Before the wind blows

Brett stretched out his little free hand and pointed at the white shapes moving across the lake.

"What's that?"

"They're swans," Mum explained and crouched down beside him. "They're pretty, aren't they?"

The boy nodded eagerly.

"They're coming to us!" he remarked excitedly and held out his hands, waving to the birds. "Hey swans!"

"They think we have something to eat," Mum said, and Brett immediately looked up.

"We've got my wafer I haven't finished, can we give it to them?"

"Okay, but just a little bit," she agreed. "They shouldn't really eat stuff like that."

"Why?"

"Why?" Mum repeated his question and thought for a moment. "Because it's like... eating candy before dinner!"

She started tickling his belly and he nearly fell over laughing. Then she broke off a tiny piece of a wafer that she took out of her purse and tossed it to the approaching swans. To Brett's delight, one of them immediately dived in and ate the food offered to him. The woman also gave a piece to the child so that he could do the same. The boy, however, placed the food in his hand and stretched it out in front of him towards the white birds.

"I don't know if they'll get that close," Mum said worriedly. "They're afraid of people".

But she was surprised to see that the braver of them stepped ashore and moved forward a little. It hesitated for a moment, but finally stretched out its long neck, snatched the wafer, and quickly returned to the water.

Brett almost crowed with delight.

"Did you see, did you see?!"

Mum smiled serenely.

"I saw. They must be very used to people." She stroked her son's hair. "Do you know why swans are special?"

Brett shook his head.

"Most animals don't love like humans," she began to explain. "They pair up only temporarily, and then each goes its own way. They don't love like I, for example, love you."
She kissed his hair, and the boy winced and pulled away.

"And... And Hong?"

The woman laughed.

"Oh, of course, your rabbit certainly loves you very much, I have no doubt." Brett smiled with contentment. She would have broken his heart with a different answer. "Very often, however, animals do not create pairs like dad and I. Meanwhile, it is said that swans pair up for life. Sometimes even humans don't last that long!"

Brett watched the birds drifting away from them, after already realizing that they would not get any more food. They swam side by side, one next to the other. He wondered what it would be like to always have someone by his side.

The wind blew harder, and the boy shivered.

"It's getting cold, let's go home," Mum decided. He obediently took her hand and they walked away from the lake.

***

"Oh, look!" Eddy shook Brett's shoulder and pointed towards the lake. "Swans!"

They stopped for a while by the water, looking at the white birds. The taller man hummed something under his breath.

"How does it go?" he asked, turning to face him.

"What?"

"You know, the Swan Lake"

"Ah, right..."

"Oh, they're coming here!" Eddy turned his attention back to the birds.

"They think we have something to eat."

"It's Tchaikovsky," his friend blurted out of nowhere, and Brett snickered, but quickly picked up on the idea.

"Of course, Tchaikovsky was reborn as a swan!" he joked. "You should serenade them." He glanced at the case Eddy was carrying on his back, but the man just laughed and shook his head.

"I think I would scare them all off."

"They'll start criticizing your playing. You're out of tune! Your vibrato sucks!" he started imitating the screeching insults of the swans, only making them both laugh more.

"Oh my god, that would be terrible!"

For this reason, the wonderful idea was abandoned, and the birds realized they would not get anything of value from them and turned around.

Brett looked down at his hands and started rubbing his knuckles.

"You know what's so special about swans?" he asked after a moment.

Eddy looked at him, just waiting for the next part.

"It's said they pair up for life," Brett explained.

"Seriously? I mean, I think I heard about it, but really?"

The shorter man first nodded in response, but then reconsidered his answer.

"No, I don't know actually, I'm not a biologist. But I heard it's true."

Eddy glanced again at the birds that were receding further and further away.

"Must be nice," he commented and smiled slightly, it was one of those smiles that Brett liked most.

They were watching a water strider gliding on the surface in silence. The older man looked at the trees, whose branches were swaying more and more.

"Hey, Eddy."

"Hmm?"

"Will you be my swan?"

The wind blew harder, but neither of them complained about the cold.