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Back Wintering Save as PDF
Chapters (49)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Notice
  4. Dedication
  5. 1. “Morning Song”
  6. 2. “The Couriers”
  7. 3. “The Rabbit Catcher”
  8. 4. “Thalidomide”
  9. 5. “The Applicant”
  10. 6. “Barren Woman”
  11. 7. “Lady Lazarus”
  12. 8. “Tulips”
  13. 9. “A Secret”
  14. 10. “The Jailor”
  15. 11. “Cut”
  16. 12. “Elm”
  17. 13. “The Night Dances”
  18. 14. “The Detective”
  19. 15. “Ariel”
  20. 16. “Death & Co.”
  21. 17. “Magi”
  22. 18. “Lesbos”
  23. 19. “The Other”
  24. 20. “Stopped Dead”
  25. 21. “Poppies in October”
  26. 22. “The Courage of Shutting-Up”
  27. 23. “Nick and the Candlestick”
  28. 24. “Berck-Plage”
  29. 25. “Gulliver”
  30. 26. “Getting There”
  31. 27. “Medusa”
  32. 28. “Purdah”
  33. 29. “The Moon and the Yew Tree”
  34. 30. “A Birthday Present”
  35. 31. “Letter in November”
  36. 32. “Amnesiac”
  37. 33. “The Rival”
  38. 34. “Daddy”
  39. 35. “You’re”
  40. 36. “Fever 103°”
  41. 37. “The Bee Meeting”
  42. 38. “The Arrival of the Bee Box”
  43. 39. “Stings”
  44. 40. “The Swarm”
  45. 41. “Wintering”
  46. Postscript
  47. Author’s Note
  48. Acknowledgments and Permissions
  49. Also by Kate Moses

Ted stands at the stove, his arms crossed before him. He meets Assia’s gaze and looks away. He turns away. He turns to the stove and picks up the teapot in his mitted hand. “Would anyone care for some tea?” he asks, his voice booming, turning again to recover the room.

“Served at my very own table,” Assia answers cheerfully. “Now there’s a welcome twist.”

Ted approaches the table and sees that Assia has no cup. He glances over his shoulder, the teapot in his hand, and begins to elicit help from his wife, who stands behind him, holding their infant son. “Sylvia—?” he asks.

“No, don’t bother—” Assia says, lifting one of Frieda’s toy cups playfully and looking to the little girl for approval. Frieda grins and picks up a cup for herself.

“This will be just perfect.” Assia nods. She holds the cup out to Ted, delicately pinching the curved handle between her thumb and forefinger. Ted leans down first to Frieda, pretending to pour her a great steaming arc of tea. Then he turns to Assia and fills her little cup.

7. “Lady Lazarus”

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Lady Lazarus”

JUNE—EARLY JULY 1962

COURT GREEN

It is the black husk of another life that blows through her: the cold planetary blank of the crawl space, lightless beneath her mother’s cellar; the flaking of dead stars into her eye as she bashes her head against the edge of the concrete foundation. It is the Morris climbing the lane and pulling into the courtyard after midnight, headlights sweeping the darkened windows of the bedroom and extinguishing as her husband turns into the stable. It is the crush of the tires on the cobblestones she hears from their bed.

*   *   *

It is the fifteenth of June. Sylvia climbs the stairs in her dirty canvas work pants, wet through the knees from a morning of scrubbing floors, carrying Nicholas on her hip and a tin of baking soda with a spoon balanced in a cracked teacup in her other hand. Minutes ago she was wearing a beekeeper’s veil, the whole contraption, all new. The cloud of cheesecloth spread out before her over the picture-frame brim of the straw hat beneath, giving her a dreamer’s view of the low mist of woodsmoke curling about the ankles of the apple trees. As never before, she saw her world through a veil—she’d eschewed even a hat at her simple wedding. Their sixth anniversary is tomorrow.