Our Family Fire, by Coleman Bigelow

Midsummer Eve Bonfire on Skagen Beach, by P.S. Kroyer (Denmark) 1906

Our Family Fire
 
The wind sends the flames bouncing and fluttering like strands of red hair. There’s a streak of red that all Bishops bear… even though Ma won’t admit it. “A touch of strawberry blonde is all,” she whispers. But when I ask about the fate of Aunt Bridget, Ma’s cheeks blaze like the bonfire. “And we’ll have no more talk of that, young man.”

Before Mr. Randolph lights the bundle, there’s just the moon. Another far-away fire. Ma tells me not to sit too close, but I can’t resist the lure of the heat. I crowd forward with the other children, seeking a closer view of the logs and sticks tied high like a person. I picture my Aunt Bridget, from centuries ago, bound up tight. No one will speak about it—at least no one that’s allowed to come to the bonfire.
It’s a strange thing to burn someone. To turn their flesh and bone to ash. Ma must have felt the same way when Granny asked to be cremated. After Granny passed, Ma pretended she knew nothing of the request. She buried Granny deep in the ground. Made sure the men shoveled her over with enough earth to smother any remaining flame. I think Granny wanted to connect with our past—to let the fires retrace our tree. But Ma kept our roots firmly planted. 
​
I listen to the crack and hiss of the fire battling with the gentle lapping of the waves and I wonder: Is this our town trying to reclaim its history? To pretend we’ve only ever burned wood? A spark reaches my cheek, as my tortured Aunt leans out of the fire to kiss her long-lost kin.
 
Coleman Bigelow

Coleman Bigelow is a Pushcart Prize and Best MicroFiction nominated author whose work has appeared or is upcoming in  Bending Genres, Cosmic Daffodil, Dribble Drabble Review, Emerge Journal and Heavy Feather Review. Find more at: www.colemanbigelow.com or follow him on Twitter and Instagram