The Wind Again, Again

We went and got the body. The farmer had to stay behind.

He said he would have come along but he had to stay and milk

his cows. The wind was blowing harder now and a few small

things fell down.

Necklace

Margaret's body was hanging from the apple tree in front of

her shack and blowing in the wind. Her neck was at a wrong

angle and her face was the color of what we learn to know as

death.

Fred climbed up the tree and cut the scarf with his jackknife

while Margaret's brother and I lowered her body gently down.

He took her body then, and carried it into the shack and lay it

down upon the bed.

We stood there.

"Let's take her to iDEATH," Fred said. "That's where she

belongs."

Her brother looked relieved for the first time since we had

told him of her death.

He went to a large chest by the window and took out a

necklace that had small metal trout encircling it. He lifted up

her head and fastened the clasp of the necklace. He brushed

Margaret's hair out of her eyes.

Then he wrapped her body in a bedspread that had iDEATH

crocheted upon it in one of its many and lasting forms. One of

her feet was sticking out. The toes looked cold and gently at rest.

Couch

We took Margaret back to iDEATH. Somehow everybody there

had already heard of her death and they were waiting for us.

They were out on the front porch.

Pauline ran down the stairs to me. She was very upset and

her cheeks were wet with tears. "Why?" she said. "Why?"

I put my arm around her the best I could. "I don't know,"

I said.

Margaret's brother carried her body up the stairs into iDEATH.

Charley opened the door for him. "Here, let me open the door

for you."

"Thank you," her brother said. "Where shall I put her?"

"On the couch back in the trout hatchery," Charley said.

"That's where we put our dead."

"I don't remember the way," her brother said. "I haven't

been here for a long time."

"I'll show you. Follow me," Charley said.

"Thank you."

They went off to the trout hatchery. Fred went with them

and so did Old Chuck and Al and Bill. I stayed behind with my

arm around Pauline. She was still crying. I guess she really liked

Margaret.

Tomorrow

Pauline and I went down for a walk by the river in the living

room. It was now nearing sundown. Tomorrow the sun would

be black, soundless. The night would continue but the stars

would not shine and it would be warm like day and everything

would be without sound.

"This is horrible," Pauline said. "I feel so bad. Why did she

kill herself? Was it my fault for loving you?"

"No," I said. "It was nobody's fault. Just one of those things."

"We were such good friends. We were like sisters. I'd hate

to think it was my fault."

"Don't," I said.

Carrots

Dinner that night was a quiet affair at iDEATH. Margaret's

brother stayed and had dinner with us. Charley invited him.

Al cooked up a mess of carrots again. He broiled them with

mushrooms and a sauce made from watermelon sugar and spices.

There was hot bread fresh from the oven and sweet butter and

glasses of ice-cold milk.

About halfway through dinner, Fred started to say something

that looked as if it were important, but then he changed his

mind and went back to eating his carrots.

Margaret's Room

After dinner everybody went into the living room and it was

decided to hold the funeral tomorrow morning, even though it

would be dark and there would be no sound and everything

would have to be done in silence.

"If it's all right with you," Charley said to Margaret's brother.

"She'll be buried in that tomb we've been working on. They

finished it this afternoon."

"That would be perfect," her brother said.

"It will be dark and there will be no sound, but I think we

can take care of everything."

"Yeah," her brother said.

"Fred, will you go and tell the people in the town about the

funeral? Some of them might want to go. Also alert the Tomb

Crew about the funeral. And see if you can find some flowers."

"Sure, Charley. I'll take care of it."

"It's our custom to brick up the rooms of those who lived here

when they die," Charley said.

"What does that mean?" Margaret's brother said.

"We put bricks across the door and close the room forever."

"That sounds all right."

Bricks

Pauline and Margaret's brother and Charley and Bill, he had

the bricks, and I went to Margaret's room. Charley opened the

door.

Pauline was carrying a lantern. She put it down on Margaret's

table and lit the lantern that was there with a long watermelon

match.

There were now two lights.

The room was filled with things from the Forgotten Works.

Every place you looked there was something forgotten that was

piled on another forgotten thing.

Charley shook his head. "A lot of forgotten things in here.

We don't even know what most of the things are," he said to

nobody.

Margaret's brother sighed.

"Is there anything you want to take with you?" Charley said.

Her brother looked all around the room very carefully and

very sadly and then shook his head, too. "No, brick it all up."

We stepped outside and Bill started putting the bricks in

place. We watched for a little while. There were tears in Pauline's

eyes.

"Please spend the night with us," Charley said.

"Thank you," Margaret's brother said.

"I'll show you to your room. Good night," Charley said to

us. He went off with her brother. He was saying something to

him.

"Let's go, Pauline," I said.

"All right, honey."

"I think you'd better sleep with me tonight."

"Yes," she said.

We left Bill putting the bricks in place. They were watermelon

bricks made from black, soundless sugar. They made no sound

as he worked with them. They would seal off the forgotten

things forever.

My Room

Pauline and I went to my room. We took off our clothes and got

into bed. She took off her clothes first and I watched.

"Are you going to blow the lantern out?" she said, leaning

forward as I got into bed last.

She did not have any covers up over her breasts. The nipples

were hard. They were almost the same color as her lips. They

looked beautiful in the lantern light. Her eyes were red from

crying. She looked very tired.

"No," I said.

She put her head back on the pillow and smiled ever so

faintly. Her smile was like the color of her nipples.

"No," I said.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 974