Elsa Crane's Arc

Chapter 57 of 66

The mothers left the library slow and warm, but Larissa hung back at the door. She caught Elsa's sleeve before Nancy could steer her toward the chair. "He'll come to our houses, won't he," Larissa said. "For the private word. The one you gave each of us when our first was born." Behind her, the miller's wife nodded. Charlie nodded. Every mother in the room was waiting to hear it. Elsa's mouth opened and shut. The private blessing was hers. She had walked to every door in Alpenglow for forty years, sat at every kitchen table, laid her hand on every new head. She had meant to hand it over slowly. She had six days left. "He will," she said. "We will send word." She walked Bodhi back to the driftwood hut on Jasper's arm. Inside, she sat on the low stool and told him plain. "Every mother wants you at her table. Alone. My hand on the child, then yours. It is how they know the warmth is real." Bodhi counted on his fingers. He was slow at numbers but honest. "How many houses." "Forty-one with children under ten. More with older ones who still count." "You can't walk that far." "No." He sat on the floor by her feet and pulled his chalk stub from his pocket. He drew a small circle on the plank. Then he drew a larger circle around it. He looked up. "They come here," he said. "One at a time. To the hut. You sit. I stand. We do it at the door." "They expect me to come to them." "They expect the warmth," he said. "Not the walk." Elsa looked at the two circles on the plank. She had spent a week teaching him nothing about this and he had found the shape of it in a breath. She nodded once. Bodhi buttoned his parka right this time and went to the square himself. Jasper followed three steps back. Elsa watched from the hut door. The boy climbed onto the well stone so the mothers could see him. He did not smile the taught smile. He used his own. "Elsa is tired," he said. His voice was small but it carried. "She wants to bless every child. She cannot walk to every door. So the door comes here. Bring your child to the hut. One family at a time. Elsa's hand first. Then mine. The blessing is the same. I promise you the blessing is the same." Larissa was first to answer. "When." "Now," Bodhi said. "Starting now. Come in the order you arrive." Larissa lifted her youngest to her hip and started for the hut. Charlie fell in behind her. The miller's wife went to fetch her son. A line began to form along the path before Bodhi climbed down from the stone. Elsa opened the driftwood door wide and sat where the light could reach her hands.