murky puddles

Yuki's memory shifted like the water bubbling from the back of the fountain, and it became harder and harder to push the water of her memories into the forefront of her mind. When they did come, they simply cascaded out again like the waterfall in the fountain. Each day was indistinguishable from the previous day, each year the same as the others, each face melted until she could no longer discern individual outlines.

Amy brought out the photo albums and sat Yuki in the middle of the living room couch. Sophie sat on the other side and named the scenes while Amy held the photos in Yuki's lap. This is Ichiro, after they let him keep the drum. This is our wedding, Kenji's and mine. This is the fruitstand where we sold melons. This is the farm we sold. This is the Peublo state fair in '64. This is Kenji's funeral after he was run over in '69. This is Kit when she was just five. This is Kit and Richard getting married in '78. This is Amy and Anna when they went off to first grade. This is Anna swinging froma tree when we went up to Rocky Mountain National Park. This is Amy with her nose in a book on the merry go round. This is Anna getting ready for prom. This is Amy and Anna graduating from high school.

Amy locked the photos up in the attic afterwards, telling Sophie she was afraid that Yuki would plunge those into the fountain next.

Yuki wanted to find the photos, and her fingers searched each tiny crevasse in the fountain cliffs. She counted up the events as the water poured over her hands, straining through the thick fog to distinguish between them. But when Anna's disappearance and the rice cakes she left at her ancestor's shrine in Japan before she left for America became the same event, she knew that everything was the same anyway.

snow falls / thick in / urgent flurries / an individual only / from sky to ground / crystal edges / melt to / murky puddles

the word is / the sound / of water / dripping from/ ancient symbols / tiny particles / of merging / realities


Follow us all: Amy/Anna, Sophie/Yuki, Kit/Richard, minor characters or sift through water leavings and river journeys.