Moving forward, while looking back

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Moving forward
     I'm coming home. It is a glorious summer evening, the day after a big storm. High up in the sky, I see a plane flying. Is it Deven's plane? I wonder.
No, I answer myself, this one is flying east and Deven is flying west. He's off to college, and I'm going home from the airport. I drive back on auto pilot, having done this trip dozens of times, after leaving Dinu at the airport.
     Entering the familiar alley at the back of our house, I see that the shadows have fallen. The rhythms of life are shifting, lights are going on in the houses and people gathering for the evening meal. I park the car and walk into the cool of the garden. And pause.  The shadows are green and soft. Can shadows be green? I wonder. Yes , these are. Where is the light behind them? I ask.
     My answer comes like an echo from somewhere, the light is the memories of this garden.The red stemmed dogwood I planted in Kaalo's memory and the other one for Lali, sways slightly in a barely felt breeze. The dogs died long ago, but they loved this garden. I can still see where the huge Black Hairy One, our beloved Kaalo, used to sit and where he lay down mortally ill from a stroke. I can almost hear Lali's shrill voice petulantly demanding a walk. Pretty Lala, I called her, my little girl, silly tomboy.
     I can almost see my father, sitting on a low stool, weeding the garden with a dib. Here is the once powerful official, reduced to a common man, in his retirement. But he smiles and cracks a joke about earning his beer points. I look again; and he's gone. Vanished into the green shadows. A fresh wind rises. I walk in to the house and switch on the lights.The shadows go away.
Posted by LinaS at 9:05 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: Looking back while moving forward