The Almost: a school bus driver passes the early morning hours in rural Florida reading her favorite romance novel while idling in her bus before the kids show up. As the sensual language of the book, “Heather’s Rake,” provides her with an escape from the mundane, she finds comfort in the tension and anticipation of “the almost”- the moments just before the main event.
Kindly published by the esteemed Fictive Dream – the online magazine dedicated to the short story.
This story was partly inspired by an introverted female custodian who worked at my high school and a romance novel I bought at a 7-11 when I was 12. The first time I heard the word “rake” used in any other way than as a noun to describe a certain garden tool. The title of the fictional book, Heather’s Rake, feels off to me, slightly unnerving and not at all sexy. Taking a rake to a field of heather. Why on Earth? I suppose sometimes mildly disturbing things are the things that can titillate. Anyway. This story makes me sad. Alvin’s phone number, “a bookmark now.” Ugh. Wah.
Kelli Dianne Rule: Author 
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