TheComingandGoingofStrangers

The Coming and Going of Strangers Short Story Simon Van Booy to LORILEE VAN BOOY If you are not here, then why are you everywhere? Contents Begin Reading Acknowledgments About the Author Other Books by Simon Van Booy Copyright About the Publisher The Coming and Going of Strangers Walter’s Journey Through the Rain W ALTER WHEELED HIS HOT, ticking motorbike up and down the muddy lane, breathing with the rhythm of a small, determined engine. Fists of breath hovered and then opened over each taken-step. He would soon be within sight of his beloved’s house. In the far distance, Sunday parked over the village like an old mute who hid his face in the hanging thick of clouds. The afternoon had seen heavy rain and the fields were soft. Tired and wet, lovesick Walter thought of the Sunday town streets, hymns and hot dinners, the starch and hiss of ironing; shoes polished and set down before the fire so that each shoe held a flame in its black belly; dogs barking at back doors. Early stars. He stopped and held his motorbike still. He listened for the sounds of the faraway town. At first he could hear only his own hard breathing. The......