A taste of what's to come..

"Marnie liked to sit in the rain. She loved the sting of the cold. She loved the way the water ran over her cheeks, and the way the drops collected on her eyelashes, blinding her. She loved the drops that caught in her eyebrows. Those drops got heavy and plopped down her nose. Sometimes, Marnie would stick out her tongue and catch those drops in her mouth. They tasted of salt and dirt and frosty wet. Sometimes they would taste like the sea on a foggy morning. On the lake, the rain would pelt a thousand tiny bowls across the water’s surface. Marnie would dip her toes over the pier and let the water warm her feet. Yellow eyes trembled under the shelter of sodden shrubs. Marnie would smile, watching the mist drift across the earth like strings of tiny beads dropped from heaven..."
Marnie and the Old Man, Copyright, Melia Donk, 2008.

And so begins Marnie and the Old Man, a short story I wrote as part of an assignment for uni in a class called Writing Project. 'Marnie' makes up one of a series of short stories exploring life, death, friendship and freedom, and was popular with my classmates due to it's unpredictability and universal themes. It also went on to be shortlisted for the Lyndall Hadow/Douglas Stuart Short Story Prize, WA, in 2008, and remains my favourite piece. Due to intellectual copyright and first rights trickyness when dealing with publishers, competitions and magazines, I cannot post the full story for you to enjoy. I'm still hoping to enter this piece into another competition or at least have it officially published in a literary publication, so I can't publish the story here.
Nevertheless, watch this space. You might be seeing it crop up somewhere soon...