The Road to Pelathousa, prose by Penny Rogers at Spillwords.com

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The Road to Pelathousa

Penny Rogers·July 20, 2025

Poetry English

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The Road to Pelathousa

written by: Penny Rogers

Bee-bumbled back road, redolent of aniseed, frothed with spring blossom. Boundaries delineated by old oil drums; utilitarian liveries transformed by vibrant paint. Bold colours melt into grass and weeds. Faded reds, blues, greens, and yellows jostle with spreading patches of rust. Decaying rubble-filled drums support the bank, keeping the orchard from the road. Opposite, giant fennel flourishes in a forest of gold, promising culinary magic and winter fuel. Evening light soothes the busy harbourside; dredgers silent, boats tied-up, locals mingling. Touts tempt tourists, tavernas fire-up ovens. Sea bass cooked with fennel in a parcel of vine leaves, and an English woman talks of her father dying in a care home a mile or so from the orchard and fennel fields. Like the crumbling oil drums, like the showy fennel, slowly but surely disintegrating.

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Penny Rogers

Penny Rogers writes short stories and flash fiction and has been published online and in anthologies. She has been runner-up in the Mani Literary Festival competition and was short listed for the Bridport Prize for flash fiction. Her collection of interwoven short stories Amelie at the Window, about a small town in France at the outbreak of World War1 and afterwards in 1924, was published by Bridge House Publishing in October 2025. Before retirement Penny was an academic librarian, and (as Penny Dale) edited and contributed to books on learning environments in universities. She also wrote and presented academic and technical papers on learning spaces. Penny enjoys preserving fruits and vegetables from her garden and visiting historic buildings. She is particularly fond of old churches and is inspired by their history, architecture and continuing contribution to their communities.

Jim Bartlett

After a long career tinkering in telecommunications, Jim Bartlett switched to tinkering with writing fiction, both requiring a stretch of the imagination. In the course of putting his fingers to the keyboard, he's been fortunate to have quite a number of his stories featured both in print and online in several wonderful publications, including a story selected for "The Best of Fiction on the Web, 1996 – 2017" anthology. While mentally he strolls along a warm California beach with his wife and golden retriever (shhh, she doesn't know she's a dog), physically they reside on a special little island in the Pacific Northwest.

Reaper by Sharon Frame Gay

As an orphaned son of an orphan, I always see the glass as half empty. I picture the water murky and lukewarm, a waterline etched below the rim. Maybe with an ash or two floating at the bottom, because that’s what I do for a living. I deal with ashes. The remains of the deceased. No matter how those who pass away see their glass, meager or full, they eventually end up in a satchel carried on my shoulder.
My business card reads “Morton Stark Transport.” I’m called upon to disperse the ashes of the dearly departed and honor their final wishes. People hire me to escort the remains throughout the world ...

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