Delene Oosthuizen

Author on Reedsy Prompts since Oct, 2020

Stories (4)

4 Stories

58 karma pts

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“A Patchwork of Trouble” by Delene Oosthuizen

I’m choking! I can’t breathe! Someone help me! I sit up, bewildered. What a nightmare! I had been choked by a living scarf. What’s more, I know that particular scarf. I’ve seen it somewhere. Ugh, that overly bright knitted patchwork scarf. I reach up to scratch the back of my head and start violently. What’s this around my neck? I rip it off with trembling hands and find myself staring at that same overly bright knitted patchwork scarf. Not again. Please, not again. *** Allow me to explain. This all started a few weeks ago when I was explori...

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“Oupa's legacy” by Delene Oosthuizen

Submitted to Contest #102

My Oupa (grandfather) always used to quote one of his elderly neighbors to us: “You can’t shoot guineafowl, they’re God’s birds.” And Oupa never shot the guineafowl. They nested in the garden and grew fat on the seeds and scraps Ouma (grandmother) put out for them. This didn’t mean that Oupa never hunted. He spent much of his life in Malawi, in the years when hunting was a part of everyday life; for food, for safety and for the thrill. Oupa hunted for all these reasons but never extravagantly and never losing his deep love for nature. He wa...

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“The Old Oak” by Delene Oosthuizen

Submitted to Contest #90

The old oak groaned gently in the breeze. It had stood on this quiet mountain side for years, basking in the soft summer sun and weathering the wild winter storms. Its branches swept the ground, the dense green leaves forming a green cave. The first time I had seen the tree was on a date. It was my first boyfriend, and I was so in love I couldn’t think straight. He had told me about this, his favorite spot often, and so we were strolling up the mountainside through the cow pastures one late summer afternoon. I can still remember it so cle...

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“First flight” by Delene Oosthuizen

Submitted to Contest #63

The autumn winds are blowing, stronger day by day. While the days are still pleasantly warm, the nights are becoming chilly and the mornings are crisp. You can see your breath in the grey dawn. The leaves are falling. There is a deep ache inside me, a yearning. I am restless. I must leave, fly away to – well somewhere else. Others have left already but my flock is still here. We are still feeding and resting but I can feel the same undercurrent of urgency in the others. It is almost time to go. I have grown all this summer, no longer a clums...

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Author bio

I am an aspiring blogger and freelance writer but I also tutor English and science. I studied ecology and I love writing about nature and conservation. I am also an avid reader and adore reading fantasy, mysteries and almost anything else I can lay my hands on.