“Snow: Part 2”
“As he stood meditating the scene—the filigreed branches, lampposts fitted with furry, round hats, roof rakes striped with a draftsman’s perfection, and bushes topped by ice floes—occasionally called back to practicality by the need to wipe the glass with the sleeve of his shirt, Skylar wondered why nature had always been able to exercise such […]
Continue reading“Snow”
: “When he first gazed upon such a morning as a child, Skylar had been stunned by the sight of a world utterly transfigured. It looked as if nature had grown tired of concrete and asphalt, of straight lines and right angles, and decided to remake the face of the earth. What had been rough, […]
Continue reading“The Pacific”
“As Skylar sat there, arms entwining knees, thought replaced by wonder; as his eyes sailed what looked to be the endless Pacific, he became more intimate with the world than he had ever been. The plunging, chasmed depths of the ocean (inversions of the soaring, colossal peaks of the mountains), rising up to shelves and […]
Continue reading“Mother Meera”
“One morning Lucinda received a message that the Mother wished to see her, so she walked over to the room, with the stunning view of the river and mountains, where the Saint usually sat. At a sign from Meera, everyone in the room other than Lucinda departed. The visitor sat at the feet of the […]
Continue reading“Daphnis and Chloe”
“After a few minutes, Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé sounded from the red-nosed Magnavox stereo. This music enthralled her. In it she heard the world awakening from its dark-night slumbers. The composer had somehow managed to eavesdrop on nature herself, so that he could audibly portray her first twinklings of dawning awareness, the hypnopompic images that […]
Continue reading“Christmas”
“Christmas is family; it is a colorfully illuminated tree and a glowing plastic Santa; it is cards containing warm words and boxes containing hoped-for gifts. Christmas is mom carrying a tray of hot chocolate, a table spread with a pitcher of orange juice and a tray of oozing cherry turnovers; it is banter between siblings […]
Continue reading“Christmas Music”
“The evocative, cherished sounds of the traditional Christmas music with which the children had grown up created the aural holiday mood every night. The albums themselves were the actual ones that had been played over the years: Mantovani, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Vienna Boys’ Choir. Depending on when one was in the living room, […]
Continue reading“Christmas Ritual”
“Another ritual the children anticipated with impatience was the trip to Lazarus, a large downtown department store in their hometown. The family rarely went downtown and the fact that this trip took place at nighttime added to its mystery and romance. A seventy-five-foot-high Christmas tree made out of silvered electric lights blazed across the front […]
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