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Fiction : A Short Story

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She walked closer, moving toward the south side of the mound as the ground gently sloped that direction. As she rounded the west edge of the mound she was startled into motionlessness by the discovery of a window in the side of the mound. A window rising out of the ground, roofed with sod and even sporting closed curtains. Curtains? Reds began to laugh aloud. Her child’s peeling laughter filled the mound clearing. The curtains were whipped open and Chuck’s startled face was looking out at her. “You live in the ground!” Reds laughed as Chuck walked from behind the rise of earth. His grin was one of delight at having been found out by one of his kids. “And good morning to you.” He bowed slightly. “What brings you to this place?” Reds made …show more content…

A small, flat-topped chunk stove with frying pan and teakettle stood centered between the pillars, its smoke stack shooting straight up through the ceiling. The walls were lined with shelves filled with canned goods, books, bottles and jars. Some shelves held clothes, others firearms- pistols, rifles and shotguns and the various tools, powders and shot that accompanied them. “Turn the bacon.” Chuck said as he stepped to the right of the door way, took a folding table from against the wall and began pulling its legs into position so he could set it in front of the east window. As Reds carefully forked the fatty strips onto their uncooked sides Chuck retrieved two metal folding chairs from the wall and set them at the table. From a nearby shelve he snatched a glass vase with a single pink rose blossom sticking from it. He set the vase on the table and turned to see how Reds was making out at the stove. Satisfied she hadn’t managed to hurt herself he turned to another shelf to select a small, thin loaf of free formed bread which he sliced in half then cut so as to turn each half into a crude sandwich. Next he selected a couple of early apples and set them on the table. Then paper drinking cups into which he poured an amber liquid, one cup filled nearly to the brim, the other only a quarter of the way then topped off with water from a jug. Two heavy mugs were taken from a shelf and a jar of honey set next to them. A box of Red Rose tea had two bags taken

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