The Bridge of Peace by Cindy Woodsmall

Author:Cindy Woodsmall [Woodsmall, Cindy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 0100-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

Grey sat in front of a roaring fire. He could feel its heat but still felt gripped by icy remorse, and he wished he knew how to break free. Was this how grief always worked? Did it enclose a person on all sides and never let up, even during sleep? Or was this worse because he’d been such a fool with his time?

Sprawled on the floor between him and the hearth, Ivan quietly played with his wooden toy horses.

“Daed? Der Gaule kann nimmi schteh.” Ivan rose and turned to him, telling his father that his horse couldn’t stand up anymore. Its hoof had broken off.

Grey held the horse in his hand, wondering if he remembered how to carve little animals. He’d made these for Ivan’s second birthday and hadn’t carved anything like it since.

Ivan’s eyes grew large for a moment, indicating that he’d thought of something. He scurried across the wood floors in his socks toward the back door.

Grey called after him, telling him it was wet outside.

Ivan said nothing as he slung open the back door.

Children. Their resilience astounded him. Ivan missed his Mamm. He crawled into Grey’s lap and cried sometimes, but then Grey would read to him, or talk to him of Elsie, or get on the floor with him and play. Soon enough the intensity of Ivan’s sadness would ease. Grey’s regret hadn’t dulled for one moment.

It seemed the most Grey could offer Ephraim at the cabinetry shop was to muddle through his work load. Grey’s Mamm kept Ivan, and Grey worked as few hours as he could and still be able to pay bills. Even though Grey had no energy and no clear thoughts to help him accomplish much, Ivan only seemed to need him to be present. So Grey was there. He remembered a man once telling him that regret after a loved one died was like living in hell itself. At the time Grey hadn’t understood.

“Daed, kumm.”

Grey checked the clock almost wishing it was time to put Ivan down for the night. He had another two hours before Ivan’s bedtime. As much as he longed for the ease of free time once Ivan was asleep, he knew that’s when another night began, one that seemed to last forever. He rose and went out back.

Pointing to a tree branch, Ivan told his Daed to look. “Guck.” He wanted a new horse carved from that branch.

Grey told him they couldn’t cut that branch. That it would hurt the tree.

Across the yards, his and Allen’s, he could see that every room in his friend’s home seemed to have at least one kerosene lantern lit. The idea of visiting his friend pulled on him. Allen had come over every day since … Elsie had passed. He’d bring Grey a newspaper, or food from his kitchen, or just a few minutes of talk about the weather. Each time Allen would ask Grey to come for a visit. Since Ivan wanted more from Grey tonight than he could muster, maybe he should go.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.