Wild Swans by Patricia Snodgrass Page A

as soon as she left the sanctuary. She would get a coke float while she waited for her mother to conclude the day’s business. Sure, Mom would raise a fuss about her eating something sweet, fearing Althea would grow out of the wedding dress, but deep down she liked the idea. Sure it was spiteful, but wouldn’t it serve the old bat right?
    It’s not fair , Althea fumed . It’s not fair to me, or to Hank; especially not to Hank. Especially now that I know he’d rather be with God than with me.
    Strangely that thought made her feel a bit jealous. She shook off the awkward sensation and proceeded down the sidewalk, noting her lengthening shadow as it followed her along. It projected itself onto store fronts and neatly trimmed lawns. She wasn’t paying too much attention to it; after all she was deep in thought about the whole business of marriage and priesthoods and trying to determine exactly what she wanted for herself. But still, something pinged, not quite right as she walked along. She paused, shook her head and resumed her dark ruminations.
    I can’t get out of this marriage unless Hank goes to the priest himself and declares his vocation, she thought. Even though he wants to obey his parents, what’s happening is wrong on all accounts. I have to get him to come and talk to Monsignor. Get him to confess his vocation and maybe even declare sanctuary in order to stop this insanity.
    It would save Hank, but not herself, and she knew it. Even if Althea could talk Hank into joining the priesthood, it wouldn’t matter. Ruby would find another man for her to marry, and this time she might not be as choosy. But wasn’t all of this a moot point? Althea asked herself. At eighteen she could tell her mother to butt out. And when she did...
    Something strange caught Althea’s attention. She stopped and looked, uncomfortably aware that two shadows were following her. One was her own. One was darker and more...alive somehow than its mate.
    Someone or something was walking uncomfortably close. Close enough for its shadow to overlay hers. And yet, Althea couldn’t see anyone nearby. She stared at the twin shadows, feeling uncomfortable and out of place as if she suddenly stepped inside a house that wasn’t hers.
    The street, as well as the sidewalks, was empty. The heat beat down upon her and she realized with a deep pang of fear that there was no sound. Her breath caught in her throat. Time itself seemed to wind down. It’s like yesterday, when Jake and I were making love on the raft and then we saw—
    —that thing.
    She laughed. It’s Mom’s shadow, of course. It has to be , she thought. She must have seen me leave the church and ran to catch up with me, to stop me from doing something diabolical, like devouring a coke float and growing out of my dress before Mom’s big day .
    “It’s okay Mom,” she said as she turned around, expecting to face her mother. “I’m just going to the drugstore for a soda. And you don’t have to worry about that either. I’ll walk it off—”
    Althea stopped in mid sentence, stunned as she stared down the sidewalk.
    No one was there. She was alone, the heat beating down on her neck and shoulders. Cold sweat prickled on her brow. She rubbed her forehead with the back of her hand, her head thudding, feeling sickly disoriented
    Althea glanced over her shoulder. The double shadow was still there. It crossed hers like a long thick black narrow mark. It seemed to have substance and depth. She looked around. The sky was milky blue. The sun was bright and the buildings looked normal with all their shadows behaving as shadows should. She looked back down at hers. Except for this one , she thought as dread clattered up her backbone. It’s a servant without a master. And that’s not possible. Shadows are cast by something. They don’t go off on their own . And they’re not so dark and not so real looking.
    She took a tentative step forward and the shadow moved along with her own. She