Sweat

The wind had abandoned its duty, daunted by the intense fire of the suns breath it recoiled and ran for cover, Alta sat slumped in defeat legs out stretched under the fat shadow of the crooked rock that looked like the frame of a headless woman arms held impatiently at her hips waiting to scold some poor unfortunate soul.  The sweat dripped down her face like slow waterfall few salt drops trickling wetting her coarse peanut brown lips she slide pink fat snaking tongue out slithering over the cracked terrain of her lip moistening.  Alta swallowed her own sweat not caring the taste was welcome relief to her parched mouth flavouring the bitter stale taste fermenting.


It wasn't plain hot more like oven turned to maximum, burning hot.  A lonely white blurry dot was the only thing adrift on a clear blue sky it seared over her head, Alta's eye lashes fluttered rapidly as she squinted from the pain of the brightness.  She had the look of excruciating pain stretched across her face, twisted and scrunched looking up at the empty sky the birds weren't sailing today she couldn't imagine them mustering enough energy to flap and glide drunkenly across the horizon.  Alta raised her slender long hands trying to shield her eyes, but quickly slumped her limp arms back down the effort was more straining then the sun.

She could feel the warm sweat swell like a fountain lather her gaunt body, tickling her flesh as the drops chilled then swelled with more sweat.  This she thought to herself alone beneath the crooked woman's shadow was a good day to die she felt like it was encroaching slowly like a snail crawling to prolong her misery.