(no subject)

The light as it fell in the garden was scattered between green and yellow leaves and fluttered on the grass between her feet, and on her face and hair. She was staring at the hawk as it swooped down for its lunch, counting on her fingertips the seconds before he rose again with some small struggling thing in its mouth and headed toward its nest. She was waiting on her daddy who would take her into town to see her nan and soon she would have cake and play with Lilly her nan's Scottish terrier. Tea was soon but for now there was the light and the trees like sun kisses on her cheeks and eyelids and the birds swooping in formation, like the Scottish fighter planes that she'd seen that summer in the highlands.

Her daddy was all alone after her mum died when she was a baby and now it was just them two and it was fine, but she'd always looked at pictures of her mum. She was so pretty.

There was a noise and she turned halfway, not letting go of the tree trunk as it was such a big lovely woody, barkey tree trunk, smelling like old books and like the forest and like fairies. There was her dad, and another voice, a female voice, she couldn't see who yet but she was laughing a tinkly laugh like silver, but it was also cool like silver.

There she was, she was pretty and her hair so neat. Her dad was holding her and kissing her and they were standing under the old rose bush that her dad said her mum had planted.

Then her dad was coming over. "Jenny I want you to meet someone," he said, bringing her forward and she came slowly looking at her this way, like she wanted something from her very much, and she would try every which way to get it, but not in a bad way only very hopeful, very eager. Jenny came forward and her dad said, "You're going to have a new mum now Jen, what do you think?"

Jenny smiled at her dad and took his hands and said, "Yes dad." But she only saw the hawk, how beautiful it was, how strong, and how above all of them was the light like flowers.