Alors, Et Toi? is a quarterly magazine of the arts, digitally published on the world wide web.
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Backing Out
Story by Faith Snater
The boy watched from the jungle gym and knew that today would not be the day. He knew because of the way the man talking with his mother at the park bench looked into the street, not at her; how he wouldn’t take his hands out of his pockets to recieve the red and blue backpack she held up like a talisman between them. He jingled his keys instead, keeping his back toward the sounds of children and creaking swings.
His mother's steely mouth shot questions at the man that the boy could not hear. He knew the man’s answer would be “I’ll take him next week, I promise,” but the way his shoulders twitched said, “maybe”. The way he checked his watch too quickly to see the time said, “Gotta go; runnin’ late…”
He watched his father sprint back to his idling car across the street. He knew the aimless wave with one small, backward glance said, “See ya later, kid.”
Maybe next Friday would be that day.
Windmill
This landlocked ship once threw eighteen sheets to the prairie wind. While Truman picked up the pieces of Europe, she drew up a hundred gallons and more for every hour she faced into a seventeen-knot gale.
Her pump pole is gone. She is becalmed with rust and wrecked by the twisted sword of time. At morning tide, her Starling crew scans the horizon beyond the rigging for shadows of the world's fortunes.
About The Author
Faith Snater: was born in Minnesota in 1964, where she still lives with her husband and the youngest two of their six children. She is involved in community theater, performance choir, and is indebted to her friends from a local writers’ group for their support and inspiration. Two of her poems are currently on display in the 2008 Poetography exhibition at Crossings at Carnegie in Zumbrota, Minnesota, alongside the photographs that inspired them.