Families

Saying farewell to Sun

Rain showered down across Johannesburg cooling the heat of the day. Aloe could hear Thunder grumbling in the clouds and Lightning answered snappily with a flash of bright light. She peeked out of the Stump and listened, wondering what they were saying.  With every boom that shook the sky rain pelted harder into the grass and soon the world outside the Stump was drenched. She wondered how Mr and Mrs Weaver were fairing in their hovel in the tree. Their nest was built where the branches split from the trunk of the tree, out of sticks and grasses that were woven tightly together. As white stones began plummeting down, speckling the grass with ice, Aloe thanked the stars she was safe in the Stump. Barely visible across the long grass was where the Web family lived. Their home was squashed in between two giant rocks. Before the babies came along, Mr and Mrs Web had carved cavernous rooms inside the rocks. Mrs Web was a master at spinning spider webs and the two of them used to slide and swing from rock to rock, using the webs like ropes. These days, the Webs were more conservative, and the cavernous rooms inside the rocks were only used for parties and special occasions. Mrs Web was still an exquisite spinner.

Just across from the Webs lived Aloe’s and Vera’s best friends. Admittedly they were a funny faery family, but that just made them more lovable. The Mush-Rooms lived in a lost shoe - a boot to be specific. It was tattered and patched in mismatched colours, and a mushroom grew right through the sole and up out of the top. Their house always smelled a little mouldy, but they were the dearest fey in the field. Aloe and Vera spent forever Summer days riding dandelions with Scarlett, Elf and Cup. Then on Winter evenings when the Boot grew too cold and clammy, the Mush-Rooms would race across the park with arms full of freshly baked seed buns and sweet daisy jam, and spend a cosy night in the stump with Aloe and her family.

As Aloe remembered those nights watching the frozen sky as she snuggled beneath blankets with her friends, the rain began to hush. Soon the clouds pulled away from the sky and the last of Sun’s last rays flitted across the park. As the day ended, Aloe watched Scarlet and Elf clamber up onto the mushroom cap, pulling Cup after them. In the fading light they sat together, waving good bye to Sun.