Dinner With Diversions 



cautious movement on my part will send him 

 scurrying for his tunnel. There wiU be a slap 

 of the tail, a quick dive, and he will leave no 

 hint of the direction he has taken. Better 

 I like to leave him to his whims, to watch him 

 disappear into the night, sculhng ahead with 

 widening furrows left behind him. 



But as he leaves the curtain slowly falls. 

 Softly it descends over the hill-tops and the val- 

 ley until rustling in the nimble wind, it settles 

 on the stream below. And when at last it has 

 concealed my stage in shadow, the last actor 

 comes upon it from one corner of the porch, in- 

 visible at first, until in one tiny corner of its 

 black immensity, he begins to weave with silver 

 thread his delicate design. 



[93] 



