Beautiful is the Night by Theresa C. Newbill
In a remote village of Kenya, a tall, broad-shouldered man tills the soil. A little bird is perched on the rooftop of the nearby hut where a fair skinned woman pants in pain. Coals of fire have turned an animal carcass earthen brown, a product of her husband’s early morning hunt. The battle breathing jingle of her tender mind and body beckon his return. He had made her his own when he loved her, long before she was marred by the miscarriages. Their home was stocked with provisions but those home-things wear thin when love is amiss. Sharp were her sighs, the result of an infant’s call whose birth had brought her to this. With affections and enthusiasms numb, she holds the baby close upon her. The child’s cries hasten her husband’s swift steps as he makes his way back home.” You’ve indeed come back”, she says turning to him when all was done. And she gave him her thin hand, which he ignored. Curious, he crept closer. She pitied his sorrow, which grew on her with every glance he gave her. “Kinless woman, you bore me a girl”, he said with disgust before he turned to walk away. “Call me by my name”, she replied softly. “You’ve deserted me!” The male voice rang… The lines between the stars are straight as she drifts through space in sleep. In her is the end of breeding. There is poetry in her death, sustained upon style alone.
Theresa C. Newbill is a is a self described free spirit and former elementary school teacher turned writer. Her work has been widely published in various print and online magazines and she has received numerous awards for her writing.
