Eyes of a Bystander

by: Rebecca Taylor

**Previously Published by Barebacklit in 2014**

I can see the path you’re taking starting to crumble

like a cliff’s edge that you should stay away from.

My desire to shout a warning sticks hard in my chest

wondering how you’d take it.

I’m just a bystander in your life

someone you see every day.

Your life is on the verge of being upside down

like a hurricane rushed through it.

The way you’re fighting these fierce winds of change

is so unwise, you’ve got to give  some things time.

Feel sad, be angry, but don’t turn to destruction

this is no time for a collision.

Stay on this road and you’re going to lose

more than you think you already have.

Maybe you’d say I’ve never been where you have

you’re right but sometimes common sense must prevail.

The answers you need are not found in liquid,

you’re using it like a broken life raft.

This time you’re going to have to swim with strength

to battle the tumultuous tides in the ocean.

Painted Pumpkins

by: Rebecca Taylor

Leaves rustled overhead as Tania Hanson and her daughter Mariah walked outside to their pumpkin patch. It was time to choose one and take it inside to decorate it. Tania had several stencils of cats, leaves, witches and other Halloweeny things that she knew her daughter would enjoy. Tania always liked painted pumpkins better than carved ones because they lasted longer.

“This is so much fun, Mom,” said Mariah.

“I’m glad that you like it, honey,” said Tania, “I’m glad we can do it together.”

“Me too,” said Mariah, “I just wish that Dad could be here to do it with us.”

“He told me he should be home next week and we can skype him to show him what our painted pumpkins look like,” replied Tania.

“Alright,” said Mariah, “I want to paint a special one for him.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” said Tania.

Together the mother and daughter duo selected their pumpkins and then they put them in the wheelbarrow to take them closer to the house.

It was moments like this that Tania lived for. She enjoyed creating special moments with her daughter, and with her husband when he was home. He traveled frequently for business and she didn’t get to see him as much as she would have liked. She, however, didn’t let that get her down. Instead, she felt incredibly blessed that technology kept them connected so that she and Mariah could share their everyday lives with him even when he was away. She knew that his face would light up with a smile and that his blue eyes would twinkle with the love that they carried when he saw what she and Mariah had been up to. Painted pumpkins and hot apple cider, what a better way to spend a Saturday in autumn.

Another Take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears

by: Rebecca Taylor

A family was out for a walk while their porridge cooled on the kitchen table. The door was locked in the city where they lived but some children had been playing a game of baseball across the street and it broke a window. Afraid that they would be found out, the children sent in the smallest one amongst them to get their unique baseball. When the boy saw the porridge on the counter, he remembered the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and sampled the porridge.

“It’s true,” he said, “this one is too hot, this one is too cold,” but when he sampled the third one it was just right and he ate the whole bowl. He also tried out the kitchen chairs but thankfully they didn’t break like in the fairy tale.

“Did you find the ball?” asked someone from outside the door.

The boy hadn’t even started looking yet and he was worried that someone would find him in the house because the porridge on the counter obviously meant that someone would be back soon.

The boy had just found the ball under a sofa when the door opened and in walked a man, six feet tall. He looked like a giant to the boy.

“What are you doing in my house?”

“Getting my baseball, sir.”

“Why didn’t you ask instead of coming into my house.”

“I’m sorry, sir, please don’t send me to jail.”

“And you ate my little girl’s porridge too, what do you think this is, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”

“No, sir, I didn’t mean to, but I was hungry and -,”

“I’m not going to call the cops this time,” said the man, “but I am going to call your parents,” and he did and the boy had to pay for the broken window, the porridge and the inconvenience with his next year’s allowance.