It was the Autumn - Jane Broughton
It was the autumn we left childhood behind. We roamed the twilight like gazelles, long limbed and wide eyed. Maisie discovered Girl Power and we synchronized our steps. What did we really, really want?
It was the autumn of scarlet, plum, russet and tangerine. Nature was flamboyant and careless with her bounty. We scuffed through mounds of leaves. We’d seen old Mrs Littler sweeping them up earlier and laughed when she shrieked and her arthritic poodle, Archie, nipped at our heels.
It was the autumn we noticed Aunty Hilda sometimes closed her curtains in the afternoon. Amateur detectives, we observed, while pretending to hopscotch on the corner and noted Mr Jackson’s car parked outside every Wednesday. Surveillance a success, we nodded to each other sagely and hooted like owls. When December arrived Aunty Hilda left and words like flighty, flirty and floozy followed her departure like trailing butterflies.
It was the autumn we watched Life on Earth and realised there was safety in being one of the herd, keeping alert and always being ready to run.
It was the autumn the boys, prowling like lions, started to stalk the shadows.
It was the autumn Maisie, our leader, our Ginger Spice, stopped coming out. We called for her three times and then her mam, exasperated, said she’d gotten fat eating too many sweets. She’d left to stay with her gran in Bury and wouldn’t be back till next autumn.
It was the autumn we boycotted Miss Emily’s Sweet Emporium. We stayed away all winter, until the shop window started to bulge with chocolate eggs and gold foiled baby chicks.
Originally published by Reflex Press on February 16, 2023 as it was long-listed in their Winter 2022 competition.
Jane won Beaconlit’s flash fiction prize in 2019 and this success prompted her to start writing in her sixties. She enjoys the challenge of writing flash fiction, the shorter the better. Her stories have been published in magazines and online by Free Flash Fiction, WestWord, Full House, Paragraph Planet and The Wondrous Real. She's been a LISP and Edinburgh Flash Fiction finalist.
