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Cultivating Virgin Soil

June 1, 2018 By Jan Elman Stout

Cultivating Virgin Soil

Large rotted teeth clamped her pale nipple.

 

My voice disrupts the shovel’s rhythm. Father’s thick fingers sift through clumps of soil. A woman’s delicate work, he casts off rocks, fool’s gold, splintered glass. His gnarled finger points to the hole cradling my mother. I fling dirt, shroud her sophic eyes.

 

She howled.

 

In concert, we level tattered ground, although his fingers beg to render virgin soil. Dirt-spattered hands press my shoulders. I remember the things they carried. Steaming cups of milk, books with cracked seams, a fragile kitten. Me.

 

My shot rang out, missed its target.

 

Voices from the hills quicken, her work here incomplete. I pray she will rise and reclaim this mountain, halt their sikinnis dance.

 

She had warned me to leave.

I imagine her alongside me, coxswain on our transatlantic journey, destined for Aeaea, caressed by the Tyrrhenian Sea.

 

We shall depart once I am redeemed.

About Jan Elman Stout

Jan Elman Stout’s fiction has been published in Literary Orphans, Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Shotgun Honey, The Airgonaut, Jellyfish Review, MoonPark Review, Crack the Spine and elsewhere. She was finalist in Midwestern Gothic’s 2016 Summer Flash Fiction Contest. Her flash has been nominated for Best Small Fictions 2017 and 2018. Jan is a reader for SmokeLong Quarterly. She lives in Washington, DC.

Artist Credit:

Orlando native Kaylan Stedman has several passions, including learning languages and playing music; however, art is arguably the most integral part of her life. Having just moved to China to work as an English teacher, she hopes to continue her pursuit of creating art as a second career. Enjoy more of her creations by checking out her illustrations for Wetwork, a podcast which can be downloaded on iTunes or found at Wetworkpodcast.com. Follow her in Instagram at @naryakal (K. S. Illustrations).

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