The Olive Tree

Everyone is having an afternoon nap. I push open the back screen door, and run down the driveway through the paddock to the bottom of the property. My olive tree is waiting for me. Her branches welcome me into her centre.

I sit on her knobbly roots, made for a small bottom like mine. Brittle leaves carpet her interior. Next to me, is a door, big enough only for the miniature family of bears that live inside. Above me, I can see the branches that Mr Lizard jumps from with glee, wearing his red top hat, and chewing on a piece of grass. Lily, the fairy princess, also lives in the old olive tree. Her room is at the very top. She and I are best friends.

For hours, Lily, my bear friends and I gossip about the other creatures in the wood. We talk about the mean old King, who lives in the sausage tree next door, and counts his money. He never lends any to anyone else. We talk about Mrs Magpie, who is really very dotty, and is always forgetting her keys. Mrs Bear complains about her husband, and her noisy children. I sympathise briefly, before her daughter tells me her mother is very strict.

The sky is clear and the air is dry. We gaze through her old branches as a single cloud travels past. The grass around her is the colour of sand.

I hear the bell on my brother's bike, and the scrape of gravel. I say goodbye to my friends, and run towards the driveway.

The Write on Wednesday Spark - The nature of place
Think about a place in nature that feels special to you. Perhaps it is somewhere you visited as a child. Or maybe you share a special outdoor space with your own children. This place, this space will be your prompt for this week's writing exercise. Write about a particular natural geography, a natural place or space close to your heart. Tell us about the weather, the landform , the creatures who live there, what the place means to you and why. You can write prose fiction, poetry, non-fiction and/or a photographic narrative. You might mix the landscape with a personal story. Wherever the prompt take you...Let us peek into your place.

Grey water

Meg marches through the tall grass. It whips her bare legs, and her feet crush dry leaves. The evening is clammy. Sweat drips between her breasts. She can't see clearly, but can smell the sea, so heads towards it.

The roar of the ocean takes her by surprise. Stepping onto the sand, the clamminess is broken by dry, salt air. It sticks to her skin.

She runs now. Her thighs ache as she pushes herself through the sand. It swallows her feet. She runs towards the water and pauses only briefly before crashing through the small, grey waves. She runs deeper, against the pull, and at last throws herself into the fury of the salt and the water. She is submerged, yelling now, as her mouth and nose fill and her eyes sting.

When she breaks through the surface, the sky is grey, the water is grey. But she is clear.

This piece is the first WoW for 2012. Check out other WoW pieces. Below is the prompt:

The Write on Wednesday spark: The stories a tree could tell.
Take a look at the above photo (by Story). Use it to inspire your Write on Wednesday post. Keep your post on the short side: up to 500 words OR a 5 minute stream of consciousness exercise. Link your finished piece to the list and begin popping by the other links in the list. Enjoy!