The hurtling train carried, in each car, several people in love, several people alone, several people who wished they were alone. The sound of the wheels on the tracks raced like a heartbeat, and in the last car, a woman took her lover’s hand in hers. I need you to hear me, she whispered into his ear. I need you to ignore all the noise.
Unprepared
February 18, 2011She arrived unprepared for the weather, her shoes permeable, her clothing no protection. You haven’t stopped shivering since you got here, he said.
She eyed him from the corner, her body nervous as a hummingbird’s. She asked for tea, then honey. She asked for lemon, but he hadn’t been to the store.
When she fell asleep, he slipped off her waterlogged shoes and socks, exposing skin softened and wrinkled by the dampness. He held her feet, wrapped his fingers around her feather-soft arches. He decided he could sit there as long as it took for her to wake up.
Weather like this
February 16, 2011In weather like this, pilots redirect their paths, swinging their wide-bodied jets over the hills and approaching the airport abnormally.
Just to let you know, folks, they say over loudspeakers. Because of the wind, we’re doing things a little differently tonight.
Extraordinary guest
February 14, 2011My heart is as mysterious as an underwater cavern, and often as unfathomable. Secrets glide through like pale fish in the gloom as one navigates unexpected outcroppings. At the very bottom, silt blooms to clouds, obscures the liquid landscape, then settles again.
For years, I kept this environment hostile to exploration—reefs damaged by careless swimmers needed time to repair. But tides shift, even when I wasn’t watching for a change in levels.
I never believed I would extend such an invitation to the depths only I know. But I never expected to find such an extraordinary guest.
Lessons in steadiness
February 10, 2011After so many years standing in that particular stream, she thought she would have become better at finding footing. Her bare toes still grasped at the same stones that slowly eroded underneath the current, but she never quite found the purchase she expected. It is hard to learn steadiness when the lessons float by like eddies, like leaves, when the lessons swim by quick as fish. She adjusted her feet again, holding her hands out to balance herself, her leg muscles quivering in anticipation of her own stability.
Need to know
January 16, 2011She had dragged the stroller out of the rain under the door’s overhang long enough to call him. He surprised her by actually answering. Still, talking to him never led to conversation–he knew exactly how to wield silence until she cried.
I just need to know if you’re going to help. Her voice escaped her loudly enough that people walking by stared. I just need to know if you’re going to take care of her or not.
Bitter as brew
January 14, 2011They began fast as lightning, singeing too much of the air around them to be ignored.
I don’t like it, said the woman at the café, the one who made their beverages every afternoon. But everyone knew she was bitter as brew. She’d missed her bolt of possibility years ago.
100 Proof 