The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman

Author:Brian Freeman [Freeman, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2019-11-18T18:28:48+00:00

PART TWO:

THE WELL-MEANING TRAVELER

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Anna and I glided on cross-country skis through the fresh bed of snow filling the cemetery trails. She took the lead up and down the hills, and I followed. With each breath, we exhaled clouds of steam. The skeletal branches of the trees cradled the snow and shook wet, cold blasts into our faces as the wind blew. My cheeks felt numb. It was January 22, a bitter and blustery Monday morning, during one of those days-long stretches of winter gray where you wonder if the sun still exists.

Ahead of me, Anna brought herself to a stop halfway down the shallow slope. She leaned on one of her ski poles and stared into the thick of the forest. I pulled up beside her. Among the shaggy pines and flaky white trunks of the young birches stood the massive gnarled body of the famous Mittel County beech tree we called Bartholomew. The tree had survived storms and fires for more than two hundred years. Its roots dug into the ground like fingers, and its many fat arms made it look like a troll that had been turned to stone. If you grew up in Everywhere, you almost certainly paid a visit to Bartholomew on a sixth grade science outing.

Two of Bartholomew’s finger-roots had grown apart over the decades to create a deep hollow like a cave. I’d written a song once about Barty’s Hollow, one of the songs I played for kids on my guitar during Sunday story time at the library. The chorus went like this:

It’s big enough to build a house

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