Issue 294, Volume 28
May 2024

And She Ran

by Jeanne G'Fellers-Walker

And she ran -

Like no one before
Hair in her eyes
As she ran out that door
Breaking toward freedom
Tearing down walls
She ran through the village
Ignoring their calls
Non-stop til she settled
In a far away land
And there raised her daughter
To make her own stand

And she rode -

Like her mother before
Hair in her eyes
As she burst through that door
Breaking toward wonder
Tearing down knowns
Shedding her bondage
Riding alone
Non-stop til she cantered
To a far away state
And there raised her daughter
To choose her own pace

And she sailed -

Like her mother before
Hair in her eyes
As she pushed from the shore
At breakers she laughed
What waves she tore through
Pushing on harder
Blue upon blue
Til one day she drifted
To sands ripped by storms
And there raised her daughter
To question the norms

And she drove -

Like her mother before
Hair in her eyes
As she geared it up more
At boundaries she chuckled
Sharp corners she hugged
Pushing that engine
To maximum rev
Til one day she braked
In a place that was new
And there raised her daughter
To lead her own crew

And she flew -

Like her mother before
Hair in her eyes
Through G force she tore
At maximum clip
She pushed through the clouds
Swearing that now
She'd never come down
Til one day she landed
Where the feeling remained
And there raised her daughter
To do it again

And she journeyed -

Like her mother before
Exploring new planets
Describing new shores
Helmet and rocket
She flew to the stars
Past Earth and the moon
And colonized Mars
Til one day she landed
In the place she'd call home
To find there a peace
Like none she had known
And raised her own daughter
Her very own girl
To be a brave thinker
And take on the world

Jeanne G'Fellers-Walker possesses many hats... most of which she usually ends up trying to wear at one time. Her primary hat, the three pointed one with the feather in it, would be motherhood. She has three active little time consumers between the ages of nine years and ten months. Her secondary hat, the baseball cap knocked slightly to the side from scratching her head, would be science fiction and freelance writing. Jeanne has several projects in the works, the least of which includes several novels based on the world introduced in "The Moll's Initiation." The first novel is currently under publisher's consideration and the second novel's first draft is near completion. Novel three is in the early planning stages. Jeanne's third hat, the one that seems to cover the others at moments, would be a mortar board. She is a junior English major returning to school after many years of mindless jobs with little future. The written word thrills her beyond all else and she hopes, someday, to make her living at it in some form or the other, be it in the classroom or on the bookstore shelf.