Morning Has Broken

Submitted into Contest #149 in response to: Start your story with the flickering of a light.... view prompt

4 comments

Fantasy




Ginny woke up softly with an old Cat Stevens song rising from someplace deep inside. 

Indeed, morning was breaking and yes, it felt like the first morning.

She stretched, thought of Luke with her eyes still closed. She smiled gently, reached out to caress his body and realized he wasn’t there.

Ginny sighed, took a deep breath of praise and elation and opened her eyes.

Glorious, blinding radiance filled the eastern sky. 

It had begun with a tentative flicker as the earth traveled towards Her burning lover. His ardent passion burst into a blinding light that filled the room with energy.

Ginny grabbed the beast by the horn, held on tightly as the creature reared, pulling her up and out from her cozy nest.

Thus began her day.

To Gin it appeared an eternity and yet, she nestled securely into the safety of knowing it would only last for twenty-four hours. Within that boundary she knew she was safe. Safe to explore, seeking adventure and excitement.


She longed for a companion on her journey. Someone who sought the things she sought and yet remained grounded to their own hopes and dreams.


When she’d first met Luke she was quite thrown off balance. That encounter had been on a virtual platform and her first thought had been, “Good Lord, what in the hell is Kristopher doing here?” She looked more carefully and realized that the person in the box was not Kristopher. Ginny sighed a breath of relief. She knew logically that there was no way on earth Kristopher would’ve shown up for this program and yet, there sat his doppelganger. 


Over the next few years she got to know Luke a little better. He gradually disclosed more and more of his process and how he had chosen to exorcize the demons of his past, planting his feet firmly in the now.


For Ginny the attraction became much more than his resemblance to a man she’d been in love with for ten years.

That unrequited love had left her a little jaded. It hadn’t taken much work to see the gifts that loving Kristopher brought into her life. She had learned much from their time together. Though the relationship had never moved into the physical realm, the steaminess of their exchanges had kept her chasing the dangled bait long past its expiration date.

She’d finally given up. It wasn’t exactly that she’d stopped hoping, only that she’d grown weary of the lack of reciprocation.


It had been several years since she’d last been actively involved with Kristopher when she met Luke. It didn’t take long for her to see that this was a different caliber of man. Ginny began to like the differences.

It was into the second year of knowing Luke that things changed.

Ginny had been careful to sublimate the slight tingling’s she experienced whenever Luke appeared in one of their zoom meetings. 

She knew she was somewhat vulnerable. She was approaching her seventy-third birthday and entering into the thirtieth year of abstinence from a sexual relationship with a man.

She was…hungry, thirsty and ready to break her fast.

She had gained a lot of weight during her sexual diet and sensed that if she entered back into the game, some of that baggage might disappear. She had used her fat to carefully guard those inner recesses that had sustained substantial damage early on in life. Excess adipose became the shield that protected her as she forayed out into battles. Eventually the armour became the major burden. She had a difficult time letting it go.

Though the goal of losing weight was not the deciding factor, she dreamily anticipated the benefits of vigorous workouts.

Luke’s enquiry as to whether she needed some help came at a time when she was rather ripe for the picking.

Their private exchanges moved their virtual relationship into the physical realm. When Luke met Gin in person for the first time, she knew immediately from the rich pheromones that wafted off his body that her attention had been snagged. He dangled a mouse in front of her and it began to consume her imagination.

A true cat, this woman could be relentless in stalking her prey. What few realized was that once she became tired of the game one of two things happened. Either she turned and sought new entertainment or…she ate the mouse.

She hadn’t quite eaten Kristopher, but some of her attentions and attempts to capture his ‘mouse’, had definitely left scars on his male ego.

Luke was of another tribe. Though gentle and sensitive, his connection to his masculinity was much more intense than Kristophers .

Ginny found their ensuing text messages both titillating and disturbing. His sexual banter excited her more than she wanted to admit.


She attempted to be the voice of reason in their exchanges, seeking to bring this heady carnal dialogue to a more spiritual plane.

It worked…sometimes.

Luke, knowing she was an artist, tried to convince her of the merits of sketching him in the nude.

He was a great salesman. Ginny eventually became sold on the idea. In fact, rather enthusiastically so.

The emotional damage she carried cast shadows on the evolving relationship. What was very clear to Gin was the observation of how well her issues and his blended together. There was much to explore and many opportunities for the couple to heal old wounds.

