1/14/2024 0 Comments Tuck everlasting winnieTuck waited till the truck had passed, and then he picked up the toad and carried it to the weeds along the road’s edge. In the other lane, a pickup truck rattled by, and against the breeze it made, the toad shut its eyes tightly. The toad was squatting in the middle of the road, quite unconcerned. He reined in the horse and climbed down from the wagon. And then she put a hand on his arm and pointed. “Well, where to now, Tuck? No need to come back here no more.” There was a long moment of silence between them, and then Mae said, “Poor Jesse.” Later, as he and Mae rolled out of Treegap, Mae said softly, without looking at him, “She’s gone?” And then he turned and left the cemetery, walking quickly. Then he straightened his jacket again and drew up his hand in a brief salute. In the branches of a willow behind him, a red-winged blackbird chirped. She’s been gone two years.” He stood up and looked around, embarrassed, trying to clear the lump from his throat. 'He can't die,' she whispered, thinking of Mae. She could see him again, sprawled motionless on the sun-blanched grass. At once the image of the man in the yellow suit rose up. "She cradled her head in her arms and closed her eyes. And suddenly she longed for a thunderstorm." ![]() Again and again it throbbed, without a sound. And then, over the treetops, on the faraway horizon, there was a flash of white. ![]() There was not the least hint of a breeze to soften the heavy August night. "Winnie watched the sky slide into blackness over the wood outside her window. But there were new threads now, tugging and insistent, which tied her just as firmly to the Tucks” That feeling-it tied her to them, to her mother, her father, her grandmother, with strong threads too ancient and precious to be broken. She rocked, gazing out at the twilight, and the soothing feeling came reliably into her bones. It was satisfying and lonely, both at once. And no amount of telling about it could help them understand or share what she felt. Things had happened to her that were hers alone, and had nothing to do with them. ![]() “Well, thought Winnie, crossing her arms of the windowsill, she was different.
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