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Show He sbops, and around him everybhlng is sbiLL, save bhe steady curtain of snow faLLing straight and wLndLess out of the grey above his head. He is at the edge of a clearing. He has come upon i t from the thickness of the woods behind him. To his Left and right he can make out bhe curving, grey-green oubLine of brees as bhey blur away, oub of sight. He Leans forward onto his ski poLes Letting the f LexibLe bamboo absorb bhe bired weighb of his arms* "They aLL Look bhe same, and I am Losb," he bhinks. The bwo ideas enber his consciousness from separabe pLaces, Like two men enbering a house from bhe fronb door and bhe back, not meeting untiL both are inside, but once in, joining, in a union doomed and inseparable. "They are aLL the same. ALL the same but without my tenbo None of bhem conbain my benb." lb is bhe fourbh dearing he has approached since he Losb his way back bo camp earLier in bhe day. The sborm had caughb him unaware, bhe snow faLLing furiously, raw and unformed, covering his bracks quicker bhan he couLd foLLow bhem back bo bhe one dearing oub of bhe endLess number of d e a r - ings ib now appeared there were, bhab was his. When bhe sborm f i r sb came on him he was four, maybe five miles from his camp. He had turned around then and begun tracing his tracks back to camp. It was some time, skiing effortlessly in the fiLLing forest of snow, before he r e alized he wasn't foLLowing his tracks any Longerj the thickly faLLing snow had covered them. When he finaLLy stopped, reaLizing he was foLLowing what was in fact the faint shadow of his own curving ski bips and nothing else, and wenb back bo where he could see his oLd bracks again, he couLdn't beLL jusb where ib was he had Lefb bhe fading Line thab hours earLier marked his progress away from camp. The snow continued to faLL on him standing there spraining his eyes to see what wqs covered irreversibLy and forever. And then he saw bhab his new bracks were being covered and panicking, skiLed off in bheir direcbion, ib baking him some bime again before he realized bhab bhose bracks had been laid down afber |
