“For, through the twilight sounds of crickets and sighing trees, a faint, surprising wisp of music came floating to them and all three turned toward it, toward the wood.”

“So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight.”

“I could hear the crickets and tree frogs starting their night song in the small, wooded area behind us. A faint smell of lilac filled the air. There was always lilac in this part of town. Where there were grandmothers, there was always lilac.”

“Yeah – so maybe we should all give up on love and get on witheverything else,’ she sighed. She turned her head towards me andsquinted through the glare of the sun. ‘Why don’t we?”

“The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach. I have heard them all, and of the three elemental voices, that of ocean is the most awesome, beautiful and varied.”

“Every day stole away more of her presence, leaving in its place faint wisps of memories devoid of color, scent, and sound.”