puppet

Preliminary first draft of a piece I'm working on. It's an exploration to find a sense of place in one of the important locations for the piece: a puppet shop. I'm still getting to know these people and this place, but they keep teaching me and I'm excited to learn.

With the comfortable snug of the heavy door settling into its frame behind her, a woman stood in the worn dip of the plank floor.  As she stood still, the sounds of the street faded into the beat of her watch and a hidden clock disagreeing over when to tick.  While the neglected “High Craft and Carvings” sign promised a dreary interior, cleanliness prevailed even if order did not.

The whole room pressed cozily in on the small allotment of space just inside the door. A flurry of droop-shouldered wooden puppets crowded together in a curtain along the walls.  Stretching out her arm, she lightly brushed against the strings while her eyes darted about, following the sunlight shoot in every possible direction at once. The wisps of just-greying hair at her temples picked up the warmth of the room.  Stacks of whittling and carving wood in various degrees of finish snagged the curtain back in some places, revealing further chaos behind.

She quickly stooped down, rubbed a grease stain on her right sock, and then slid her fingers over the texture of her pants. Gripping the worn handle of her roomy satchel closely to her hollowing shoulder, she breathed in and out again while the pungent, nostalgic smell of varnish soaked into her clothes.