The Old Wife’s Tale II

The moon beamed against the starless sky, it had illuminated everyone in the clearing. The rest of the captives were fast asleep but there was us on the farther part of the clearing, huddled in a circle, eager to hear what Petra was going to tell us. The children were giddy to hear their grandma’s story, something that would tuck them in a makeshift bed out of things they had foraged.

“Grandma,” Celeste impatiently said, beckoning her grandmother to start telling the story. Petra smiled at the little girl and looked around to see if we were already in our places.

“Sit down first, Celeste, so we can start.” She took the child’s hand as she guided her to sit down beside her. Celeste carefully placed her head on the lap of his grandmother while Desmond huddled closely on Petra’s side.

“I have lived a life long enough to know things that you children didn’t know,” Petra said calmly with a voice of a storyteller.

“This wasn’t their first,” she added.