rustle

Once the press gets wind that Mary’s marriage has ended, the gossip is relentless, and the one-time belle of the ball can’t rustle up so much as a small tea party.

Before dawn, he would pedal out there on an old bicycle, clearing weeds and feeding cows, the world silent except for the rustle of palm leaves.

He has just shy of a month to rustle up another rallying cry.

Its leaves rustle with the sound of rushing water, drawing me into a peaceful calm.

But as I opened my mouth to tell him that he had been betrayed, we were interrupted by the sound of a snap, a rustle of stones, and what might have been a polite cough.