A Way of Look

"Do not leave me alone," Zillie whispers to Zillion. They are the last two drops of water of the small river on the way to the ocean. They learned from their parents that they will reunite at seas, all of water-families. That is their destiny, as they can see. Alas! It's been a drought for a long time. Along both side of the river, grass, plants, even trees are dying because of a lack of water. Zillie has been seen a large number of animals coming to drink diminished day by day. She feels helpless. She has sympathy for those weak and skin-covered-bones bodies. She really doesn't understand why. Yet she believes that her life will finish too. She is scared. Her siblings One, Two, Three, Four, and so on, her relatives, her friends, gradually evaporated somewhere she has no idea. And then, whoops! Zillion suddenly disappears. She stays lonely by herself at a glance. She despairs and feels in a maze. She dreams of her old place, the source of the spring in that high mountain she'd become. Her body turns into a hair, she thinks. She flies higher and higher. She enters a cloud. She's very glad greeting Zillion in a shape of a cotton thread. She also recognizes some acquaintances. A cool breeze pushes her ahead. Here comes another wind, and more winds. She flies and flies. She enjoys wide land and great sky. Beautiful scenery and immense space, she admires. She merges into a big gray cloud and continues to fly. Many other clouds from all directions come to combine. She makes new friends. She meets more and more beloved ones she has missed, under different faces... more friends, more relatives. "Where do we reach?" She mentions in passing. The question brings her headache. Her weight is increasing. She feels heavier and heavier. It rains. She and others return their old places. "A thread of cotton, a smoggy hair, or a drop of water is only a shape. Mountain or ocean is just a destination. I am me." She speaks silently becoming a water drop. She is free from fear. She is happy.

Phuong Thao Le