neelwrites/thekeeper/FFfAW/flash/fiction/shorstory/172words/05/11/2017

FFfAW Challenge-Week of October 31, 2017

Hosted by Priceless Joy at https://flashfictionforaspiringwriters.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/fffaw-challenge-week-of-october-31-2017/

THE ‘KEEPER’

By Neel Anil Panicker

She isn’t much; just four raised oblong stone slabs; the edges, pointed and jutting out into the skies.

Half hidden behind the majestic branches of a huge peepal tree in a forested outgrowth in the village periphery, what she lacks in finesse and substance she more than makes up on the reverential sweepstakes.

A child beset by jaundice, another downed by yellow fever, a woman wishing for her family’s welfare, another asking for deliverance from the daily grind of life __they all come to her __men, women, children__ the born, the just born, the to be born; the old and the young; the also living and the near dying__,every single one of them makes a beeline to Mahakali __to pay obeisance, to pray, to smear vermillion on her pitch black ever shining visage, to shower her with flowers and rice and lentils and whatever it is that they could procure from their roofless homes and hearths.

She disappoints none; least of all her ‘keeper’ who partakes of the goodies once darkness descends.

©neelanilpanicker2017 #FFfAW #mahakali #goddess #faith #flash #fiction #shortstory #172words