The Only Road
By Susan Forest
A tin wind-up drummer marched jerkily in its red uniform along the broad, flat surface of the Thangdu Temple balustrade as Orville waved a handful of the mechanical soldiers and cried out to buyers in the crowd. Above the restless flow of the market, the high, white cliffs of Khangchengyao sparkled in the clear morning air.
“Orville!” A face Orville knew jostled through the press. The wiry man grinned a greeting, his thinning hair tied back in an untidy braid, his sun-browned face a nest of wrinkles. “May the seven Gods smile upon you.” He spoke Bhutanese.
Orville nodded and put a hand on the marching drummer before it toppled from the temple wall. “Paldun. Your family is well?” A dig. Unless things had changed in the last year or two, Paldun wouldn’t know
