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,gli t te rLnq coins. and vivid leaves bLow i.nq in threugh her
tiny garret winde~. Shertly Jfter Jaceb's exams, hewever,
he received 'an urgent summens frem his uncle; his father
had fallen 'ill with a streke, and ·uaceb was needed at heme.
,He p rorrused- to return in the spring, but the prespect ef a
Lone Ly w:inter -Ln a strange t own weighed heavily en Greta.
Fer J~ceb, she straightened her back and premised to' wait.
The celd snews dampened her feet threugh thin-seled shees,
and her wet skirts chaffed her ankles until they were red
and raw. Jaceb's letters arrived speradically, with mere
and mere time stretching between the da~e at the tep ef
,the page. She censeled herself with the understanding that
it was a difficult time fer· his family, theugh his neglect
pricked her painfully.

~ith the spring,semester fast,appreaching, Greta's feet
ence mere tapped spiritedly acress her c~illy atti~ reem.
In an effert to' please him, she meticuleusly cleaned every
surface. She, brushed the eaken fleer bare as the wind-swept
plains, "even,pelishing it with wax until she ceuld see her
reflectien in the slick, shiny surface. Her mou t h , pa i.nt ed a
dark p Lum co Lo r i curved Lnt;o a satisfied smile. SO' as net to'
ruin this glessy illusien, she ran dewnstairs to' cellect a
letter. Fer several days, she had been expecting ene frem
Jaceb, relayi~g the details ef his arrival, ·and warm werds
ef love to' tide her ever until then.

Greta felt alarmed by the strange handwriting en the
envelepe. She recegnized' Jean's name, her oLd schoo L friend,
the one who was Jaceb's cous i.n . Sliding her finger aleng the
seam, Greta ripped eut the letter and read it in the dim
light by her windew. After scanning the first few lines,
it drifted to' the fleer, f o.Ll.owedby her trembling knees.
Greta gasped, as theugh awakened fer the first time that
day. ,Snatching the letter with mere viger, she read it ever
t.wd ce,
Jaceb was net ceming back,' Her' friend had written that fer
the past menth, he had been gadding abeut with,sem~ ether
'~i'rl.,He had no plans' to' come back fer her. The' werds were
kindly and cencerned, and were merciful tee, as merciful
'as such an awful truth can be. But to' Greta, it felt like
a millien splinters stabbing deep intO' the seles ef her
.feet, crippling her. She lay with her face pressed to' her
. be au t i.fuL pelished fleer. The stink of- wax filled her nos e ,
nause et i nq. her. Her face, mirrered in the pelish, I stared
ba~k,at her with the ,stricken, weunded eyes ef the accused.
She lay, there, immebile, until dawn.

When Greta ,finally rese, there was an iren strength to'
her feet, a terrible firmness in her knees. _Her vertebrae
curled up ·inte a single steel pele, welded tegether. Slewly
and methedically, she packed her things, threwing each ene