{"id":1073,"date":"2023-11-29T13:22:08","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T13:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/?page_id=1073"},"modified":"2023-12-12T17:23:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-12T17:23:48","slug":"the-willow-tree","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/the-willow-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"The Willow Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Willow Tree<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u2013 A Short Story by Elaine Desmond

This short story was awarded second prize in the online Global Short Story Competition in 2008<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Source: Pixabay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Excerpt from The Willow Tree<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember feeling shocked when she had arrived back that winter.  Shocked\u2026and desperately sad.  Fifteen years ago, I had sent my only daughter into the world \u2013 buoyant, full of hopes and dreams for her future.  And now, the world had returned her \u2013 angry, bitter and badly damaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            She had stood on our doorstep that frosty December evening, nose red from the cold, eyes small and tender from crying.  She had looked lost\u2026thin and brittle.  Was this what divorce did to a person, I wondered?   Suddenly, I felt grateful that Kate and I had been able to work through our problems for the past forty years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cWelcome home, darling,\u201d Kate had said, visibly shaken at our daughter\u2019s appearance.  She had reached out uncertain arms for a hug. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            But Jessie had brushed past, tears in her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u201cThis is not my home,\u201d she had said, in a thin, unsteady voice.  \u201cI\u2019ve left my home behind.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, with that, she had rushed blindly upstairs to her childhood room.  Kate and I had exchanged a quick look of dismay.  While I dealt with the suitcases, Kate had rushed to tackle the far more daunting task of soothing our only child. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Willow Tree \u2013 A Short Story by Elaine Desmond This short story was awarded second prize in the online Global Short Story Competition in 2008 Excerpt from The Willow Tree I remember feeling shocked when she had arrived back that winter.  Shocked\u2026and desperately sad.  Fifteen years ago, I had sent my only daughter into…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1073","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1073"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492,"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1073\/revisions\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elainedesmondwriter.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}