THE OPAL POOL

I entered a competition to win a year's free entry to Painshill Park in Surrey.  It's a truly magical place and I've been several times.  

I had to write a story to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Crystal Grotto; an enchanting man-made creation with walls lined with calcite, gypsum, fluorite, quartz and other minerals.  It contains bubbling pools, stalactites and limestone surrounds which resemble impacted skulls.

The story had to be inspired by the grotto and 250 words long.

Well, I didn't win- at the time of writing this blog post the stories hadn't been published, but their descriptions seem a tad more light-hearted than my offering.  Maybe my story about a lonely, orphaned girl was a bit too dark compared with what they were looking for!

But here it is- comments and constructive criticism are always welcome...

THE OPAL POOL

'Almost identical, my twins Mandy-Moo and Suki-Soo.'

Suki grimaced. 'But I've got brown eyes.'

Their mother nodded. 'Mandy's are oil-on-water. Like opals.'

Eight was deemed mature enough for a feverish child to suffer alone, so Suki was spared their car crashing off the Adelaide road. Bewildered months of homes, forms, then a kindly air hostess followed, ending with diffident stranger-relatives.

Suki overheard her aunt: 'I've got a baby to care for. I don't want that little girl around me.'

Unsupervised and inquisitive, Suki slithered underneath a fence surrounding her local park, breathing in loamy grass. Weird ornamental follies loomed like fairies' hilltop dwellings, and she ducked into a hulking grotto of impacted skulls, gaping. Magical jewels twinkled, stalactites smiled back in layers of smooth, perfect teeth and a cool tinkling pool coated with something resembling an oil slick fascinated her. Animated, she twirled like a dervish, momentarily happy. Then she crumpled onto her knees, full of searing emotion. How she missed her family! Rainbow ripples distracted her and she dipped her fingers into the pool, the oleaginous coating dissipating as she stared down at her reflection- only the face had opalescent eyes, not brown. Incredulous, Suki had an insight- if she was to fall into the glistening water, would she slip through the core of the earth and tumble out in Australia?

The vision just beckoned sadly. So Suki dived in.

Far away in Coober Pedy a child was found wandering near a mine; amnesic but with the unusual feature of one brown eye and one the colour of opals- like oil on water.

Copyright©Elaine Rockett