hand twisted in the old cotton of the curtains that flanked the windows which faced the approach from the road. The sore throbbing of his infected foot kept him from carrying a lantern up the muddy track, but nothing could force him to draw a barrier between the lights of their home and Joseph’s approach. It would be cold comfort indeed if anything awful had befallen his love, but waiting and lighting the path was all that he could offer, and if nothing worse than a worn wheel peg or the sticky clay of the road had delayed Joseph, Caleb felt sure his offering would be appreciated.