Songxicun, Jaingxi Province, China: Google Maps
I turned the corner and there she was, sat on the bench outside the inn. Alone.
By the way she dressed, I thought her a man. But closer, I saw her breasts, unbound. I swept a look round, fearful a child might see her so. Loose breasts beneath a skimpy vest, and trousers so tight they showed her crotch. If Uncle saw her, he’d cast her into the pound and send a runner to fetch the lord’s constabulary, though I’m not sure what her crime. Neither the name of her kind.
She upped from that bench when the innkeeper’s woman came at her with a threatening broom. ‘No market, no cash,’ the innkeeper’s woman said and waggled the broom at her. The strange woman ran.
What was she, who were her people? One of THEM, I suppose.
137 words
Written for What Pegman Saw
crispina kemp 
Probably. The innkeeper? Wonder if the admonition was out of kindness or disgust?
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I think it was disgust. By the description I’d say the innkeeper’s wife thought her a woman of loose morals. While in reality she was tourist from another land, resting after a long hot hike.
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That was my take as well. Very nicely done Crispina!
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I thank you, Violet. 🙂
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Great voice and intriguing story. This has piqued my interest. Is she foreign? Of a different ethnic group? Honestly, I want her to be a time traveler. Hope she keeps safe!
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I saw her as a Western tourist intruding in this time-forgotten place. But her modern dress brought suspicions. With so much of her body exposed, was she a loose lady of the night?
At heart, it’s a story about the instant and often erroneous judgements about anything and anyone unfamiliar.
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Ah, that makes sense. A great message, to be sure.
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At the turn of the millennium I was witness to so much prejudice in the town, barbed looks, comments, attacks at the asylum seekers who were temporarily housed in our town, many arriving with only what they had on their backs. It was heart-rending, especially when later, as part of my job, I had occasion to record some of their stories. They had suffered so much, and here they were abused yet again. It’s an episode that always remains.
It was the inspiration for my St George’s Day post back in 2016: https://crimsonprose.wordpress.com/2016/04/23/the-true-born-englishman/
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Very intriguing Crispina – it could be a story about so many things, and yet a timeless story about prejudice and judgement.
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That was the idea; keep it generic. 🙂
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Yes at first I judged. No I must admit my judgement of the woman was she was a prostitute. What does that say of me? This is a thinker. Thanks Crispina. “No Market, no cash” made me think the Innkeeper’s Woman was her John. Hmm
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It was my intention to have a big question mark over the woman. Was she a tourist? Or was she a whore? In my mind she’s the tourist. But the answer really is in the reader’s mind.
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