486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM56VKnyea9
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France, Summer 1918copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡtoJGvrH6Qh
I thought of you and where you'd gone486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKhlZqpxBTC
And let the world spin madly oncopyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡph9DY2kjxy
“Yellow like mustard. Orange like marmalade. Red like poppies.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcYoBBB8JT
“And what’s the sky like?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡhch1TNtAUk
“A baptism.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkB1XA4hTB
“Sounds like a painting.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzONYppzy9
The Australian lifts a broad shoulder in a half shrug. His narrowed eyes to the sunset, he caresses the clean skin on his dimpled chin. He glances through the open flaps of the tent, "And your home, Yank? What do you remember?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡtPmLRfylQt
A cascade of the remaining suds disturbs the dry dirt beside the Anzac’s stool. She emerges, wiping the razor clean with her apron. Peering across the sparse field to the French horizon, she sees somewhere else.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡFINhKKRO1L
“Water,” she breathes, “In all forms, really. Ocean, rain, fog and snow for months.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡpRleFjE4Tc
“For months?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡdm2z8TPHfG
The girl’s concentration breaks with a faint smile, “Sometimes we see the first flurries in October and the last of the banks don’t melt until April.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡaVpXc9I3XK
She drags over an empty crate and sits a few feet from him. Mindlessly, she runs a thumb down the clean edge of the blade.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnBaBgtfln
“Careful. You’ll slit your finger open.” The pilot holds out a palm.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡrzKu9SnZzD
She returns the straight blade. He snaps it closed and tucks it into his khaki shirt pocket. His knuckles trail down his jawline thoughtfully, “Thank you. For finishing it up for me. I don’t know what came over me earlier-“copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡFKy4HKdpOb
“Don’t trouble yourself, Lieutenant. You’re just tired.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9DyLNa2hqn
Rising to his feet, he takes a few steps into the brown summer grass, his arms hanging at his sides. She studies him, her hands folded in her lap.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSXpm6iK5R
“I wanted to apologize for how I acted when we first met, Nurse Halloway.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLBVPjG3Ju
“You can call me Annie, Lieutenant.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡeT7NEVYHco
He rubs the back of his sunburned neck, “I suppose you should call me Charlie then.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Sh2hE8zoe
“There is no need for you to apologize,” she waves a hand dismissively, “Tell me more about your home.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡrMZ2HOmnR5
“I can barely remember now. It’s been years.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6Y0TDVRk8
“Surely there is more to say.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡgp0xribARA
The pilot threads his fingers through his hair, grey eyes like hawk’s feathers. He is all restless motion and activity. The energy hums under his thick hide like electricity. It isn’t a wonder he is such a good pilot.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡOimOl4CIsu
“The dust storms. After many months without rain, they rise up like bloody monsters and overwhelm the horizon. There is no breathing, no seeing, just the sand. Like diving into the ocean at your home.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡNkBMlvqgmK
“How nightmarish.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡpDaqbCIncA
“I’m sorry about your friend.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡX1TkPfosXQ
The statement is unexpected and yet was begging to be said long before Charlie ventured into the territory. A sharp exhale of breath leaves the girl’s thin lips as though she’s been stabbed between the shoulder blades.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKbyxw3XNq
“I remember it.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡId3TDfvmCI
The pilot peers over at the nurse. Still like the waters of an oasis, her folded hands are pale against her periwinkle skirts. Her posture tenses as she meets his eyes without hesitation.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzJQTz5i12
“I thought you hit your head-“copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZNkykRChE
“That’s what I wanted them to think so I wouldn’t have to-“ her mouth hangs open and her gaze grows distant, “A self-induced case of amnesia.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20S6TvloSY
His eyes cut away to the ground, “You don’t have to talk about it, Annie. I understand.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6PyQFspKKr
Annie shoots up from her seat, her chin raised and face placid, “Do you know the myth of the Halcyon days?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTqAeYU5Ab
He shakes his head.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDcCK586t0
“A man went to sea and there was a terrible storm. The ship was lost and before he drowned, he prayed that the gods would return his body to his wife. The gods came in a dream to the sleeping woman and she woke knowing that she would never see her man again.” Annie smooths out the wrinkles in her apron, “She goes to the cliffs and casts herself off. Before she hits the water, the gods take pity on the both of them. They are turned into Kingfishers. It’s a type of bird. The Halcyon days are a time in winter when the seas are calm.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4APCqv4PfO
“Why didn’t the gods just save the both of them in their human forms?” Charlie can’t help asking.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2IHCXFx3g
They avoid each other’s eyes. They watch the sun till it is merely a ghost in the west.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡINTVqD0yJt
“I can’t even remember what peace feels like anymore,” Annie comments, an owl calling out the twilight, “More amnesia.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡzO4pquUvka
“I don’t want to remember. Things will never be as they were before so what’s the point in wishing them into being,” Charlie spits into the dust.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBd2iPZYm2
Her head is throbbing. With the calm fingers of a war weary nurse, Annie unpins her cap. Folds of hair fall and tremble around her shoulders. The pressure in her temples fades slightly but the fatigue remains in her eyes. She feels ancient, her movements geriatric as she approaches the pilot.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡe5Q80hL1Qv
“He was your friend too.” Annie hooks arms with him, “I’m sorry.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡupkyPK3Jfn
“He survives months of hell at Gallipoli and manages to get himself shot down on a blue sky day in June.” Charlie scoffs, “Damn.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡTzZ6ChWCfj
“Damn,” she repeats.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡFupvCqMnrC
“You were in love with him, weren’t you?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡTW2dvRYyBe
“The Halcyon days are in January. Do you know how cold the water is then?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvOVBqcy3s
“How cold?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡSIWieyI1W9
She rests her chin on his shoulder, “So cold it feels like you’re being burned alive. So cold you never forget it.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQ6G4By299
“I’m sending his things home to him. A few last letters to his family that he never got out.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5E50gwdPA
“I have two of his books still. Tell me before you package everything up.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡFHiCZwbIx8
“Don’t you want to keep them? To remember him by?”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡRcYXS3zq5I
“His wife would probably like them back.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡAnOetOvZ2k
He trades his weight from one foot to the other. He wets his dry lips and chastely presses them to the crown of her naked head.copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡzI2Sk1pvJX
“The war will be over soon, Annie,” he pats her hand, “I’m sure of it. The Halcyon days will come again soon.”copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡEB9Cz1F8sL
“Yes, they will,” she repeats. copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡR29FhCtMBw
The whole world is moving486Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjl1TG7uHm
and I'm standing still copyright protection482ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6be84yat4U
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