THE WHITE RAVEN
It might have been incorrect to say that no raven appears at the crossroads. Actually, there are no crossroads. And this raven is a saying, a metaphorical one. To be a white raven in Ukrainian is to stick out like a sore thumb. Nicholas realized that he was a bit of a white raven both back home in the US and here in Leopolis. In the US his bifurcated soul made him feel out of synchronization with place. He was by nature of his first name mathematically in the middle of the alphabet, both in English and in Ukrainian. He was Nicholas and Mykola. Accent on the second syllable of his Ukrainian name. He was between two worlds and realized that he might be better off trying to be a white raven in the snow. He wanted to fit in somehow – in either one of those worlds.
