thing in the world that her dad shot her. Hey, accidentally! Added her and a sort of smile pursed her little face. They went out for last Christmas great hunting trip and her dad said that they were looking for the most eligible trophy of the wood. The bitterness that he felt in realizing that the prize was actually him, the blue eyes boar, stood stick to his heart, to his thoughts, to everything. It was hard to chase it away, it reminded him of the mug that sticks to the fur when the rain is pouring from days.
And so, when the shots were fired by the rifle, they sneaked between the peacefulness of the trees,
terrorizing the wood, and one of the ammunitions rebounded on a rock hitting Cotton Ball’s chest straight away. All she remembered was the red snow.
Blue had a look at the water and then at the little girl’s face.
‘I am so lucky that I met you. Even if it’s a paradox.’
‘We are lucky’, Cotton Ball corrected him and then added ‘What shall we do to keep it always like now?’
‘Exactly what we are doing.’
‘You know what I mean.’ And, for a moment, on her pale face appeared a swift pouty expression which
Blue immediately chased away laying his big head on her lap.
‘There’s no room for sad thoughts tonight, it’s made of milk and cream, don’t you remember?’
Cotton Ball nodded and tried to chase away the thought that was ailing her more and more: Blue was an animal and as such earthbound and, most of all, mortal.
How long was he going remain by her side still?
Not to mention that he was the most wanted animal in the wood, the hunters were not giving him a rest, and Christmas was getting nearer and nearer. And what would have become of her?
Would she have continued to wander alone as always without him? She puffed, then she pushed slightly her head inside her shoulders as to shelter herself from bad things.
‘Ugh.’
‘I am not going to abandon you that fast.’
‘I know. But it might happen.’
‘Sooner or later. In any case, it would be fair, we are born to die.’
‘Luckily it had to be a funny night.’
They burst out laughing. Good resolutions must be respected.
Blue suddenly stood up and ran around Cotton Ball, then he lied down and stuck his snout in the snow, picked up a friable little white mountain with his nose and stiffly blew it on the little girl’s face. She laughed hard waving her hands in the air and they continued playing that way in that white cloud for several minutes.
Finally, exhausted but happy, they left the riverbanks and walked towards the wood, the sun was about to rise soon, and Blue started to yawn.
When they reached the old oak tree that was waiting for them like that was all it has been doing in the past two hundred years, the sky had lowered a shade and now it was surrounding them in cornflower blue.
Blue gave himself a shrug to take off the snowflakes that were making his fur wet and was about to enter his den inside the oak tree.
‘Wait! One last thing, Blue!’
‘What? I am a little tired.’
‘The last one! I promise! Come on, come on, come on!’
‘Do I have a choice?’
‘No’ she laughed in her sleeve, ‘but you’re going to like it. Look!’
Cotton Ball came close to the cortex of the old oak tree and started to blow from her lips a wind so freezing that the insects ran away, the night birds returned earlier to their nests, and Blue shivered. He lifted one paw at a time to move enough to produce some warmth while he tried to peek whatever Cotton Ball was
up to, but she, with her back turned, was so busy in lowing all her ice against the majestic tree trunk.
It seemed like she was putting her heart and soul into that and, in fact, when she finished, Blue was speechless.
The truck was now shining ice, and on the trajectory and the height of Cotton Ball’s heart, there were two letters carved deep in the wood. Her glacial steam dug them, making them indelible like a mark.
b + B.
Simplicity doesn’t need words.
‘Did you see it? Do you like it? Do you know that they’re our initials? I am the small one, obviously.’
Blue answered to the smile he loved so much and he knew so well but this time his eyes were covered by a slight sheen of tears. Now he saw numerous b.
‘It’s really amazing and I also know why you did it.’
‘You know, of course but tell me anyway.’
Blue moved his eyelashes down and up and, despise the two big tears that frozen before landing to the ground, he finally got his sight back.
‘On this truck, on this cortex, on this oak tree, in the periwinkle dawn, we’ll be together forever.’
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