Stormy Weather: A Short Story

Just a little short story for you this weekend. Hope you all enjoy it...

Stormy Weather

Aurora stood and waited by the sea. She listened to the waves crashing against the rocks just below her, felt the cool damp of the spray as it stung her face, but she did not move. The seagulls called overhead, their voices clamouring against the storm, desperate to be heard, but Aurora stood in silence. Beneath her feet, the coarse grass was whipped about by the wind, but she did not stir. Why did she stand so alone on such a stormy day, looking out to the sea? Why would anyone place themselves so close to the dangerous ocean that was thrashing about just below her? Aurora did not fear the sea. She did not fear the wind. Aurora feared only one thing; the storm that she had left behind. The storm that was of quite a different nature.

Back at the house, Molly stomped around the kitchen, banging pots and pans down on the sideboard. Geoff rustled his newspaper and pretended to be engrossed in the black and white print. Rows always made him uncomfortable, especially like the one he had just witnessed between his wife and his daughter.

“Did you hear the way she spoke to me?” snapped Molly, for perhaps the third time since Aurora had stormed out of the door, slamming it behind her. Perhaps she had not meant to slam it though, he reasoned. After all it was very windy out there.

“Yes, dear,” he said, glancing up over the top of the newspaper. Molly was standing; one hand on her hip, the other grasping the frying pan in such a way that suggested it had become a weapon, not an instrument of cookery.

“And fancy going out in this weather! Why would she go off in such a storm?”

“Maybe I should go after her?” suggested Geoff, reluctantly. He really didn’t want to go out into the rain and the wind, but maybe the storm out there was worth weathering if it would calm his wife. Molly pushed a hand through her mass of red curls and sighed, angrily banging the pan down onto the table. Geoff flinched.

“No! She wants to get cold and wet that’s her business. You don’t need to go out there too. What a silly idea!”

Geoff nodded and glanced back at the newspaper, lifting it to cover his face. He couldn’t look at her when she was this angry. Molly was still beautiful, even now in her mid-forties. She was a little broader round the hips than she had been when he first met her, but that suited him fine. After all, he wasn’t exactly a pretty picture himself these days. His hair had been steadily growing greyer and greyer as the years went by. The older his daughter, Aurora got the greyer and sparser his hair became.  Really, he supposed, the problem lay in the fact that they were too alike. Aurora too had that dangerous red hair, with a temper to match. Her green eyes would narrow in temper and he would be obliged to seek cover of some form, preferably the Miner’s Arms with a good pint in his hand.

Tonight though he had made the mistake of wandering in mid-argument and what an argument it was. Both women were screaming at one another; he could hear them from down the path. It was too late to turn round and go back though; Molly had spotted him and had opened the door for him. And he had walked straight into the lion’s den so to speak, with the two women pacing the room, sizing each other up, growling and snarling at one another and then asking him to take sides. Safest bet had been to sit in his chair with his newspaper and pretend he wasn’t there. They had soon forgotten about his presence as he had known they would.

Molly sat down opposite him, resting her chin on her hands. She looked towards the window, at the rain outside and sighed again.

“Did you hear what she said, Geoff?” she asked, her voice suddenly quiet. Geoff looked up from the newspaper and saw that there were tears in her eyes.

“No,” he said. “I just caught the tail end of it, love.”

Molly suddenly dropped her head down onto the table and began to sob. Geoff got up from his chair and hurried round the table to wrap an arm around her. Molly turned to him and threw her arms around him, weeping bitterly.

Aurora sat down, the weight on her feet suddenly too much. She rested her chin on her knees and looked out towards the storming blue. The wind was calming a little now, but the rain still fell heavily, drenching her. The waves were relenting a little beneath her, as the world began to return to normal. She brought a trembling hand up to her face to wipe the tears away, then sat as still as she had stood.

Her mind wandered back to the cottage, back to her home. Her relationship with her mother had always been turbulent. But perhaps this was the straw to break the camel’s back. Never had anything she had done been good enough. Never had anything placated that sense of disapproval and discontent that she sensed every time she was near her mother.

“Aurora?” The voice next to her was quiet. He sat down beside her, without flinching at the damp and the cold of the ground. Without another word, he placed an arm round her shoulder and she rested her head against him, still staring wordlessly out at the sea.

Eventually she sat up again and looked across at him.

“She told you then?”

“Yes,” he replied, taking his turn at staring out at the sea to avoid her gaze.

“And what do you think?”

Geoff was silent for a moment, considering his answer carefully. Aurora was as fiery as her mother and he had no wish to be drawn into a row with her.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted, eventually. “But I’d like to know how you feel about it.”

He glanced across at her and suddenly saw how her eyes were now shining, enthusiastic, excited. She smiled at him.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said. “The best thing that could ever have happened!”

“Then I think it’s great too, love,” said Geoff, kissing her gently on the forehead. “We’ll just have to convince your mother is all.”

Molly looked up as the kitchen door opened and stood up. Aurora came in through the door, uncertainly, Geoff behind her. He peeled off his coat and sat down on the step to take his boots off. Molly crossed the room in an instance and grabbed her daughter, hugging her fiercely against her.

“You know I love you, Aurora, don’t you?” she said. Aurora hugged her back.

“And I love you too, Mum, but I have to do this. You do understand, don’t you?”

“I’m not sure,” said Molly. “But I guess if you want to go study in America I can’t stop you. Your father thinks it will be a wonderful opportunity for you. I just wish it weren’t so far away.”

“I’ll be back before you know it, Mum. And we can talk on the phone…”

“Well, the rows will certainly be quieter and shorter no doubt,” said Geoff, chirpily. Molly and Aurora turned to look at him, both of them smiling now and he sighed. He loved them both and he would miss his daughter, but he had to let her take this chance.

“I love you both so much,” he said, opening his arms wide and embracing them both tightly to him.