SNOW AS IT FALLS, by Patricia Correll 5/10
The silence descended the moment she left. Shigeru returned to the house with a heavy tread. His heart had lifted on seeing the beauty of the crane in flight, but as she vanished into the sky solitude settled upon his shoulders like a heavy winter cloak. At night the little house felt vast and empty. He tried talking as he had to the crane, but his voice echoed strangely.
His newfound loneliness drove him over the mountain to visit his brother’s family. But his brother had four children and a harried wife, and Shigeru found no one in that house who would stop talking long enough to listen to his memories.
His brother suggested he find a wife. But the women he saw in the village were of no interest to him, with their coarse features and simpering smiles. None of them listened as well as the crane, and none possessed her elegance and grace. He came to realize that he did not merely miss having a companion. He did not mourn the crane’s departure as he would the loss of a pet, a cat or a praying mantis in a cage. He missed the crane herself, her bright eyes that seemed sometimes to understand his words, the gentle manner she had of plucking her food from his bucket, the snow-white feathers and black throat.
Shigeru took to falling asleep right after dinner, to avoid the terrible quiet in the house.
[previous] . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . 5 . 6 . 7 . 8 . 9 . 10 . [next]