Arid
M. L. Edson
The last pomegranate wept from the desolate tree.
Its once brilliant reds had turned to black, and brittle twigs twisted through the papery foliage.
But the awaited tears evaporated before reaching the ground. the terrain longed for any moisture to touch its soil and yearned for life to re-enter, to sprout the dormant seeds waiting within.
Cloudless skies of relentless blue hung like an arid desert above the dying fields.
Furrows of rock and pebble and wisps of dust wound through the infertile terrain.
The world was devoid of optimism with nothing left to propagate the soil.
Naught remained to replenish the inhabitants, no expectation, no hope —
Only a future filled with despair accosts each day.
ARID
Original Science Fiction
M. L. Edson — Biography
Jill of all trades, master of two, M. L. Edson has found her passions in writing and in glass art during her “second” life (after retirement). While teaching, workbooks and instruction manuals came easily (Doing Life with a Map with co-author L. Bowman), and now life inspires the pen to move across the paper … er, the fingers on the keyboard. Poetry comes through life fraught with trying to continue living (Poems from an Old White Broad) while stories come from real crimes (The Six Rivers Killer, fictionalized) and trying to survive the financial downturns (Campground Gem [working title] in progress, taken from the recent economic crash). Short stories help keep the brain cells firing. She is currently in her sixth year as SSWC president.