My mother waited by the fireside for my return. “Myko, you are home,” she said.
“Yes, Mama. I’m home.” I was like an excited child, just like when my brother and I collected bumble bees in glass jars. I saw his smiling face and wanted to share the joy of meeting my tiger again.
Mother retreated in the shadows; she too ached for Jurgis. “You must be hungry, Myko. Sit down and rest, I will prepare some food.”
She made tea in a billycan and fired the stove for our dinner pot. Before the fire her skin prickled and her shoulders rounded on the curve of her spine. I could not believe this was my mother, who once stood as straight as a plumb-line.
“Are you all right, Mother?”
She kept her attention on the stove. “I am fine, Myko.”
“You look tired. Have you been thinking of the Sakiai?”
Mot
