The paths up into the mountain started in pastoral fields, roiling fingers of tall grass with a squat low-canopied tree they had laid under like a blanket. Everywhere the sun yellowed was the crushing disappointment of him, the thoroughness of his failing all those he knew. He started into the hills, climbing up, chased by the memory. Auf der Mar moved quickly over the broken stones, feeling the pressure building in his chest, scouring his lungs and burning away. Coming around the ridge he saw how the day had waned, and counted it a mercy. The still, gold air broke in shafts around the treetops, falling along the dirt corridor, and Auf der Mar slowed to walk on the cobble of acorns. The slope was gradual here, and he felt the heaviness of what he carried was easier to manage after the exertion. He took it down into the shadows of trees and back up and out again, to the bluff. Facing west Auf der Mar studied the sanguine rills shot through with royal bruises, and said to the setting sun "He's only going to break your heart, and what will that do to me?"
One Character a Day for 365 Days.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Auf der Mar
Auf der Mar looked in the mirror every morning with bloodshot eyes, mapping the blooming sanguine rills winding a meander through the eggshell jelly, before dissolving pink to white, slowly fading out like a poorly kept trail. He decided to stop reading his horoscope, he no longer had any time for providence. It predicted the return of lost things but never the losing of them, useful divination when sailing on the Rachel, but not the Pequod. It reprimanded Auf der Mar for the behavior of the past, but never gave a clue for today. He left it on the table, with the letter that accused him in the very same way but with kinder words, looked around at four bare walls, and set out a wary traveler.
The paths up into the mountain started in pastoral fields, roiling fingers of tall grass with a squat low-canopied tree they had laid under like a blanket. Everywhere the sun yellowed was the crushing disappointment of him, the thoroughness of his failing all those he knew. He started into the hills, climbing up, chased by the memory. Auf der Mar moved quickly over the broken stones, feeling the pressure building in his chest, scouring his lungs and burning away. Coming around the ridge he saw how the day had waned, and counted it a mercy. The still, gold air broke in shafts around the treetops, falling along the dirt corridor, and Auf der Mar slowed to walk on the cobble of acorns. The slope was gradual here, and he felt the heaviness of what he carried was easier to manage after the exertion. He took it down into the shadows of trees and back up and out again, to the bluff. Facing west Auf der Mar studied the sanguine rills shot through with royal bruises, and said to the setting sun "He's only going to break your heart, and what will that do to me?"
The paths up into the mountain started in pastoral fields, roiling fingers of tall grass with a squat low-canopied tree they had laid under like a blanket. Everywhere the sun yellowed was the crushing disappointment of him, the thoroughness of his failing all those he knew. He started into the hills, climbing up, chased by the memory. Auf der Mar moved quickly over the broken stones, feeling the pressure building in his chest, scouring his lungs and burning away. Coming around the ridge he saw how the day had waned, and counted it a mercy. The still, gold air broke in shafts around the treetops, falling along the dirt corridor, and Auf der Mar slowed to walk on the cobble of acorns. The slope was gradual here, and he felt the heaviness of what he carried was easier to manage after the exertion. He took it down into the shadows of trees and back up and out again, to the bluff. Facing west Auf der Mar studied the sanguine rills shot through with royal bruises, and said to the setting sun "He's only going to break your heart, and what will that do to me?"
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