‘These? These are reeds.’, he had said, long ago, as the two of them waded through a great sea of them. They smelled of the earth; pungent and tangy and fresh all at once.
‘What do they look like?’ she had said, long ago.
‘Well…They are tall and thin… taller than you. They're yellow and brown.’ he had paused here, abruptly, and she responded with a knowing chuckle. While she had no idea what yellow or brown looked like, simply knowing about them was enough. She made sure to tell him that. ‘When there are many of them you can safely disappear within their numbers... hide completely out of sight. Especially you, Pulan. Listen… do you hear how they brush against one another in the wind? How there are many of them? That’s how you know. That’s how you know you’re coming upon a great sea.’
It was a bittersweet reminder, but she never forgot how patient he was because of it. How kind. How considerate. How protective. She never let go of him in those ways, refused to even.
And his voice often found her ears in moments like these, when her small, aging form was pressed against the ground, listening intently for the steps of strangers to pass her by; expertly hidden in the reeds.
Although gone from her side, he would never escape her heart... and in many ways she believed it was his memory that kept her alive.
But Pulan was always a survivor.
Zaikt
Sapsapsappy /rogues