“Metamorphosis”

 
 “Maine Shore”, watercolor, Jane Kohut-Bartels, 2006

“Metamorphosis” is a series of short stories.  They are all related to the characters Bart (a bat…a Fruit Bat) and Laura, a woman who is transforming (for some unknown reason) into a bat.  I tried to write a horror story, but it became a comedy.  I have no idea why.

Also, I have received some correspondence since I posted these two pieces (so far) of “Metamorphosis”, and some readers express confusion as to ‘the Lady Nyo (or Jane) they knew as a writer: a poet, and not one to write  ‘this kind’ of work.

For me, the greatest thing about becoming a writer, and working at it seriously, is that you expand your abilities, interests and horizon.  It is confusing to those who want to stick you into a ‘box’ …something they can understand and are not uncomfortable in the reading.

That’s not advice I would listen to,  and one does get a lot of flack about  work when you ‘step out of conceived roles’.

I believe strongly  a writer needs to write broadly, that’s if they can.  I can, and I intend to continue to push my limits.  I leave it up to individual readers as to whether they like or even read my work, but in the end…I write for myself.

Lady Nyo

–

Part One 

Standing at the window, Laura was lost in thought. The crispness of  autumn purified the air at dusk.  The moon rose, the sky a pale lavender, that peculiar time of evening when both sun and moon balanced the sky. 

Swifts and swallows flitted over chimneys and rooftops, wheeling like tiny black crescents.  As the moon rose, the swifts were replaced with bats speeding like rockets in front of the window.  She could hear the sound of their twittering as they flew by, sharing the day’s gossip.

“Laura!”  Her husband’s harsh voice cut into her mind. 

“I’m coming” she called back. But she didn’t move.

Peering out the window her pupils opened wide. She saw strange things. Veins in the leaves, mounds of disturbed soil from moles far below. The moon so close! The night beckoned and she felt she could fly out the window and join it.

She wondered what was happening.  Under her gown she felt thin membranes grow beneath her arms. Transparent tissue joined with two small hooks on her elbows.  Her breasts shrunk to nothing, only large nipples remaining. Her sex seemed to shift backwards, her vulva misplaced.

 “I’m coming along nicely,” she whispered.

Jane Kohut-Bartels

Copyrighted, 2010, 2012

Tags: bats, dversepoets.com, Fruit Bats, Jane Kohut-Bartels-author, love and seduction and murder, Metamorphosis, series, Short Story