THE BIG WHITE GUM TREE


by

Rufus Kirk

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY:

Chris Gainsford on Smashwords

The big white gum tree

Copyright © 2009 by Chris Gainsford

                                                Chapter One.



It gets dark quickly in Whyalla, no twilight at all, Dom thought as he shambled slowly home.

He stopped abruptly at the corner and looked dejectedly at the big white gum tree, remembering that this was the very place he'd first met Lydia. This was where they'd shared their first word and their first hesitant smile. How had he felt at that moment? Had he known even then that they were destined to be together, or was that only time and memory playing tricks on him?

His smile was bitter- sweet as he remembered the beautiful apparition stepping boldly from the shadows and into the pale glow cast by the feeble street light. How could someone so apparently average seem so perfect? She wasn't tall or short, skinny or fat, and even her long, dark hair, was ordinary. It was, perhaps, her breathtaking eyes, sea green with tiny golden flecks that danced with mischief or maybe her smile and the way it seemed to make her entire face light up. The lump in Dom's throat matched the knot in his stomach as he lingered in the past. In his minds eye he saw a pair of fifteen-year-olds and felt anew the unbreakable bond forged on that fateful night, so long ago