WINNER
LEARNING TO FLY
GREEN SHORT STORY COMPETITION
BY P. J. RICHARDS
P. J. Richards lives in Somerset, surrounded by the folklore, mysticism and nature that inspires her writing and art. Several of her short stories have been published in anthologies and literary zines, and her debut novel Deeper Older Darker is published by indie press Snowbooks. She’s thrilled by this win and still can’t quite believe it!
'what's that?’ She points at the picture in the book I saved and leans forward on my lap, almost overbalancing. '
I shift her back so I can see the page again. ‘It’s a bird.’
‘Is it an alive thing?’
‘It was a living animal, yes.’
‘Did you see it in the real?’
‘Lots, they were everywhere.’ I smile. ‘They would come to my garden for the food I’d put out on the bird-table.’
‘They sat on a table? Like people?’
I grin and shake my head. ‘No, it was like a tray held up on a stick, with the food on top.’
She stares up at the blank, concrete walls, visualising. ‘Did they walk on them little wire legs, to get up the stick to the food?’
‘Well, they could walk and hop but most of all they loved to fly.’ I was warming to the tale and spread my free hand, miming a flapping wing.
‘Like a drone?’
‘Much better than a drone.’ I turn the page. There is a photo of a tiny bird drinking from a scarlet flower, pollen dusting its iridescent green head. ‘Look, this is a humming bird, it could hover.’
‘Like a drone.’ Her tone is condescending.