A TREE...
This photo was taken on the island that inspired the one in The Coast. The tree is situated by a fortified bluff where an old cannon points across the Baltic Sea towards present-day Poland. The island is ringed with bulwarks against centuries of invaders. Last year, the Nord Stream pipeline explosion occurred nearby, and since the start of the Ukraine invasion Russian aircraft have been buzzing the island and NATO troops have carried out exercises on the island.
A tiny bird sits on a denuded branch. A starling perhaps? The island is rich with bird life. Will the tree’s “bare ruined choirs” host new foliage in spring? Will that bird return a few months hence to dart among the leaves? Or will the tree remain stripped, barren, dead?
COMING TOMORROW, SUNDAY: CHAPTERS 15 AND 16 OF VALPARAÍSO…