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Authors: Jeffrey Ford
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mother with the laundry, I had forgotten about the incident. When I was finished with my chores, I went to visit my father in his study.
He was at his desk with the magnifying glass, studying a specimen and jot-ting notes in his journal. I sat on the couch, and when he heard the broken springs shift, he turned around and smiled at me. A few minutes later, he asked me to fetch him a book from the bookcase. He turned in his chair and pointed to a large blue-bound volume on the second shelf. 'That one there, Lu,' he said.
'The Crystal Will by
Scarfinati.'
"As I pulled the book off the shelf, the one beside it shifted and fell open on the floor. After carrying the volume he wanted to my father, I returned to pick up the one that had fallen. I saw that the book had opened to a full-page illustration of a shooting star, much like the one the Twins had whispered to me that morning."
"Mrs. Charbuque—" I said, but she interrupted me.
"Please, Mr. Piambo, allow me to finish," she said.
"Very well," I told her, sketching madly. The day was bright, and the sun coming in the windows was projecting a faint but somewhat definable shadow on the screen. I had been filling pages with quick, crude drawings, my hand moving over the paper as I kept my eye trained on the scene of falling leaves.
"I did not mention the remarkable happenstance to my father but kept it inside me and, whenever I
turned my attention to the thought of it, felt a genuine thrill. It was as if God were sending me a secret message, for me alone to see. I was filled with a strange sense of expectation for the remainder of the day. That is why I nearly leaped out of my skin when, that night as we sat by the fire, my mother and father reading in the glow of the gas lamps, there came a pounding on our door.
"Naturally my parents exchanged worried looks, for who would be calling so late at night at the top of a moun-tain ? Warily my father got up and went to see who it was. His look of concern alarmed me, and I followed him to make sure he would be all right. There on the doorstep stood a large man, wearing a fur coat and a broad-brimmed hat, carrying a large pack and a rifle.
My father seemed to know him.
The man also worked for Ossiak as a tracker. He had come to search for the body of one of the fellows from the supply team. On the way down the mountain in the storm, one of the men had lagged behind and apparently lost his way. He was believed to have suc-cumbed to the storm and died of exposure.
My father stepped aside and let him in. As he showed the man to a seat by the fireplace, he called back to me, 'Lu, close the door, please.' The three-quarter moon drew my attention as I swung Page 26
the door, and then something suddenly streaked across the star-filled sky, leaving sparks in its path.
"The visitor's name was Amory, and he told us that he had come up the mountain that day looking for the corpse but had not found it. He asked to stay the night. He planned to leave early in the morning and descend the mountain, giving the dead man one more chance to be found. My father said he felt somewhat responsible for the tragedy, and told Mr. Amory that he would accompany him halfway. Then mother and father questioned Amory about what was going on in the world down the moun-tain. Soon afterward I was sent to bed.
"I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of a whispered gasp. At first I thought it was the Twins trying to tell me something, but then realized that it was coming from the parlor. I don't know what time it was, but it felt very late, like those bleak hours of the very early morn-ing. It was cold, but I crept out of bed and tiptoed down the hall to the parlor entrance. Since the moon was shining that night, there was a very dim glow coming through the parlor window. I heard another gasp like the one that had awoken me, and I saw my mother, sitting astride the tracker with her nightgown pulled up, revealing her
bare legs. His large hands were
He was at his desk with the magnifying glass, studying a specimen and jot-ting notes in his journal. I sat on the couch, and when he heard the broken springs shift, he turned around and smiled at me. A few minutes later, he asked me to fetch him a book from the bookcase. He turned in his chair and pointed to a large blue-bound volume on the second shelf. 'That one there, Lu,' he said.
'The Crystal Will by
Scarfinati.'
"As I pulled the book off the shelf, the one beside it shifted and fell open on the floor. After carrying the volume he wanted to my father, I returned to pick up the one that had fallen. I saw that the book had opened to a full-page illustration of a shooting star, much like the one the Twins had whispered to me that morning."
"Mrs. Charbuque—" I said, but she interrupted me.
"Please, Mr. Piambo, allow me to finish," she said.
"Very well," I told her, sketching madly. The day was bright, and the sun coming in the windows was projecting a faint but somewhat definable shadow on the screen. I had been filling pages with quick, crude drawings, my hand moving over the paper as I kept my eye trained on the scene of falling leaves.
"I did not mention the remarkable happenstance to my father but kept it inside me and, whenever I
turned my attention to the thought of it, felt a genuine thrill. It was as if God were sending me a secret message, for me alone to see. I was filled with a strange sense of expectation for the remainder of the day. That is why I nearly leaped out of my skin when, that night as we sat by the fire, my mother and father reading in the glow of the gas lamps, there came a pounding on our door.
"Naturally my parents exchanged worried looks, for who would be calling so late at night at the top of a moun-tain ? Warily my father got up and went to see who it was. His look of concern alarmed me, and I followed him to make sure he would be all right. There on the doorstep stood a large man, wearing a fur coat and a broad-brimmed hat, carrying a large pack and a rifle.
My father seemed to know him.
The man also worked for Ossiak as a tracker. He had come to search for the body of one of the fellows from the supply team. On the way down the mountain in the storm, one of the men had lagged behind and apparently lost his way. He was believed to have suc-cumbed to the storm and died of exposure.
My father stepped aside and let him in. As he showed the man to a seat by the fireplace, he called back to me, 'Lu, close the door, please.' The three-quarter moon drew my attention as I swung Page 26
the door, and then something suddenly streaked across the star-filled sky, leaving sparks in its path.
"The visitor's name was Amory, and he told us that he had come up the mountain that day looking for the corpse but had not found it. He asked to stay the night. He planned to leave early in the morning and descend the mountain, giving the dead man one more chance to be found. My father said he felt somewhat responsible for the tragedy, and told Mr. Amory that he would accompany him halfway. Then mother and father questioned Amory about what was going on in the world down the moun-tain. Soon afterward I was sent to bed.
"I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of a whispered gasp. At first I thought it was the Twins trying to tell me something, but then realized that it was coming from the parlor. I don't know what time it was, but it felt very late, like those bleak hours of the very early morn-ing. It was cold, but I crept out of bed and tiptoed down the hall to the parlor entrance. Since the moon was shining that night, there was a very dim glow coming through the parlor window. I heard another gasp like the one that had awoken me, and I saw my mother, sitting astride the tracker with her nightgown pulled up, revealing her
bare legs. His large hands were
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