{"id":1404,"date":"2019-08-19T01:50:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T01:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/?p=1404"},"modified":"2019-08-16T20:42:23","modified_gmt":"2019-08-16T20:42:23","slug":"vindle-by-david-hensen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/2019\/08\/19\/vindle-by-david-hensen\/","title":{"rendered":"Vindle by David Henson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

David Henson and his wife have lived in Brussels, Belgium and Hong Kong over the years and now reside in Peoria, Illinois with their dog Annabelle, who likes to walk them in the woods. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Vindle<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After watching the wriggling snake rise into the sky,\nVindle went inside and noticed smoke wisping from Kangle\u2019s fingertips. She\nthought she was imagining things, but when she saw tiny flames dancing behind\nher husband\u2019s ears, she knew what she had long feared had begun. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have been feeling a might south,\u201d Kangle said when\nVindle felt his forehead. \u201cMaybe some fresh air would repair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProbably wouldn\u2019t harm,\u201d Vindle said, hurrying to the\nkitchen to pump a stream of cold water over her hand. They decided to take a\nride to Clavdon Creek.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vindle hitched up Old Treb, and she and Kangle climbed into\nthe carriage. By the time they got to the creek, Vindle\u2019s clothes were drenched\nwith sweat from the heat radiating from her husband. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vindle pulled off her shoes and stockings, hiked her skirt\nand waded into the water. She started to hold out her hand for her husband to\njoin her then thought better of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kangle removed his shoes and socks and rolled up his\ntrousers. As he eased into the water, Vindle heard a soft hiss and saw steam\nrising where the water lapped her husband\u2019s knees. \u201cWe better go see the Doc,\u201d\nshe said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

***<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kangle sat naked from the waist up, soft blue fire rippling\nalong his arms and shoulders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doc Ral shook his head. \u201cYou should\u2019ve come sooner. I\u2019m\nafraid it\u2019s too late.\u201d The Doc took Vindle\u2019s hand. \u201cTry to make your husband\u2019s\nremaining time as comfortable as you can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the way home from the Doc\u2019s, a breeze flared Kangle and\nspooked Old Treb. The horse bolted and nearly rolled the carriage at Strack\u2019s\nFork before Vindle reined him in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At their place, Vindle pumped a tub of cold water. Kangle\nstripped and stepped in. As he lay back and closed his eyes, the water began\nthrashing around him. \u201cRefreshing,\u201d he mumbled, exhaling a long crackling\nflame. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vindle pumped water the rest of the day and most of the\nnight to keep the tub full. Finally she could no longer move her arms. She\nwatched helplessly as the water boiled away and Kangle became engulfed, his\nface twisting into a scream she would never forget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vindle used Kangle\u2019s ashes to fertilize her flower garden.\nThe following summer, the roses were the reddest she\u2019d ever seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One warm evening, she caught a chill. By morning, she was\ncoughing up sleet, and frost coated her hair. She didn\u2019t go to Doc Ral,\npreferring to reunite with her Kangle. She left a note asking to be buried near\nthe flower garden. She thought she and Kangle surely would produce the most\nbeautiful roses in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neighbors found Vindle a week later encased in ice. They\ndug up the floribunda when they buried her. Though her roses never blossomed\nagain, when Vindle thawed, she watered and fed the weeds. They grew thick and\ntall, sheltering chipmunks, voles and, occasionally, snakes, which fattened\nthemselves and made a feast for the hawks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

David Henson and his wife have lived in Brussels, Belgium and Hong Kong over the years and now reside in Peoria, Illinois with their dog Annabelle, who likes to walk them in the woods. Vindle After watching the wriggling snake rise into the sky, Vindle went inside and noticed smoke wisping from Kangle\u2019s fingertips. She … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa867U-mE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1404"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1407,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions\/1407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/underwoodpress.com\/ruescribe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}