· Ylläs, Finland
The blueberry pail.
From the journal of the Wolf of the North · a work of fiction
A mother heard her daughter drop a tin blueberry pail and knew at once where she had gone. Reindeer were feeding between the child and the trail home.
I circled through the birches, took the girl's hand, and waited for a wide space between the animals. She mourned the berries all the way back. We found the pail the next day, blue inside and entirely empty.