The Yellow Rose of Refuge

A blog dedicated to Refuge, but mostly June // Bug they/them 18// Main @secondary-monster

[junebug-adventurezne]

What’s in a Name

Even before the bubble, June was called many things. Jacks girl, for the man who loved her most. Canary, for the bright yellow dresses she wore. Darlin, for those who thought she was precious enough to stop her in the streets. But none of them really mattered when compared to what Jack himself called her.

Her daddy called her Junebug. The kids in school thought it was weird that he would call her a bug. A pest, they teased, But she knew that wasn’t at all what he meant. June wasn’t a hindrance to her daddy. He’d never want to be rid of her. No, what all Jack meant was that she was a reminder. See, the namesake is a harmless little beetle. Annoying, maybe, but altogether not bothersome. The special thing about them is just as the name would suggest. Junebugs only come out in the summer. June’s daddy loved the summer. She remembers asking once, the answer making her chest swell with sweetness.

“I met your mama in the summer,” He’d said, “We would sneak out at night to catch fireflies, watch fireworks, go swimmin. See, the place she and I used to live there was much more water than here in Refuge. I know you don’t really recall anything beyond the dry of the gulch but water brings around different kinds of animals. Where we lived there was just enough water to bring around lots and lots of junebugs. Usually, people can’t stand those things. But your mama, lord.” Jack scoffed and shook his head softly, “Your mama loved everything that moved. She’d treat them just like she’d treat the fireflies. You could look at her face just as she caught one and swear she just saw the stars for the first time. It took less then one summer for me to fall in love with that. With her. The very next summer, you came to us.” He put her to bed with a little more care that night. A little more of his love. Only now does she wish she’d’ve basked in it a little more.