afternoon story from trevor’s encyclopedia of lost things
Hilcias listened to her sleeping.
He listened to the soft whistles of her breathing.
He listened to the deep wrinkles on her cheeks and forehead and around her eyes and mouth.
"A blue whale's heart is as big as a Volkswagon,” he thought.
"It must feel love very deeply and widely, because its heart is so deep and wide.
My heart is just the size of my fist.
I don't think it can hold as much love as a blue whale's heart.
I surely feel a deep and wide love for her, though.
Maybe it's because we're both small, quiet ones who no one sees or hears.
I hope my heart is as beautiful as her.
I hope I sing her same beautiful song.”
He put his tiny hand on top of hers.
Have you heard of the narwhal whale?
Along with the bowhead and beluga whales, it is an Arctic whale, living its whole life in the icy waters of the Arctic ocean.
It's called the unicorn of the sea because it has a single horn that protrudes up to nine feet out of its forehead.
In older days, its horn was given to the kings and queens of Europe to use as scepters, for many thought there was great power and even magic in it.
It's not really a horn, though.
It's a tooth.
Like a human tooth, it is very, very sensitive.
If a narwhal tooth breaks, it causes the poor narwhal a sharp, biding pain.
When that break happens, an astonishing thing happens in the life of a narwhal.
Another narwhal places its tooth into the broken tooth of the hurting narwhal.
That act of kindness assuages the pain.
He hoped his hand on her hand might assuage her pain, too.
“I’m here,” he thought.
“Estoy aquí.”
No comments:
Post a Comment