Member Poem

A child in time  slipped down a creaking stairs.
Isn’t there something about the pivotal role of a stairways, stairwell in plot.
Impish demeanor at the thought of nocturnal adventures with Renee the deer.
Every illustrators dream scheme.
Indeed one could say dream team maybe even dream theme.
This predictable wide mischief grin seemed to widen with every daring step taken.
Aretha hoped she wouldn’t wake her parents.
She, Aretha hadn’t ever in the past which is peculiar.
They both claimed to be light sleepers.
One of Aretlha’s many mystical traits was that she often had these little conversations with herself.
Not out of loneliness or alienation but as that absent minded prodigy her teachers felt she might one day be.
Aretha could also in her enthusiasm mix up dates even obvious one’s in her general zest.
She was old enough not to make too much noise.
It was her nightly date with a deer in the neighbouring copse.
Renee the deer.
The tamed deer that is and her parents would sometimes bring their daughter to play with Renee during daylight hours.
Brazenly under a silver star and moon mosaic sky.
“Oooh … I sense my pet deer Renee’s presence.”
Little Aretha had this ritual.
Of late Aretha had become aware of a peculiar feeling when with Renee.
She couldn’t phrase it but at this point it didn’t concern her unduly.
This enchanted child with ocean blue eyes had this hyper awareness.
“How come my parents don’t know or seem to   know what I’m up to?”
Aretha pondered.
“Maybe they know how much I love the world …: Earth.
Everything it has.
City magic day or night.”
This child and her sense of wonder.
“Inheritance…. oh that big word.
Well, for a child.”
Aretha was running along a shortcut to the green expanse near the hazy street lights.
The usual cobblestones pathways of intrigue, shadowy shaped thespians of the after midnight sonorous bell.
Cars sounding horns at spurious ghosts that were but phantoms of the mind.
Well, someone’s mind if not the drivers.
“My parents, maybe they do about my yen for night and  day  things.”
She, Aretha mused.
“One day you’ll INHERIT the earth … you are so wonderful.”
Aretta’s father once said to her.
Her mother chirped in too.
“Maybe one day I will inherit the earth.”
Aretha’s poignant sigh.
Those thoughts were circulating in the child’s head as the late
December city had this Christmas feel.
Aretha loved her all year round visits to Renee the deer.
But of late there was this missing entity.
However, Christmas beckoned as diversion.
Everything about Christmas appealed to this enchanting child.
The usual things.
Gifts, surprises,visits from close friends
Samuel the  area Santa.
Such an enigmatic man whose aura was in embedded
mystery.
As a  local Santa was known at times as  a  lonely figure in the shadow.
Irrespective of his shy reclusiveness he’d be seen fairly often.
A family man who threw cordons around those he knew.
Aretha felt oddly enough quite comfortable with him whenever they met.
Despite the speed at which she ran  Aertha was most observant.
Very few people knew about her wee small hour exploits.
Bar some friends at school were  sworn to secrecy.
About 3 trusted friends were informed about
this otherworldly visit.
Aretha’s slim figure cut an angel like figure under watchful moonlight.
“Mmmm … am I being followed.”
There seems to be this haunting presence surrounding Aretha.
Her vocabulary though quaint, a magnetic lure, Druid like might still crave that extra dimension which should become apparent later on.
“Beam, I’m beaming, at the moon. Oh do I hear that rustle.
I’ll be beaming at Reinee.”
Aretha with a heightened anticipation that could not be reined in.
“Squawk, squawk… a darker than dark.
So high-pitched now still.
Now resting on a creaky branch.”
Aretha somehow getting this kick out of bizarre precursor to that date.
“Still think there’s someone about.”
But who could it be?
Suddenly the rustling, the trot along this quarter which made Aretha shiver and shimmer in one fell swoop.
“It’s a thought that floats.
It’s that time again. where late night things are real spooky.”
The deer now making that scratching sound with the heightened sense of excitement for Renee.
Convention  is such a part of this meeting of out of this world  creatures.
Renee’s coat has this splash of silver.
Her colour is an addition to an already
fascinating hue  scheme.

