Jokes, Riddles, and Other Philosophical Insights

The Hands That Carried Us

Here's a little short story I wrote for a contest. Enjoy!

~*~

Her hands were the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. They gripped the oar shafts in front of her, and I watched her knuckles fade white with each stroke. In the distance, the screams of the dying house burned behind us, but we refused to think about the bodies that lay inside, only safety.

I couldn't explain what we were doing there in the middle of the lake, with the sunset casting a glow on the water like a retro orange soda bottle. The spotted loons reminded us of how alone we now truly were, and the waving cattails taunted us, whispering that we didn't deserve this beauty.

The calluses on the girl's palms were rough, and I rubbed them gently between my forefingers when she stopped to rest. She stood shakily in the rowboat, and I did too. In numb silence, we carefully switched positions. I sat down at the rower's bench and continued where she left off.

The sweat beaded on my forehead and my arms strained with effort, but now I could see the ruined building where we had once been captured and it gave me the courage to row faster. The sun dipped below the mountain peaks and the verdant valley took on an indigo hue.

"Your hands are very beautiful," the girl said after a while. I looked up in surprise. It was the first word either of us had spoken since we began our escape.

"How can they be, Marlene, when they have caused so much bloodshed?" I asked in response, my voice hoarse from disuse.

"As have mine, but that didn't stop you from admiring them. Let me do the same."

I nodded and made to carry on, but she stopped me with a finger to my lips. "Saoirse, rest. We'll never make it to land if you overexert yourself." I let the oars lay flat on the rippling water. She inched closer to me.

"Look at us," she said. "We cannot hope for redemption, not now or ever after. We've done too much. But look at where we are," she said, gesturing between the two of us and to the nature around us. "Let's just take it all in."

I closed my eyes and leaned closer, letting our foreheads fall together. I breathed in her mango scent and the aromatic scent of the pine trees that encircled the banks. I smiled. We would enjoy this short peace for as long as we could.

~*~