The contest piece

A Glimpse of October

(I'm not sure this is the final version.)

October has a place in the woods beside a creek, but she loves the city too.  Some people think that she's September's twin sister, but they are really only cousins.  She keeps September and their cousin, November, from fighting.  They really like each other, but they're just so different.  October is a peace loving, calm, and gentle presence.  If you're too busy, you might not know she's there.

October likes to wear swishy skirts and amber jewelry. Her wild side is fascinated with the new trend of uneven hems.  “Seems more natural.” She says.  Colors and gradations are her thing and she loves the contrast of wet black bark against all her bright gold, red, and orange leaves when it rains.  When she sees some botanical green, she can get all pensive and poetic, lost in the meaning of life and the inevitability of change.  Strangely, green reminds her that snows are coming.

Sometimes, she walks the city streets and hears the maple leaf rag in her head as she watches the leaves swish around from the draft of cars passing by.  She likes to float on laughing waters creek and trail her fingers in it as she goes.  She likes to pretend that she’s one of the cupped gold maple leaves that float beside her canoe.

She knows her power and uses it wisely, putting trees and grasses to sleep at just the right times.  She’s got good intuition, that’s for sure.  But she can make life a little messy too with all these changes:  You know, the leaves falling willy-nilly and blowing all over.  She says not to blame her: “It’s civilization that taught you to care about that.  The forest floor seems to relish those haphazard leaves.”

October loves change, but knows that it takes time.  She gets mad at herself when she tries to move too fast.  It soothes her soul, though, to walk in the woods and fill up her senses with the smells and sounds, whether the air is soft and moist or crisp and cold.  When night comes, she loves to dance beside a bonfire.  If no one’s looking, she can actually become a flame and dance with her partners, arms reaching to the night sky. And when she’s tired, relaxing and listening to a few precious friends tell their stories shifts her energy to grateful idling.  She’ll enjoy a fire-roasted hot dog in a fresh bun, but really doesn’t like toasted marshmallows or s’mores.  She loves it when a full moon and a bonfire come together and she loves to hear the crackles of the fire and watch the sparks fly up and disappear in the dark.

She can be very decisive and her friends look to her for the big picture to help them make decisions.  Because she’s so curious, she can be a little impulsive, especially about food.  She loves caramel apples and can't resist warm buttery popcorn.

Her friends say she's wise but playful as long as she gets a good balance of warm and cool weather.  That's what they love about her; she's so balanced!  Still, if she has to work late and miss the sunset, well, she can get a little frosty.  She really isn’t much for work indoors; believes that good weather is fleeting and she ought to be with it as often as possible.  She really isn’t much for work at all, likes her freedom too much.

She always says she wouldn't mind slipping “gently into the night", but all her friends like to celebrate, so she's planned a silly, raucous, traveling dessert party so they can dress up in costumes and celebrate her life and theirs, when she goes.  The truth is she would never leave them if it weren't for winter.