“Something fell. What was that?
A thud.  Like someone that let something fall.
Is it a person or thing
wanting someone to see them?”
Beguiling trickles of water with that apparently hushed dynamic seemed to compliment the tentative maneuvers that were now about to unfold.

“Strange feelings I have … but filling up with everything that can happen.”
Aretha thinking it’s this build up, the winter gusts without the squall, hidden things going on in the black of night.
“Some strange stuff.
Heard a screech of laughter. Voices have  a kind of spark in nearby street.”
The taut air punctuated by this brash sound of traffic, they jump lights in defiance.
“Christmas toons.
Well, it’s that time.
Won’t be long before things get …. boisterous. I mastered that big word.
Oops like inheritance.”
Mmm said Aretha while putting a stifle on her voice?
Oh heavens you are, Renee before me.”
Aretha, know begins to start her thread with Renee.
“Ah, friend Renee you have this Christmas Eve look.
Let me see. Oh I think it’s safe to pet you.
Have’nt had any problems before.
After all, you're the tamed pet.”
This trusting child oozed.
“Renee, you are sighing.”
Yes, Renee had this sight that was barely audible.
But still Aretha would hear it.
And the silver gleam doe was privy to Aretha’s under breath muffles.
“Now,now, I have eyes like the moon.
Don’t stress.”
A favourite saying of Aretha’s when playing with Renee.
Their bond had grown strong since the deer and Aretha had this hair-raising yet enchanted nightly meet up over two years.
Aretha’s parents about the same time had this chance encounter with the person who tamed and trained the deer.
It’s how Aretha got to know about Renee’s routines.
Back to the present moment.
“Birds on  watch, Renee.
A flutter.
They are super aware.
Oh you’d like another nuzzle.
Can I whisper some stuff in your ear.”
Renee’s eyes moistened considerably.
“Don’t want to worry my folks. You understand.
Hard to believe they are not that aware of what we’re doing.”
An intense twinkling starlit sky zoomed as Aretha whispered in velvet quaint timber to Renee.
Aretha had to switch from one ear to the other.
From Renee’s demeanour she was even prone to a little cavorting.
Then suddenly Aretha had this discomfort.
Renee was either not herself or.
At first glance tonight a strange inkling descended on this child.
“Eye to eye, this is not
Renee. It sure looks like her. 
No, the deer senses what is going on inside
Oh there’s a spot on this deer.”
The moon at this point glided over as Aretha patted the deer in front and dashed off.
Little Aretha sobbed, gulped, even shrieked.
Her home which had always been so close was now light years away.
The paths, passages, and alleys were a daunting obstacle.
A canopy of blue cheese moon haze and street light strafe now less familiar to her.
The palpitations, the fret and anxiety.
Aretha momentarily got lost but managed to dart back to a dwelling and a situation with a secret.
Much to her surprise her parents cut a figure in the window.
They were awake.
What next she wondered.
As there was a light dust layer of snow she might hazard a guess.
“Aretha, what’s wrong?
It’s midnight. We love you.
I think we know.
It’s just your father and I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”
Aretha’s mother said.
“Renew has been dead for quite some time.
She had a twin sister.
That’s the one you have been seeing of late.”
It was the father’s turn.
“Have you forgotten it’s Christmas Eve?
Like us you get dates mixed up.
We all doe!! A funny slip… sorry
We have something outside … I hear a noise.”
It’s Samuel
the area Santa.
Aretha gasped and entered the sleigh.
“I just don’t believe it.
It’s a dream come true.”
As they ascended in the air Samuel whispered to Aretha.
“Now, now. You have eyes like the moon.
Don’t stress!
Samual said
“I picked that up from one of your close friends, my son.
Your parents and I asked my son to watch over you at night when you were out.
They knew where you were.”
Samual continued.
The sleigh ascended  and Aretha had tears as she waved at her parents.
Maybe she will inherit something different at this special time her parents opined.
“We’ll  know when she returns … if she ever does.” They chuckled.
And then they walked slowly up the stairway in their house.
It had a symbolic meaning.
Simultaneously the sleigh passed over the park where Aretha and Renee used to play.
Renee’s twin had a tear in her eye as Aretha winked at her!!!