Constance carefully closed the study door behind her. She needed just a moment, even as she knew that any further DELAY in her appearance would wound her Father’s PRIDE. But this was too important and delicate a situation to rush. They would just have to wait for her, the star RIDER, for another few minutes. She strode in ever WIDER circles around the room, thoughtfully tapping her riding crop against her boots. Could she figure out the right questions to expose John’s machinations without risking everything they had worked to build? Angry footsteps in the hallway caused her to abruptly turn towards the door just as it slammed open. “What the hell are you playing at?” Her father’s face was beet red, making it look as if his ascot was choking him. “I …I am sorry, Father.” She could barely get the words out. “I just need a minute – I saw John last night sneaking around the CIDER barrels
I don’t trust him.” “Constance, when will you drop this? John has invested too much in our business to sabotage our work. He was the one who insisted on putting this year’s pressing up for the award.”

Georg’ann

Laying beside the pool
on a basket woven plastic chaise.
It’s late when I claim this moment alone in the dark.
Murmurs come from inside
where the party continues.
Frogs loud in the fountain beside me.
A rectangle of silent shimmering blue saltwater contained and still, like me,
even as I hear the rhythmic calling of the sea lapping
at the shore down the hill.
I imagine my prone body rolling off this lounge, across the brick courtyard and all the way down the hill, over the rocks
and back into the vast womb of the ocean mother.
Satellites move quickly across the sky,
trying, and failing, to disguise themselves as stars or planets.
The SCALE of the universe is held in the tear that descends along my CHEEK
memories release when awe opens the gate.
Another quite, cool, late night.
You and I on the hood of the car, hoping to catch sight of a COMET,
warm with hot CIDER and youthful love.

Heather