In Their Nature

[Lincolnshirelass]

Everyone had been most surprised when Ellen announced she was expecting. It was a given with her colleagues (who were many) and her friends (who were few) that Dr Ellen Fairfax was married to her work as a botanist, and that her plants and trees were her children. She always denied any kind of mysticism and was a firm disciple of scientific method, yet her oneness with the natural world had something about it that some admired, and others were baffled by.
Those who were old enough remembered that she had been a 'strange child'. She was an only child, born late in life to a couple of teachers who had never had any urge to seek posts in high-ranking schools or promotions to headships, but were quite happy with their village school.
They loved Ellen, and told themselves it was reciprocated, but it was often, even when she was a little girl, hard to work out just what was going on in her mind. Once her great-aunt, when visiting, had said half-jokingly that Ellen was what people called 'an old soul', but something about the look in those nut-brown eyes made Great Aunt Lucy nervous, and later - out of Ellen and her parents' earshot, of course, she confided in a friend that it had only been meant as a turn of phrase, but you couldn't help wondering.
On the surface, Ellen was an easy enough child to handle. She did her schoolwork and ate her greens without being nagged. Her parents sometimes worried that she didn't have many friends, but she didn't seem to be lonely or over-shy, and finally they came to accept their daughter (as they thought) for what she was and let her play in the woods with far more freedom than many children were allowed. She seemed to have an instinct for knowing which plants and berries were safe and for which trees gave a home to woodpeckers and hummingbirds.
And so, it seemed, she progressed quietly through her life, contented in her own way. She got a good degree, though she had never really enjoyed university, and, by happy coincidence, a job came up that allowed her to spend hours every day in the woodland she loved, helping to preserve it and to catalogue it.
Then, entirely out of the blue, this announcement that she was pregnant. Her colleagues, who had a healthy respect for the quiet woman with the steady gaze, knew better than to tease her or to probe too deeply.
At her mother's pleading she went into hospital for the delivery, though she would have preferred not to, it was plain, but Mrs Fairfax, who had been widowed for five years now, was frail and tended to fret and everyone agreed that though Ellen had her ways, she was not unkind.
It was certainly as well (so people said) because she gave birth to twins - two girls, not identical, and yet nobody could doubt either that they were twins or that Ellen was their mother. She took them back to her cabin in the woods as soon as she could, and announced that they were to be called Maple and Myrtle. At first people looked askance a little at the names, though agreeing it could have been worse, but within a few weeks agreed that they seemed to fit. Maple, the elder by three minutes, had a rosy complexion like a maple leaf, with the same rosy sheen, and Myrtle had eyes of an odd, yet attractive purple shade that reminded you of myrtle blossom in the spring.

And not far away, yet further than most people could imagine, in a corner of the forest where few people ventured, their father was waiting, and was well-satisfied. He had been wise in his choice of the quiet woman with the nut-brown eyes. His daughters would keep the forest alive despite what mortals might do.

[miracleugochukwu]

Wow, very interesting short story. Ellen, seems like she is a forest goddess. Love it

[zosima]

The story is short but entails several message in life, mother and child relationship, commitment to work, love of nature, and making decisions in tough times. The story ending is amazing. Readers may ask, who is the father of the twins. I like the story. There is realism and existentialism or mortals and immortals.

[ReyvrexQuestor Reyes]

Was that the story already? I kept on reading, waiting for the real bang, something they would do that will set them apart from the mortals. And the father, somebody non-human maybe. Or why should they be in the woods? But it ended. I suspect this is only the introduction and just to set-up the story proper. I am waiting. It must be an interesting piece.

[Lincolnshirelass]

Hi, all, thanks for the interest. On reflection I'm not sure if it does entirely work as a short story, but I'm holding onto the idea and will work on it.