Shielded by her Formidable Body...(Rabbit Run - John Updike)
With Greg Philippi, Jennifer Nicole, Vanessa Walters, Isaiah Weekes, Gemma Weekes - June 22nd, 2021
Shielded by her formidable body…
The gunmen entered her flat blazing. Shielded by her formidable body, Bascome ducked down. Page wasn’t so lucky. After all, he knew they’d come for him only not quite so quickly. Page barely finished delivering the information he’d requested when blood spouted from what had been her mouth. When the shooting was over, and both gunmen were dead, Bascome slipped from beneath Page. He made his way to the sink, splashing cold water on his face and using his bloody shirt to dry himself. Sirens in the distance were getting closer. Someone in her building had called the police. Bascome stepped over to the couch and put his finger in the tea they had been about to consume. Ah, just right. He added a cube of sugar, spot of milk and consumed the cup quickly, wiping his mouth before closing Page’s eyes and racing out the door. He’d climb out the window and onto the roof and then to a nearby building and then another where he’d make his escape from above the streets….
By Greg Philippi
Shielded by her formidable body…
Strong yet agile like the wind
Beauty as sharp as a crystal
Glistening and glowing!
Her Armour shielding her pristine figure.
Radiance cut through her, almost like a Thorn to its Rose.
She had the wisdom and the knowledge, it was no wonder why so many men fall at her feet.
Respect... her mother calls her
Power... her father called her
But who was she?
She was a show-off with a warrior heart and a goddess unable to control herself. She stood tall amongst many men
Her Name... ATHENA !
By Jennifer Nicole
Shielded by her formidable body…
He peeked out from behind her dress. Hidden against the soft expanse of her hips, smelling the curry goat she had made that day and still tasting the hot chocolate they had shared, his with extra sugar. The TV was blaring behind them, and her newspaper was spread out on the sofa, fluttering in the sharp breeze from the front door. He didn’t want to go and thought of his usual hiding places, but Dad had already seen him.
He shrank in further, letting the softness overwhelm him, knowing he would soon be yanked out into the cold, slipping on wet pavement. Instead of curry goat, smelling the bitter fags Dad smoked. By the time they reached the crossing, his head would be ringing, slapped twice. First for dawdling and then for crying. He looked back at his cup on the table, the cat lazily curling itself around the table leg.
“Put your coat on,” came the phlegmy command. I got somewhere to be.”
By Vanessa Walters
Shielded by her formidable body…
“Wow. Are you serious?”
“You don’t feel it,” he says. “Why do I have to thank you for nothing?”
“Just because I’m not bleeding doesn’t mean I don’t feel it.”
It’s been years of dealing with this shit and being quiet, but today she can’t take it anymore. It’s as if she sees herself for the first time. And him. And his cowardice. Then before she can finally let him know how she feels about him, there are bangs on the door and they’re running again. Running again from the problems he made with his big mouth and with his silences, with what he did and what he failed to do.
“I do feel it!” she yelled, as they crashed through the park. “I just don’t have the luxury of bleeding like you do. Who would look after the kids?”
By Gemma Weekes
Shielded by her formidable body…
“Why?” I ask, my mind now plagued with regret and an almost Lovecraftian horror. My eyes are an unwavering river of tears washing across every realm.
“Why would you do something like that? I accidentally gave you a second of control!”
I wipe my eyes to look upon a being of unknown origins, its cold, unblinking eyes filled with hate, disdain and sociopathy. It stares into my… our soul. An evil canine smile spreads further than humanly possible across its malevolent face as it replies:
“Because you didn’t want to.”
By Isaiah Weekes (14)