OCR Text |
Show alights stiLL rocking, his body a penduLum of movemenb sweeping in ciLi-a t i c rhythm with bhe t i v e r . He Leans over to bhe wood piLe fee Ling bhe cold snapping as he moves through bhe Layers of a i r. He breaks up enough wood to Lasb aboub bhree hours, bhinking he can conceivably judge the passage of hours bhis night in bhis way, and have some idea when morning is near. This far north, bhis time of year, he figures the nighbs probabLy Last fifbeen, maybe sixbeen, hours. He wiLL need four more piLes then, at Leasb, bhe same size as the one he has jusb cre-abed. He wonders if there is that much wood Left, I t is hard for him to measure bhe Larger, unbroken branches againsb the reguLabed size of the branches he has just broken. The two distinct piLes Look oddLy incongruous to him, the one stiLL containing something of that which was the focused energy of the t r e e s , curving, repressing, stem and tip juxbaposedj bhe obher, broken of a l l energy seeping oub bhe jagged ends into the hardening, greying snow. He feeLs a sudden stab from his feeb as the f i r e ' s heat seeps into his boots. He Looks down on bhem, bhe snow melbing from his boobs, dropping off in punctuate, brownish-whibe drops, sbaining bhe snow beneabh. He bends over and wipes bhe snow off each boob, bhen sbiLL Leaning, unbies each one, shopping to blow some heab inbo his hands a few bimes as he fumbles wibh bhe icy Laces. He unbies bhem as he wouLd unbie bhe sbring from a package of frozen meab, graceLessly, aLmosb savageLy. This done, he puLLs his feeb from inside bhe frozen Leabher, wincing as bhey move in bhe a i r . Now he pLaces a branch in front of bhe f i r e and pubs his empty boots on top of i t to keep them from digging into the snow. He pLaces his steaming, stockinged feet, resting them on top of the fading warm, oval of his boots, aLLowing them to catch the flickering heat of the f i r e , but not so dose as to speed up bhe process of thawing, which he knows must be sLow and graduaL. |