Chapter Four

The Pretender

 

The following is an excerpt from Chapter Four of Mama Root: The Old Woman of Loop Road

 

 

 

~~~      She struck a wooden match with her thumbnail and put flame to the contents.  Drawing long on the pipe and exhaling a spectral cloud, she gazed into the all-consuming darkness of the swamp around her. She rocked and hummed a melody, the lyrics of which had been lost somewhere in the labyrinth of time. 

           She took another draw on the pipe only to find that the tiny furnace had lost its coal.  Searching her pockets she produced another match, raised it to the bowl and struck it in the same manner as the first.  The match flared to life, revealing the face of a young girl standing not three feet in front of her.  The old woman gasped in shock and the match flew from the hand that instinctively clutched her chest.  It arced through the darkness like a comet in some diminutive universe and extinguished with an imperceptible hiss before dropping lifeless to the porch planking.

           Mama Root gasped once more to catch her breath.  “Lord, child, such a start ya’ give me.  Can’t believe I didn’t hear ya’ comin’ up the walkway.  What're you doin’ in these parts this time o’ the evenin’?”

           The girl stood silent.  The old woman narrowed her eyes, straining to make out the child’s form in the darkness. ~~~