As if it’s something that must remain secret, the locket she has worn for years beneath the buttons of her dress, an oval lump that anyone might notice, although no one ever has. Not even William, who gave it to her when they were first married, fastened it around her neck, touched the etched, twining leaves with the tip of his finger. Told her that it was the first gift he had ever given. William must know how she wears it now but he has never said, another part of the silence between them that at times seems as vast as the ocean they crossed, sailing away from their first life together. When she takes the locket off she feels the empty space near her heart, and as she gets older and her fingers thicken and stiffen it takes longer to do the clasp again, longer to feel that first cold touch, to feel it begin to warm. She has seen ornate brooches, pinned to women’s jackets, and in the Reverend’s parlor a design of flowers and leaves under glass. Things made with stiff, woven strands of a loved one’s hair, twisted into unnatural shapes, things that make her shudder.
What do You think about The Boys In The Trees (2013)?
