sovay: (Default)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2006-07-05 11:59 pm

Hide yourself from the same old memories

This is not one of my stories.

My father once drove past a graveyard, late at night. Behind the rail, there was someone bowed before one of the headstones, as in prayer or contemplation, dressed in a dark coat, their hands clasped before them. But the size confused him, even seen through the edge of the headlights—smaller than a person, smaller even than a child, not even as tall as the headstone. My father stopped, backed up the car, checked again. Crouched there before the stone was a raccoon.

Whether it was always a raccoon is a matter of opinion.

[identity profile] cucumberseed.livejournal.com 2006-07-06 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
And if this were in Japan, I would say it was a Tanooki, but on this side of the Pacific, you got me.

[identity profile] humglum.livejournal.com 2006-07-06 04:53 am (UTC)(link)

Oh, that's wonderful!

[identity profile] nineweaving.livejournal.com 2006-07-06 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
Only your family sees davening raccoons.

Nine

[identity profile] clarionj.livejournal.com 2006-07-06 12:19 pm (UTC)(link)
davening -- I'd never heard that word. It can be useful. And now, happily, I'll always think of it in relation to a racoon with paws clasped.

Thanks, Sonya, too, for the little tale--I love how you throw in that last line, just as I was ready to give up and think, ah, only a racoon.

[identity profile] crowgrl.livejournal.com 2006-07-06 12:33 pm (UTC)(link)
What a wonderful story.

[identity profile] ebess.livejournal.com 2006-07-06 01:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, this is one of the best stories ever. Love it!

[identity profile] thewriteratwork.livejournal.com 2006-07-06 06:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh, very good story. I wish I had experiences like that!