4:45. The alarm is a rooster, and the rooster is wrong. I put on the old boots and walk out across wet grass, and the whole valley is the color of pearl.
5:10. Bernadette is already waiting, chewing and thinking. I wash my hands in water that smells of well stones. The pail is silver, the stool has three legs and one opinion. The first stream hits the tin with that bright little ringing sound.
5:55. Eleven cows milked, six goats nudged. Pudding the inspector arrives and sniffs the pail, nods once, and sits down. It is a good morning. They are all good mornings, if you let the mist do some of the work.
Leave a Reply