A few months after
she came of age, the girl child and her brother sat on their grandparent's
porch on the north side of the island. Grandma was instilling her with
tales of woe and pregnancies too young, hoping perhaps that she would
pay a little more heed than her mother had. Though the first time she
had set eyes on her daughters lover with his dreamy eyes she had blessed
them both. Some things are meant to be she would tell the gossips and
disapproving neighbours.
The little girl's
mum had arrived, the famous glint washed away with tens of tears, the
smile no longer gracing her face.
"There has been
a terrible thing and the love has gone"
That said she scooped
her children into her trembling arms and returned to a manless house.
Just as the house
lay empty in wait for the family, its spirit broken, the waters around
the island lay still that night. The years of egg theft had decimated
the turtle population. A woman lay alone in her bed, weeping for a lost
love. A lone frightened turtle lay beyond the reef, crying for a mate.
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