Member-only story
Crimson-Coloured Deer
A story about a childhood friendship
Carrie Cameron’s house is pretty. Wild roses grow in a tangle along the fence, and sweet-smelling vines with nodding purple flowers climb up one side of the house.
Inside, there is always a vase of cut flowers on the kitchen table, and neat piles of freshly folded laundry sit in tidy stacks on top of the dryer.
Sasha likes that the best; the clothes smell so nice.
Where Sasha lives, there is no dryer — her mother dries their clothes on a rack in front of a baseboard heater. Sometimes it takes two days for things to be dry enough to wear — especially the sweaters — and they never smell like Carrie Cameron’s do.
When summer arrives, Sasha and Carrie have sleepovers in Carrie’s backyard in a big green tent.
They tell ghost stories, make up songs, and talk about their favourite TV shows, and Mrs. Cameron brings them homemade brownies and lemonade on a tray painted with a border of bluebirds and cherries.
They spy on Melissa, the girl next door, who wears a white crocheted bikini and likes to kiss her boyfriend on the garden swing near the hedge separating their yards.
Sometimes, they hear her giggle, and other times, they hear her say things like, “No! Stop it, Josh!”…
