Snow on the Rocks DSC_8730
Snow on the Rocks
Her little man was really a very big man. She knew that. But sometimes it was hard to remember.
"Hon," Bertha said, after helping Mac up for the third time, "what's going on? You say we got to go out for a walk. When it's snowing. Because not only is it good for us, but the snow is so beautiful. And yet here we are, all the way to the High Head, and you're not even paying attention. You keep slipping and falling. And look here at the snow on the rocks like a polka dot quilt. It's fantastic. You were right. It was worth coming out. Absolutely. So why are you glued to your phone? You've never been like that before."
Little Mac slipped his phone back in his pocket. "Because," he said, wringing his hands, "because, Bertie, I ain't taught for so long, I'm afraid I'll mess up. So I'm makin' these lists of everything to remember. I even made a note to remind me to talk right."
"Well, well, so that's it," said Bertha, shaking her head as she dusted the snow off him yet again. "A veteran and a deep thinker and the man who convinced me I was pretty. Scared of teaching again. You do remember what a substitute does? It's more or less just to have an adult in the room."
"I know, Bertie. I know."
"And your memory's back. Relax. Have confidence. In fact, as you've always been so fond of telling me, have confidence anyway. Just because. Whatever happens doesn't matter so much."
"What it is, I'm like an army whose supply line got cut and I'm the last man standin'. You don't know how that feels."
"I don't have to," said Big Bertha. "I've got you who does. Now come along."
They went along, but not before he took a long look at the snow-faced rocks she had remarked and saw in them not a quilt but a graveyard with neither inscription nor order.
But he made no note of it.
19 February 2018
Texas Jim
High Head near Prospect, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca
Category:Scenic
Subcategory:Coastlines
Subcategory Detail:
Keywords:Atlantic, Canada, Head, High, Nova, Scotia, and, black, cliffs, clouds, coast, field, granite, horizon, north, ocean, prospect, quilt, rocks, rocky, sea, sky, slope, snow, snow-covered, snow-faced, snowy, white