SNOW AS IT FALLS, by Patricia Correll 9/10
When the laborers found Shigeru on the road the next morning he was soaked through and feverish. He repeated his wife’s name over and over, but when the laborers went to his house the woman was nowhere to be found. They took Shigeru to the village’s head priest, who sent for his brother. Shigeru was carried to his brother’s house over the mountain. As his fever ebbed he told his brother and sister-in-law what had happened to Yoko. His brother clearly thought him mad, and that Yoko had run away.
“Yes, yes.” He murmured. “It’s very sad about Yoko, but you’re still young. You can get another wife.”
“I’m going to find her.” Shigeru said.
One night he rose while his brother’s family was still asleep. He left their house and began to walk. Every time he met someone on the road, he asked if they had seen any cranes about. If he caught sight of cranes in flight he stared intently, searching for his crane wife. His clothes grew tattered and his hair became threaded with gray. He begged passers-by for food. Many took pity on him and fed him, for they saw a deep regret in his eyes that plucked at their souls. Some people took him for a holy man and gave him clothes and sandals. Shigeru became well-known. Men told their wives of the ‘crane man’ who ceaselessly wandered the Empire, and wives told the story to their children. No one heard of the crane man who did not wonder what secret tragedy drove him ever forward.
A year passed, then another and another until the years piled up like rice grains at his feet. His hair turned white and his beard grew long. Shigeru’s back twisted, and his feet were tough as old leather. Looking at his reflection in a puddle, he thought that perhaps Yoko would no longer recognize him, or that she had even forgotten him. Cranes lived a very long time. A human’s life might be as a single breath to them. Yet he searched.
She tilted her head back to the sky. Rain fell, striking her face, rolling off her feathers to land in the pond with a chorus of splashes like tiny cries. She liked the rain, the voices of the raindrops all around. They made her feel less alone. The crane had been alone for a very long time. But she had never gotten used to it.
On the bank a twig broke. The crane turned her gaze to the shore, tensing her muscles to leap into the air. The willows that dragged their leaves in the water shuddered, and a human figure staggered out of the trees. It came to rest at the very edge of the pond. The crane saw that it was an old man with a bent back, his head covered by a wide straw hat. She paused, her heart crying out in warning. Many times in the past years she had hesitated to flee from humans. She still ached for the sound of their voices, the language she could remember if she tried. Her longing had nearly brought her to grief several times. But surely an old man could do no harm? She hesitated, her wings half-lifted, watching him warily.
The old man pushed the hat away from his face. Water streamed from the brim, and he squinted at the crane with clouded eyes. All the strength drained from her. Her wings fell to her sides. Her long legs nearly buckled, but she managed to remain standing.
She knew him. The face was tanned and wrinkled as tree bark, the hair white, the eyes grown pale. But in this ancient face she clearly saw the angles of another face she loved. In the eyes rested a light she had never forgotten. Speak. She opened her beak to say the word, but nothing came out. In desperation she took a step toward him, then another. Shigeru, speak!
The old man’s lips quivered. “Yo…Yoko?”
The voice was wrapped in grief and age, but she knew it anyway. At the sound of her stolen name the crane began to tremble. Sickening waves of shame broke over her. She was a beast, a mere beast who had repaid his kindness with deception. He must hate her. She spread her wings.
“No!” Shigeru stumbled forward. He came to the edge of the pond. His bare feet sank into the mud, but he ignored it. He waded into the water, one hand held out to stop her. The tall reeds that bordered the pond bent under his weight. He lost his balance and fell into the water.
The crane’s despair was washed away by terror. She ran to the bank. Shigeru had fallen face down in the water. She grasped his collar in her beak and pulled as hard as she could. After an eternity he moved, slowly…slowly. Finally she lifted his head from the water. She used her feet to roll him on his back among the reeds. She arched her wings over him, shielding his face from the rain, and rubbed her beak along his skin. For a few moments he did not move, and the crane’s heart ceased to beat. Then his eyelashes fluttered. Shigeru coughed water and opened his eyes. The crane jerked her head up, afraid of seeing disgust in his face.
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