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Show He sees bhem. Barren as skeLebons, snow piled to their waists, arms attatched at various angles, but a l l pointing one direction - downstream, frozen in remembered terror of the spring floods sweeping in the silent heat of the summer. He stares at the wiLLows, tracing in his mind their slender stalks down through the snow to warm, brown, earth, roobs clubching sbeaming soil whiLe bhe r i v e r ' s roobs slowly scour bhe rock beneabh bhem, sofbly undermining, genbLy prodding, inbo bhe angled rhybhm of ibs own movemenb. He makes as if bo move toward them, but now that his mind has deared -the wiLLows r e a l ly are there, and they are pointing downstream- his body seems oddLy separated from him, especially his feet. They are Like two bags of sand heLd to his Legs by a Loose wrapping of thin, wet, Leather* He forces himseLf to move bhem and bhey r i s e , LooseLy and dumsiLy* He manages bo guide bhem, haLf-sLiding, ha If-dragging, beyond bhe wiLLows bo a place above bhe river where bhe big brees a r e . He Looks ab bhese trees, and as he does he sees bhab bhey are blending, becoming one wibh bhe sky, as if in bheir poinbed sbiLLness bhey have finaLLy merged in a Line wibh bhe increasing darkness of bhe day; as if nighb approached bhe earth physicaLLy, passing down through each tree, freexing the sap, spreading out through the branches finally to reach the roots, then seeping out into the snow, sLowly staining i t with i t s blackness. He thinks of what he needs to do. He surveys the area around him: the pi Ling on and on of snow hiding the shape of fecund earth below, the snow's soft undersides patterned by pebbLes, twigs, seeds. He Looks for the area of densest growth, pLeased by the amount of dead branches hanging limp from the trees, and accesible to him. "The snow is high this winter," he thinks. "That is at Least good for something." He begins by puLLing off the Largest branches from the trees around him, piLing them near the spot where he has decided to buiLd his f i r e . His feet no |