Veined with Thyme

Kirkstone Pass, England

*balances on tiptoes*

*nose inches over an old stone wall*

As the initial research for my Revolutionary War-era story “Six Brothers” grinds to a close, I have begun peeking over the wall at what comes next in this new writing saga.

So what do I see above the roughly hewn rocks veined with ivy and thyme?

I see a boy named Thackary.

He’s only ten years old, a mere flutter in the heartbeats that make a life.

Being the next to the youngest son in a brood of six boys, little Thackary treasures any time he finds alone.

He is forever one of many.

This fleeting spring afternoon, he is but one.

The others are near, of course. Only a shout away.

But here in the loft of the barn, an admittedly small and sun-dashed world, Thackary is both king and knight, lord and leper… although he’s not quite sure what a leper truly is. He only knows it from the Bible stories his mother reads to him every night, tales told as the sun sneaks off over the far western hills to hide from the chasing moon.

Details, however, matter little in Thackary’s tiny, lofty world.

Only one young boy matters.

One of six on any other day, he is but a boy alone on this fateful spit of time…

*eases down from the stone wall and steps away*

Friends, I believe there’s a boy’s story to be told. I better get to it.

*winks and dashes away*

Until tomorrow…

Chloe