Category: Vermont Stories

A Feather from her Wing

Nearly three years ago, I squeezed into Silvia's boarded-up house for the first time during a January thaw. My winter boot sought solid purchase as it dangled in the dark…
Read More

The Green Tractor, Braintree, Vermont, Part III

Continued from Shadow and Light, Braintree, Vermont, Part II From over a slight rise in the narrow dirt road, a tractor approaches through a collonade of nearly leafless maples. I…
Read More

Landscape of Space and Peace: Braintree, Vermont, Part I

After my previous driving disaster, a friend offers to take me to Braintree, Vermont, where we are joined by the president of the local historical society, who becomes our knowledgeable…
Read More

The Two Boxes

At first, my phone call was harbored with deep suspicion. Why, the interest? She didn’t have time right now. She had nothing to say, even as she told me she…
Read More

Without a Map in Braintree

I returned to the States in July, but not to the village were Silvia lived. Instead, I spent the remainder of the summer in a remote little cabin on the…
Read More

Recently, a “Difficult Woman”

Small towns are prone to intense politics, due, in part, to participatory politics that extend beyond a simplistic vote. Recently, the political pitch in the little town where Silvia lived…
Read More

Easter Eggs

When winter's grasp is released in bedlam streams, and sap enlivens naked trees, a breath of warmth tames feral winds, and birdsong includes new notes that quicken the pulse of…
Read More

First Bloom

In my green woolen cape and clunky winter boots, I tore down Main Street this afternoon, when word reached me through a neighbor that the front door of Silvia's house…
Read More

Song Cycle, (2), Bear

Neighbor's voices drift vaguely on the cool breeze, punctuated by the sound of car doors clapping shut. Greetings and exclamations join laughter and music, as the smoke from a small…
Read More

Silvia’s Gingersnaps

Powdery flakes complete the whiteness of a blanketed landscape, festooning the firs and stringing garlands of sky on the paper birches. Hoary rooftops puff rounds of smoke, as icicles drip…
Read More
error

Follow Silvia's story as it unfolds, or share the narrative with others.