Throw Down Your Shadows by Deborah Hemming

Author:Deborah Hemming
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Nimbus
Published: 2020-07-27T18:29:13+00:00

Peach day was always a Saturday in mid-August. Peaches were Ruth’s favourite summer treat and so we dedicated one whole day of the season to that ephemeral fruit, its flesh tender and intoxicating. For the last few years, the boys had joined us. They came with us to the farmers’ market, helped us carry out the laden bags, contributed to the peeling, the slicing, the freezing. We worked all afternoon, chatting, the radio on in the kitchen. When we finished, Ruth and I made the boys a peach cobbler as a thank you. Bubbling hot, with melting heaps of vanilla ice cream on the side.

That summer, peach day was exceptionally warm and sticky. It was thirty-two degrees when I woke up, which meant the afternoon was sure to scorch and blaze. It was hard to believe the weather would ever turn, that in a few months winter would arrive, long and bleak. I tied my hair in a ponytail, high off my neck. I was already sweating.

When I came downstairs, Ruth was dropping ice cubes in her coffee. She had laid out cutting boards and paring knives, zip-top freezer bags and aprons.

“Don’t let me forget ice cream,” she said, her forehead glistening.

The windows were open but the curtains didn’t twitch.

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