The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!
The Book Club
by Marge Simon
The ice has melted on the walk, green blossoms emerge on stark branches; winter’s turn is done. It is the second Wednesday of the month, the Book Club meeting is at hand. At the door, a gray cat waits, tail curled around his paws.
By twos and threes they arrive. They all so love these gatherings. A stack of books awaits discussion. On a shelf, the shiny silver coffee pot, with cups and cream. They help themselves.
The worn carpet is stained from Solstice rituals. Blood on blue turns garnet over time, but no one seems to mind. It enhances the nostalgia.
The tabby weaves in and out between trouser legs and skirts, rests on laps for strokes by bone-thin hands. Today it is Mary Shelley’s best seller. They love to debate the technicalities. Tim Watkins insists she couldn’t have written it without a man’s help. Several ladies laugh him down. Next month, we must invite the author, wouldn’t that be fun?”, says Tilly Oster. She sits, pleased that all agree.
When the old Grandfather Clock strikes five, they celebrate the newly dead — Old Hiram with dimpled cheeks laid to rest with his black-haired bride, and sweet Jezebel, who’d fed the ravens during winter. Given time, they might attend.
The moon begins its tour across the early evening skies, it’s time to leave. Beyond the porch, the members fade into the night. The room is darkly barren, save for the silken tabby, purring softly on a parlor chair.
Fiction © Copyright Marge Simon
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com
More from Marge Simon:
The Demeter Diaries
by
‘The Demeter Diaries’ is a record of love and longing and the inevitable horror that arises between the minds of Mina Harker and Vlad Dracula as they court one another in waking dreams. The dialogue, written in both poetry and prose, imagines a psychic connection that develops between the two even before Dracula arrives in England. As Dracula makes his way from Transylvania to Whitby on the doomed ship Demeter, the two would-be lovers transmit their thoughts across the waves and lands that separate them, alternately wooing and terrifying one another with the idea of love eternal and all the dark delicacies necessary to ensure it. Front cover art by Wendy Saber Core, interior illustrations by Luke Spooner.
Spreading the Writer's Word 
Love this tale and its concept, Marge. Here’s to book clubs in the next dimension!
Wonderful imagery – maybe the Ladies of Horror will still be sharing stories in the beyond 🙂