Title: October Moon
Author: ML
Email: [email protected] (feedback always welcome!)
Distribution: Yes to Ephemeral and Gossamer, or
if you've archived me before. If you haven't,
please drop me a line and let me know, and leave
headers, etc. attached. Thank you!
Spoilers: none
Rating: PG
Classification: Vignette
Summary: Road Trip
To Lidia, whose presence anywhere is a bright spot!
Happy birthday, dear.
=====
October Moon
by ML
The trees arched over the road, blocking the night
sky from view. No lights showed through the dense
undergrowth edging the road on both sides. Only the
headlights let them know there was a road ahead; the
night swallowed it up behind the car.
The world was theirs, and theirs alone. It kept their
secrets, told no one where they were going, or where
they'd been. What they'd seen and done was between
themselves and the night.
She looked at her partner, his face illuminated by
the glow of the dashboard. His eyes stayed on the
road, but the lift at the corner of his mouth told
her he knew she was looking at him.
His long fingers caressed the wheel, thumbs rubbing
up and down. She thought of those hands in other
situations, past and future.
The road took a sudden turn and all at once the full
dome of the sky appeared before them. A scalloped
edging of clouds trimmed the horizon, and from this
peeked the burnt-orange moon.
By unspoken agreement he pulled the car off the road
and they got out of the car. The air was sharp but
not unpleasant, a sip of cold cider. Together they
watched the moon rise from its bed of clouds, slowly
and steadily climbing into the firmament of stars. As
it progressed, it slowly transformed from orange to
amber to apricot and finally its familiar pale golden
glow.
The car edged back onto the road, the way clear. The
moon stayed in front of them, leading the way home.
end.
