THAT FLICKERING OF LIGHT ON THE TOP OF THE HILL

THAT FLICKERING OF LIGHT AT THE TOP OF THE HILL

 “ Are you still here? Come on, it’s time to go to bed! Remember, you have to go to school at morning. You must be up at seven. I will  certainly not let you lay in bed, if you are sleepy “ Diane spoke standing on the door,  she did not move towards Emily, who was standing   for more than an hour at the living room window, ( with) her elbows resting on the sill, her face between her hands. She seemed completely absorbed in what she was looking  at ( out of the window). Emily had even put on her glasses, which she usually refused to wear. What could be so interesting to look at, with that darkness, in that rather barren and desolate area of the countryside? It was a night without moon, too.  It was unlikely that she, Emily, was looking at any animal, which in that darkness would have been difficult  to distinguish. When, shortly after she too, Diane, had gone in front of the window, standing by side Emily, she hadn’t able to glimpse, but rather to guess, some dark fronds that, if she  hadn’t known it was a walnut or maple, she would had mistaken them for shadows. She had asked Emily what she was looking at, but the little girl just shook her head, as if to say her ( mother): “ But why do you want to know (it)? You wouldn’t understand anyway.”     “ Come on, hurry up and go to bed” Diane came back to press her daughter.  Emily didn’t move an inch. She remained with her face in her hands, her elbows resting on the sill, looking out of the window. “ But come on, go to bed! You have to go to bed ! “ Diane urged  Emily in a tone now impatient, even angry. She, Emily, didn’t move. “ No, I can’t now. I have to wait ( I ‘m waiting)” she said seriously, continuing to look out of the window, into the darkness .   “ Ah, are you waiting for someone? Listen’s….and who are you waiting for?” Diane asked,  startled, incredulous.  Emily only shook her head, in response. “ Look, it’s nine forty. Before ten you have to go in bed, understand? Otherwise I’ll make you go to bed ( I’ll take care of getting you to bed). “ Her mother said. Emily stood ( remained) motionless looking out of the window.  Well , in a certain sense it could be said that she was really waiting for someone. She was waiting for that flickering of light to reappear. It had come out from behind the highest hill, it had risen above the top of the hill to disappear, a little before, behind the hill. She had seen that twirl of light about an hour ago. And she knew it would be back ( would reappear) She had waiting for it to come back, to reappear. The hill at the top of which that flickering, that blaze of light had suddenly appeared ( har sprung) was the highest of the three hills that rose at the end of the clearing where most of the houses of the village were located. The hills were frequented by seekers of mushrooms, asparagus, blackberries.  For the children, but also for the teenagers of the village the hills, but above all that one, the highest, were a place of races and competitions, of pursuits and struggles, of amusements, of games, of picnics.

There was no thick ( dense) vegetation on those hills, but there were some centuries-old olive trees, and also almond trees, walnuts, hazelnuts, medlars. In those hills also wild rabbits, and hares lived. Some children told they had even seen the fox. Oh, but Emily , how much she liked to be able to see the squirrel! It was a true, great joy , for her, to see a squirrel clmb very fast the trunk of a tree, or running on a branch towards its nest, or peek out from the hollow of a tree trunk which gas become its lair, its refuge.   She was enchanted by its small and very fast movements, by its lively ( keen) eye. Unfortunately every time she happened to see a squirrel Emily could only do it for very short moments, since every time the squirrel run  away , at an incredible speed , and it disappeared too soon, so soon that she almost have time to see it. And when, some rare times, she happened to see one squirrel gnawing a hazelnut  or a walnut, ah, it was the culmination of pleasure. Indeed, at first, as soon as it had appeared, springing out from behind the hill, spraying tiny sparks, but very bright, full of light___so full of light that they burst___that flickering of light had seemed to her ( to Emily) to have the shape of a squirrel’s muzzle. But when, soon after, it had stretched out, it had no longer seemed a squirrel. She, Emily did not wonder what it could be, that flickering  of light. But she felt it was something extraordinary and very much precious too, which she had happened to see completely by chance, since she was in front of the window, looking out of it ( of the window). But sure, it was something that  anyone who happened to see it would have thought it was something absolutely enchanting, amazing, and precious too. But who could have seen it, besides her, that night? She wondered. She would have wanted her friends too had seen it.  Ah, not her mother….Emily didn’t care at all that she ( her mother) saw that wonderful light, ( since) anyway, even if she had seen it, she wouldn’t have given it any importance. And instead for Emily it ( that light) was something fabulous, absolutely enchanting, something that filled her with  joy, as when she happened to find a flower, or even a leaf she had never seen. Something that came out of nowhere, completely unexpected, ( something) that tasted as a miracle. Emily couldn’t help but think that that moving, sparking light, which had appeared on the hill, which had disappeared too soon, was like the squirrels , which  appeared on the hill to disappear too soon. Yes, that light was like the squirrels that, as soon as you saw them, you almost didn’t have the time to see them, that ( since) they were gone, had run away.

Meanwhile, defying the anger of her mother, Emily , standing in front at the window, looking out, kept waiting to see that beam ( flicker) of light reappear. But it was only when her mother, shouting  to her to go to bed, was approaching her, that she ( Emily), as she was running  to bed, glimpsed , out the corner of her eye, that glint flickering in the darkness of the night.

The next day Emily couldn’t wait  to go up that hill, the highest hill, over which she had seen that mysterious light appearing, since she hoped it had left some sign of its presence .

It had rained. The path was slippery. Emily had found no one together whom to go up the hill. She didn’t even feel like telling someone of her friends about that fabulous, mysterious light that had appeared to her, fluttering, on the hill. While she was going up towards the top of the hill, risking slipping and falling to the ground at every step, Emily thought that, if she had told someone about the apparition of that light, surely among her friends would have been those who would have started talking of extraterrestrials who had come to visit the earth. She also remembered that there had been rumors  telling that secret rites were held at night on the hills. There had been people who had even talked about black masses.  Ah, but the light that , fluttering, dancing, flashing, had appeared to her, unfortunately for too little time, ah , it could have nothing to do with black masses and with the satanic rites. It was rather something  celestial, heavenly.

How strange, she was going up the hill for a long time, and still she hadn’t reached the top. Indeed, it seemed that the top of the hill was moving away , rather than approaching, with every step she took. The top of the hill was there, a few steps away from her, who kept walking, yet she couldn’t reach it. As if…as if she had entered another time, another world. She, Emily kept going up. She couldn’t stop. On the top of the hill she would surely find something which had to have left that flickering light. We do not know if Emily made it to the top of the hill. Because she disappeared on that hill. It was said that she had been kidnapped, that she had been sacrificed in some satanic rite. But maybe Emily instead had entered another dimension, another time.