Their daily exchanges that went on and on and on left her breathless.

She found herself taking frequent ‘naps’. She rarely slept during these sessions and yet arose from her bed completely refreshed and invigorated. 

She went from being slightly horrified at some of his requests to actually contemplating their merits.

He eventually had her convinced about the benefits of playing his “magic flute”.

She realized that though his own gratification was the primary thrust of his pursuit, he would be pliable and generous enough to accommodate her own gratification. Her lustful curiosity grew.


The lure became irresistible, Ginny decided to pounce.


Now what happens next is still up for grabs. Not even Ginny could make up a scenario of how things might go and she was a master storyteller.


She definitely was still tied to her hopes and her dreams.

She understood that Luke, though bruised and hurt, was also still attached to his.


She honestly believed that there was room for them to share the journey and that each could bring to the other a joy that had been missing for a long time.

One might say, a lifetime.


Ginny being a number of years older, had traveled somewhat further down the road.

Luke’s own journey, though slightly behind hers, had gathered him many experiences. It was this and his sharp intelligence that snapped him to attention. He knew there was work to do if he were to win the affections of this rather phenomenal woman.

Ginny firmly believed him capable of the task at hand and waited somewhat patiently to see if he would rise to the challenge.


So, she reached out and sang,


“Come take this trip with me

Keep your eyes wide and keep me company.

If you tag alone you just might see

What is it I'm trying to reach.”


Luke considered. Perhaps he could rise above the sexual banter and move to the next level. What wasn’t really clear, was if he actually wanted to do that.


Without question, this pair could have amazing conversations that left them exhausted with the satiation of having discovered a kindred spirit. Their encounters showed Gin that she could step out onto a battlefield that would once have driven her to dark places.

She met and confronted demons that had tortured her for decades. She slew them one by one.


From the advantage point of age she could see that their journeys meshed well and what each brought to the table both complemented and offered growth to the other. 

She knew that she had traveled well past the 'turn back now' sign post.

She knew she wanted to see how far this road went.

She knew that Luke, like herself, would always see the benefits of being a ‘child’, or at least retaining the excitement that seeing the world through a child's eyes brought.


And so she sat listening to Cat sing,

“Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven

Like the first dewfall on the first grass

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

Sprung in completeness where His feet pass.”


She sighed thinking of Luke and his lovely feet and how she had felt as he had pressed them to her breasts while she gave him a massage.


She smiled as the dawn flickered into brilliance and Cat sang on, 


“Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light, Eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God's recreation of the new day.”


Ginny needed some recreation! She was ready to play.


So, She finally worked up the courage to ask Luke to bring over his flute.

Silence.


As we sit, she awaits his answer.


Now the question dear reader is this.

"Does he reply?”

The deeper question becomes, “What is the reply?”

And perhaps the deepest consideration of all, “How long would she wait?”


She ached to have him sing, “A Song For Someone” to her.


June 10, 2022 13:32

You must sign up or log in to submit a comment.

4 comments

Graham Kinross
21:54 Jun 16, 2022

I like the musical references, stories about cats are always a plus for me as well. Your description is excellent.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Samantha Cullen
12:05 Jun 16, 2022

Hi Jeannie! I received your story as part of the critique circle! Here are some of my thoughts after reading it: I like the tie-in of Ginny being like a cat while listening to Cat Stevens. The words immediately jumped together. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Ginny is an older woman, it wasn't what I was expecting as I read the introduction. The mention of Kristopher helped with her backstory, and give us some insight into her thoughts and emotions. I would have liked to see a little more development of Luke, he felt kind of shadowy ...

Reply

Show 0 replies
03:02 Jun 11, 2022

I’d like to credit several artists who’s music and lyrics I used quite freely. Gareth Dunlop - “How Far This Road Goes” Cat Stevens - “Morning Has Broken” U-2 - “Song for Someone”

Reply

19:19 Jun 16, 2022

Thanks for your feedback. All I can say is…”it’s a work in progress” . I have yet to find perfection! I’m currently working on…”Easy Does It” I’d also like to see a bit more of Luke. He’s a hard nut to crack.

Reply

Show 0 replies
Show 1 reply
RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

Bring your short stories to life

Fuse character, story, and conflict with tools in Reedsy Studio. 100% free.