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Showing posts from August, 2012

The Message

The Message by Ruth Everson (This story won the 2010 Woman and Home short story competition.) ‘Would you like to go to China?’ Anne stirred her tea with the usual amount of violence that she reserved for most tasks. ‘You can use your long leave. You’d be gone for eight weeks. My uncle needs someone to teach communications while he’s away in Lagos.’ Nothing in her forty nine years had prepared Ellen for the answer she was about to give. China was a moon journey away from the narrow, East Rand town where she had grown up believing that adventures could be dreamed but never lived. The reply was out before the fear that had made her heart retreat so many times could say no again. There was nothing to lose and when there’s nothing to lose, courage is easier to find. Two years of bending herself into contortionist shapes to fit a dead-end relationship had left her heart heavy and her days full of uncertainty. Ellen felt like a dog, waiting eagerly for a pat on the head