she’d had it sliced away leaving a scar
–Michael Donaghy, from his poem, Liverpool
Lili remembers the family story, where her Grandmother Char’s grandmother planted the ginkgo tree the day Char was born. The sapling, a scrawny thing that grew with a misshapen trunk, was like her, misshapen. Char remembers how her aunts surveyed the tree and assessed its chances of survival. Her young, wizened self, which is often the way with sickly children, knew they were really talking about her.
Nobody in the family except Great Aunt Zi thought she’d reach adulthood. Aunt Zi baked strawberry-rhubarb tarts and served them with peppermint tea. She placed special poultices on Char’s back; afterwards planting them at the ginkgo’s feet.
As Char’s spine straightened, the ginkgo sprouted a second trunk, this one aimed at the stars. Its twisted trunk withered. When Aunt Zi passed, she’d had it sliced away leaving a scar. Lili still rubs the scar’s cool, smooth surface.
[144 words]
Sarah is today’s host of dVerse’ Prosery. Sarah says:
Write a prose piece in 144 words, including the line, “she’d had it sliced away leaving a scar.”
Tao Talk 
Great piece Li. Loved it! ❤
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Thank you, Carol Anne 🙂
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What a wonderful tale!
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Thanks, Ken 🙂
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This is wonderful! I have a gingko tree. They grow very strange indeed. As do I.
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Mary I’m geeked that you have a ginkgo tree, and I agree they grow in their own way. Glad you connected with the story 🙂
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This one was “out there”, for sure. I stumbled over whose grandmother was doing the planting, but the rest of the story was very engaging. Good wordsmithing and a nice portion of imagination on display.
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Thanks, Glenn. What I was going for with the grandmothers was to give some idea of how old the tree was, but I do understand how it might get confusing. With a word limit some titles and names have to be dropped which interferes with clarity.
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I found this a compelling read. Nicely done.
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Thank you, Miss Arcadia.
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I love your story, Lisa. It only takes one who believe that can change the world, our lives, and the future! Well done.
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Dwight, many thanks and I’m glad you saw what I was getting at.
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Yes, you are welcome!
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❤
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This is a magical engaging tale Lisa, well conceived and written! 🙂 ✌🏼❤️
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Rob, thank you. Glad you like it 🙂
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I like how your story turned out Li
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Thanks, Sadje.
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You’re welcome
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I love this. Aunty Zi is a wise lady. There’s a hint of magic there, and I like the fact taht you chose a gingko, the ultimate survivor.
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Thank you, Sarah.
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Magic!
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🙂 ❤
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Great story and imagination… I like the ending
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Max, thanks. Happy you enjoyed the tale 🙂
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I did a double-take, we both wrote using trees, amazing!! I love how you use the parallel of healing, wonderful.
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Paul, thank you. Glad you enjoyed the story. Now I need to check out which tree or trees you wrote about!
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I love the water we’re drinking.
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I enjoyed this. Very surreal, and there’s a hint of anger in Char’s response to Aunt Zi’s passing. I loved how the tree paralleled Char’s growth.
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Nitin, thank you for reading and your comment. I always appreciate hearing what others see in the poem. Just wondering why you think Char’s response to Aunt Zi’s passing has a hint of anger in it? Also, I tried to get to your poem to read it and WP and/or gravatar refused to let me pass to read it.
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Okay I thought the anger that often accompanies accompanies grief made Char slice away the tree trunk. I guess she sliced away the withered trunk and not the second one which shot for the stars. My mistake sorry. I misread a bit of your story. I really hope that you can see my post now. It’s called ‘Guilt.’ I’ve been having a lot of issues with my new blog. I’ve contacted WP a hundred times. I’m on the verge of giving up lol.
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Nitin, please don’t think I thought you saw it “wrong” I just wanted to see where you were coming from. Maybe that is part of why she sliced the withered trunk away. Sorry also you’ve been having issues with your blog. I will try again to see if I can get to it.
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Nitin, when I just went back to read, I remembered I was able to read the story before, but I was not able to leave a comment. This time I was able to “like” it but again was unable to leave a comment, so I will leave4 my comment here: Oh wow, that is a dystopia that could give a person a loose hold on reality for sure. What’s bad is there appears to be no escape from it. Hoping events unfold that give her that opportunity. So scary the mark that keeps coming back!
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I’ll have to contact WP again and tell them that people aren’t able to comment even after I did everything they asked me to. Thank you for your comment. Your comment made me wonder if I should write a sequel and get into what the mark is, and how she finally gets rid of it. I shall think on it.
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Good idea on getting with WP again. Did you do the live chat with them? I’ve had problems that they’ve walked me through in the live chat and I think they can look at your account while you are right there to see what’s going on. I like the idea of you writing a sequel.
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Yes I did the live chat with them. I think the comments issue is finally resolved. I hope so, at least. Yeah I’ll work on a sequel slowly. I don’t want it to be out there (sci-fi wise) and want it to be more suspenseful. Now it will take some thinking and plotting lol
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Good and good 🙂
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This has a fairy tale feel to it. Or, maybe not fairy tale, but more like a fable. Great Aunt Zi had a stronger believe system (and maybe more than a little magic). Beautiful story, Lisa.
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Dale, thank you for your observations. Glad you connected with it 🙂
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It was wonderfully written.
I really need to retire. I don’t have time to do what I want 😉
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haha! maybe the fractals would be pleased 😉
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Maybe 😉
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A beautiful, magical tale, Lisa!
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Thanks, Merril!
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Crows and ravens are so beautiful but this image makes me super nervous. 😁
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Great Aunt Zi is a healer and the crow is her message carrier. Does that make you feel better??
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Yes, that does help. Especially as long as I don’t look directly at the photo. 😁 I really can’t be mad at healers.
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🙂
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