Cherry Stones

by Sarah Hilary © 2007

The crack in Missy's teeth started small. Gramma declared it a whole bunch o' fuss over nothing. But Missy'd seen the eggs lain by Ezekiel; cracks kept growing, got big right before hatching happened. Some chicks lived, some died. Gramma said, ‘That's life' even when it wasn't. Missy squatted on her heels, watching Ezekiel. The old hen bothered at the sand, leaving lines like the one in Missy's tooth.

Momma said it was the cherry stones. Missy was forever chewing cherries, rolling the stones around her teeth, spitting them into the sand. "That'll be how come the crack," said Momma.

Gramma kept the stones Missy spat. She liked to sing, "Oh, my mama had the stone, Oh, my father had the stone, Oh, my preacher had the stone, So glad I got that stone."

Missy lolled against Gramma's chair, supping milk. The day was hot and the milk was sour but Missy liked the tinny taste in her mouth. Gramma was peeling corn, her hands full of cracks and mud-coloured jus' the same as the riverbed before rain. Missy poked her toe at the dust, pushing it into pictures. Her feet were white right to the ankle, like she was wearing socks. "If I lose my tooth'll I get a gold one?"

"Not you," said Gramma.

"I'd like a gold tooth." Like a piece of ripe corn against her gum, yellow taste of metal in her mouth. She took another cherry from the bowl, fingers purple at the tips, pink in the palms –fancy gloves. Gramma give her a ol' lace parasol, broke, a real lady's.

Missy spat.

"So glad I got that stone," Gramma sang. "Oh my brother got the stone, Oh, my deacon had the stone, Oh, my sister got the stone, So glad I got that stone."

 

Sarah's stories have been published in The Beat, Neon, SHINE, Bewildering Stories, Velvet Mafia, MYTHOLOG, HeavyGlow, Twisted Tongue, Static Movement, Kaleidotrope and the Boston Literary Magazine. Her short story, On the line, was published in the Daunt Books 2006 anthology. She won the Litopia "Winter Kills" Contest in 2007. Sarah lives in the Cotswolds with her husband and young daughter. Website: www.writewords.org.uk/sarah_hilary/