Cold

เนื้อเรื่อง

Cold

          The old woman shuddered as the freezing breeze whipped, like a cold razor blade against her skeletal face as dry as the cracked earth on
which she was sitting. She stretched out her hands, thin and fragile as a twig, to tug at the edge of the thin old blanket draped around her slender shoulders and drew them closer together to ward off the cold. The smoke rising from the small fire on the barren land in front of her seemed to give her nothing more than a sense of warmth.

          She would rather be sitting in her wooden shelter on the edge
of the paddy field, but dared not risk lighting a fire near her dwelling
for fear that she might wake up in the middle of raging flames should
she fall asleep next to the fire.

          She had never faced such cold in her 70 odd years in existence.
It bit her sagging skin, and tore deep into her bones, making every joint
in her worn body ache with even the slightest movement. The old lady
was thankful for the tattered blanket on her body, a donation from some stranger in Bangkok, the capital city who had no more use for it. She initially accepted the rag with disdain and pessimism as she could not imagine having any need for it. 

          The youths in the village said it was mentioned in the news that this was the coldest winter in 20 or 30 years and she would not argue
with that. They also mentioned something about possible snow fall,
and the old lady had no idea what they were talking about. But it must
be something beautiful as all the youths in the village seemed to be
excited in their anticipation. For much of her life, she had known only that it was always hot, hotter or hottest. But things seemed to have changed over the last five or 10 years. The weather became unpredictable, the summers cut short by the winter, which got colder and colder every year.
          News reports came from across the country that old people were
frozen to death, and the old lady was determined that she, even only through sheer will power, would not join the list or become just another sad subject of a report from the Northeast.   

          The old lady cast her weary eyes over the paddy fields which
once upon a time were a sea of green and gold waving in the wind.
But not today. There was nothing more on those ground, than memories
of yesteryears when her husband ploughed the fields with the help
of the burly water buffalo. And the two of them, with the help of the
neighbours, would harvest the rice when it matured into golden grains.
There was the faintest hint of a smile on the old woman’s face, but it
was abruptly dismissed by the images of her husband lying on his
deathbed. Withered and crumbled like the dry roots, and floating
away with every cough.    
          The old woman looked up at the mangosteen sky as she try to hold back the tears. And it was then that she first felt the light sensations on her face, and then her neck and her hands. Not forceful like the rain, but the gentlest drops of water which disappeared as soon as they touched her body. And more and more of these soft droplets began to fall from the clouds, floating here and there like dust in water.
          Her heart was jumping with excitement at the new sensation, and
the newest experience. She rose slowly as more and more flakes drifted
down like stardust. And she bravely held out her hand to try cradle them,
the cold forgotten in her moment of excitement.

          This must be the snow that the children were all talking about then, she thought to herself. And how right for them to be excited as these flakes were the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on.
          She could not hide the wide smile on her face, as she wandered away from the flames in search of a perfect snowflake which she
would cherish and watch it evaporate.

          But the old lady stumbled on the cracks of the land and found herself falling face down. She felt the pain which shook through her
body like an earthquake. She tried to pick herself up, but only succeeded in flipping over, so that her head and back were now resting on the
cold earth. She had the most magnificent view of the sky, and the
falling snow, even though the freezing cold was starting to bite at
every muscle in her body, stiffening her with every passing second.
          But she was happier than she had ever been, content that she was
witnessing the miracle of snow falling in Thailand for the first time.
And happy at the thought of the reunion with her loving husband
somewhere beyond this life. It was getting colder with every laboured
breath… but she had grown used to the cold. There was no physical
cold that could ever compared to the cold of loneliness that had
griped her heart for years. The cold of being discarded by her children
who had gone to find work in Bangkok, and had never visited or even called, even when their father passed away.
          She was used to the cold.
          The old lady smiled as her eyelids fluttered. She felt cold water
on her cheeks, but was not sure if it was the snow or her tears of joy.
As her body weakened with each falling snowflake, her spirit grew stronger at the thought of freedom and reunion.

          She only hoped that there would be snow on the other side.

                                                ***********