The Broken Wings
By Konstantinos Lardas, first published in The South Dakota Review
A young boy who lives in Icaria with his grandmother mourns the loss of his new friend and companion, a puppeteer who died in childbirth.
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Plot Summary
Tasso looks out the window of the home in Icaria that he shares with his grandmother, who he refers to as his yaiyai, watching the snow fall as he mourns the death of Anastasia. He remembers how he first met Anastasia. One day, he was walking through the streets of Therma when a beautiful girl his age named Kleis began talking to him. She took his hand and led him to the puppet show, where Anastasia was performing her last show as a puppeteer. The two kids watched as the history of Crete unfolded, as Daedalus and Icarus attempted to escape from Minos with the wings Daedalus had crafted. During the middle of the play, a boy named Yanni came up to Tasso and hit him, implying that Kleis was his and that Tasso should leave her alone. A woman named Anastasia was playing the part of Icarus, and, at the end of the play when Icarus died, Tasso could see the pain in Anastasia's face from above the stage, could hear it in her voice. After the show was over, Tasso ran away, overwhelmed by such pain. He ran to the Undying Waters to get water which, according to legend, could take away his grandmother's pain; he filled up a big jug and started home. As he was carrying the jug, he got lost. He ran into Yanni, who laughed at him and threw a rock at his jug, causing the healing waters to spill everywhere. Defeated, lost, and stuck in the snow, Tasso did not know what to do, but Anastasia found him and took him home. She gave him her broken Icarus puppet, and the two became close, with her always calling him her Icarus.
Later, Anastasia revealed to Tasso that she was pregnant, and that was why she he had give up her puppet shows. She saved Tasso from the bullies again and let him feel her swollen belly. Now, Anastasia is dead. She and her unborn child passed away, and Tasso cannot help but feel that his heart is broken. He watches the funeral procession go past his house, then runs out to join it, standing not far from Stasia's body and her husband. Tasso's yaiyai joins him and laments that something so horrible could happen to her grandchild. But Tasso thinks about how it was snowing when he first met Stasia and how it is snowing now during her funeral procession. He knows that she is the snow, and each time a snowflake falls, his companion will be with him.
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