Reid Hepworth
Marksman
He charms her. First with a smile, then with a clump of late winter daffodils, roots still attached. He quickly worms his way into her lonely heart, wearing down the little defences she has left.
Each morning, he waits outside the shelter door, the perfect gentleman calling on his lady. She does herself up to look pretty for him and they walk arm in arm to the soup kitchen, where he makes sure everyone knows that she is his. It doesn’t matter that she is older and he is just a young lad. Love has no boundaries, he explains.
She buys him cigarettes and alcohol, he speaks to her softly, makes her feel safe. They play out this dance week after week until he gets what he wants and she has handed over her welfare cheque. This is when he tells her how useless and unloveable she really is. How no one in their right mind could ever love her or find her attractive.
target met the hunter removes his duck decoy
About the Author
Reid Hepworth is a Pushcart Prize– and Touchstone–nominated poet whose haibun, tanka and related forms have been published in journals and anthologies internationally. She is a former associate editor at haikuKATHA and currently resides in wilds of Georgian Bay, Ontario, where she enjoys spending her time listening to the trees, talking to birds, and eating pastries.