A New Bloom

The babe wailed as his mum walked into the river. ‘Hush now, m’love,’ she cooed gently. ‘It’ll only be cold for a moment.’ The deeper she got, the less he cried. ‘That’s it, that’s my sweet boy,’ she said.From behind her, a commotion: ‘Oy! You there, woman! Come back with the wee lad! You’ll drown ‘im! You want that sin over yer head through all eternity?’ Some men held torches high as others tried to rush after her. Those on shore and those who had stepped into the frigid water gasped as she doubled the distance between herself and the crowd.Turning briefly, she called, ‘He was always mine! I only lent him to ya!’After they returned to town, what happened was spoken of only in hushed tones. Who could believe a selkie’s child had been in their midst all along?

It’s always fun when our flash fiction prompts mesh with other areas of our lives. In this case, the image reminded me of a certain lovely bit I watched last week; however, it didn’t go quite like this …I offer 143 words in honor of the animated film, Song of the Sea. Click the image above to visit the prompt and add your thoughts.