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Listen to Rosaleen read her story

On the longest day of the year Papa sings:

‘Never take flowers from the hawthorn tree

Beware of the thorns that defend the underworld fae.’

Mama, on the other hand, talks about consequences, climate and sepsis. She’s a nurse and Papa paints, canvas and walls he says, and he also collects miniature weather events, that he will one day leave to me, and the labelled jars will rattle as he leaves. 

I read the labels:

— Sunrise smile

— Kiss of a breeze

— Lapping sound and light waves

— Shooting stars (caught by telescopic lens)

— Summer heat

— Wildfire

— Tremors with seismic shifts

— Tea-spoon tornado

— Cloud
(3x empty jars) 

— Tears raining on Zen garden bonsai

Today, I am ten and he gives me a jar labelled ‘Daybreak’, telling me I can start my own collection. I wanted a phone, so I open the wildfire and let it out. 

As he holds my thumb under the cold water, he tells me, this was the first jar he filled on his own. Did I know Mama used to collect with him before? 

When he’s gone I’ll feel the burn mark on my thumb, as I label a new jar – The longest day/

Rosaleen’s prompts were:

Rosaleen Lynch is an Irish community worker, teacher and writer in London with work selected for the Wigleaf Top 50, Best Small Fictions and Best of the Net and is currently exploring the power of stories to promote social change.

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