Jason Weiser

She could remain there and remain his wife because he trusted her and knew her.

They would have peace.

Miss Thousandfeet, the millipede, stood awkwardly before Sir Longbody, her worm betrothed.

Every conversation before this one had been easy, natural, like they had known each other across lifetimes and were simply resuming something that always was.

Now, neither of them could find the words.

Under the bridge seemed like a private enough place,

But two humans, apparently retrieving and burying the body of a giant, old, white rooster, interrupted the talk that both Thousand Feet and Longbody knew would be happening.

Longbody knew that he could never give her the life she deserved.

It wouldn't be fair to ask her to share his...

his poverty.

She might feel one way now, but without her coats and shoes, she would grow to resent her life with him, and then grow to resent him.

He loved her more than that, and wanted more for her than that.

Miss Thousandfeet, for her part, knew that Longbody wasn't like all the other men.

But that was precisely what all the other men said before they became like all the other men, according to everyone she had talked to.

He would expect things of her, she knew, and pleasing him would be as impossible as keeping dirt clean.

He would grow to hate her for not being able to keep his long coats clean as he crawled underground, and that was the last thing she wanted.

Both had heard that everyone was talking,

and knew how the other felt.

They didn't say any of this because they both felt none of it needed to be said.

These were facts.