He bought her a cliff as a wedding present, and walked her along the top of it, holding her hand tightly so she wouldn’t blow away in the wind. He pointed out the one boulder that protruded more than the others, the kelp on the rocks below. He put his hands over her eyes and whispered, “Listen to the waves.”
She looked over the edge, then up at his face. She turned and took his face in both her hands.
“It’s exactly what I have always wanted,” she said.
“It’s so quiet here,” he said. It annoyed her that he had spoken at all, his voice scattering noise all around what had been a cleanly silent grove.
“You never respond,” he said. “Why can’t you talk to me?”
She stared at the ground, tired of sending empty messages through glances and half-smiles.
Without sunglasses, the light aches. She replaces the glasses, shielding her eyes before they have a chance to adjust.
She considers what might happen if she left them off, but discounts the consideration, preferring to stay covered. She prefers not to risk any further brightness.
“Somewhere,” she said, “there is a place where land meets water.”
“It will surprise you when it arrives,” he said.
“No,” she said. “It will surprise me when I arrive.”
And just like that, the rice was ready. She loved rice, loved feeling each individual grain in her mouth, loved its slightly nutty flavor and the smell of it cooking.
She dished herself a bowl and ate it. She considered adding some butter and salt. She decided to leave well enough alone.
She took his right hand, pressed dirt into his palm, showed him how the dust settled into lines for head, heart, life. She held his left hand to her heart. There was no other way to tell him what he was in for.
In the afternoon, he took her skirt in his hands, balled it up like tissue, pushed it up to her hips. She cried a little, and outside the house, a train drew out its whistle, a police siren rose and fell out of hearing, and a child shouted as he ran down the street toward a friend. The sounds were already dropping to a lower key, as quickly as he would replace her skirt where he found it.
100 Proof 