She danced among the cherry blossom trees lined along the road as far as the eye could see. A flood of water lay stagnant at the edge of the road alongside her. She glanced every few minutes at her reflection, mirroring her every move. It too danced among the reflected images of the cherry blossoms. She danced from side to side, throwing her arms up in the air, in straight lines and round and round the barks of the trees. Her little fingers ran along the horizontal lines as she circled the welcoming trees. Droplets of water and the odd pink blossom dropped on her hair or kissed her face in the watery sun. She felt happy.
She had been stuck in the house with her grieving family for the last three days as the rain fell and the craw-thumpers came in one door and out the other to nose. They walked around the coffin in the good sitting room praying over him and blessing him as they announced his saintly body and gentle soul while he lay there. “May he rest in peace,” they chanted as they did the mourner’s dance. His male friends with their stained teeth and tobacco-breath, hovered outside to chat and clear the phlegm from their throats before entering, just like he used to do. The women dressed in their Sunday best, to sympathise and help out in the kitchen where everyone gathered to stuff their faces with ham sandwiches and fruit cake. There they gossiped in silent tones. Respect for the dead.
She had pretended she was afraid of dead bodies to avoid standing in ceremony and getting the hand shook off her. Though in a quiet moment in the night she had sneaked in and pinched him a few times to make sure he was dead. She had put a letter of confession on his behalf in the inside pocket of his new suit hoping that if St. Peter didn’t find it, God would. Then all his praying and hugging the altar for his guaranteed entry to heaven would have been in vain.
As soon as the rain stopped, she fled the house and ran to her safe place, where the barks of the trees were clear and there were no shadows for doing harm. Where passers-by could see her and she was safe, yet, alone with the earthy smells shrouding her with comfort. The road was quiet today and there was no one to see her dance. She stopped for a minute and stepped closer to the edge of the road and looked in at her new self in the water. They smiled at each other. Her body was free now, her uncle was dead.
