The Accident

Degs was sitting on the branch
Podge had shinned half way up,
while I was at the bottom of the tree
with my dress held out
to catch the illicit plums
all fat and juicy.

My mouth was watering
in anticipation…

“Leave them plums alone our Mu
keep yer eyes peeled”
Podge’s harsh whisper came
hissing down the tree.

I looked guiltily around
checking this way and that.

Then I saw him,
all corduroy and gaiters.
His shot gun broken, tucked under one arm,

the other arm punching the air
his mouth moving ominously.

The plums went flying,
I was off like a rocket
toward the rally banks.

Thump oomph!
“Wooah watchit”
The sound of running feet behind me.

Gasps of breath sucked into
bursting lungs…

A roar from the road,
a sickening crunch
a clatter,
then silence…

I halted,
Podge and Degs halted,
corduroy and gaiters halted,
we all turned to gawp.

Flushed with horror
and excitement
we headed for the road.

Plums forgotten,
eyes full of broken bodies and blood.
A mangled motor bike
a drunken telegraph pole.

A single curl of smoke
drifting from the bike
told me time was still moving.

Abruptly, I was snatched up
in strong arms and whisked indoors.
Podge and Degs dragged by their shirt collars
followed in sharp time, protesting loudly.

I looked back
just in time to see two broken bodies
disappear beneath a tarpaulin...

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