By D.E. Miller

Like weary butterflies, the yellow cottonwood leaves drifted and wandered in their descent as the breeze swept them from their branches and scattered them into the river and onto the ground where four people had gathered near the riverbank. Two older women embraced a younger woman who stood with her eyes closed, her face tilted toward the brilliant, cool sky, while an older man and a younger man stood with their faces turned downward toward the yellow leaves at their feet.

Then, the younger woman and man walked to the river’s edge. The woman held a tiny paper boat she had fashioned and in which she had affixed a small, pink candle. The younger man turned his back to the wind, struck a match, and lit the candle. Gently, tenderly, the younger woman knelt and placed the paper boat into the water. Then, they all stood at the river’s edge and watched as the little boat wobbled in the slower water near the river bank until the current began to pull it away. The little boat drifted only a few yards in the swifter current before the breeze snuffed its struggling candle.

“That makes sense. It really does, doesn’t it?” said the younger woman.

In silence, they watched as the current caught the little boat and swept it downstream, rocking and twirling in the eddies. And then it was gone. 

“Oh, I hope the river knows where to take it,” said the younger woman.

The younger man said nothing and pulled the younger woman close. She leaned against his shoulder. Together, they gazed downstream as the cottonwood leaves silently drifted away.

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D. E. Miller is a high-mileage, blue-collar writer living in Nebraska. His other works include the poetry and vignette collection, “The Road and Other Liars,” and the science fiction novel,“Until the Rescue Ship Arrives.”