I’m up above the world, kick my baby blue, Keds-covered feet against the Grandpa-built stone wall, and sit on the wall’s gray slate ledge that overlooks the driveway at Nanny’s house. Great-uncle Mike’s maple tree shadily filters God’s sun above me and my sisters. The four of us girls take a break from our sweet, summertime tag of running around the yard, picking dandelions, sneaking into Grandpa’s kitchen garden to steal cucumber bites of watery sunshine, ignoring Mom’s sour yells as she sticks her head out of a window and scolds, “get out of the garden,” and a break from the pushing, pulling, pinching, that propels us to be pilloried by our teasing of each other. Underneath that messy ragging is sister-love. Served to us in plastic cups decorated with a fake Hawaiian grass skirt is Aunt LaLa’s sweet and sour lemonade; my cup trimmed with a pink rim, Donna’s with blue, Barb’s with green, Maria’s with yellow. We’re on our own island in Darien, having a lemonade summer.
June 25, 2014 at 6:02 pm
Great story, Jean. Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:07:11 +0000 To: donnsbr1@hotmail.com
June 25, 2014 at 6:29 pm
Thank you!
June 26, 2014 at 12:45 am
Wow Jean, The imagery in this story is amazing. This one is truly one of my favorites.
June 27, 2014 at 3:05 pm
I really like this story, Mom. Especially the beginning, because it is so picturesque!
What does “pilloried” mean?
June 27, 2014 at 3:39 pm
attack or ridicule publicly.
“he found himself pilloried by members of his own party”
synonyms:
attack, criticize, censure, condemn, denigrate, lambaste, savage, stigmatize, denounce;