Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

The narrator describes an old tomcat that used to climb through her window at night to sleep in her bed. In the morning, she woke with bloody paw prints across her chest and torso. As she cleaned herself, she thought about the blood as a form of biblical imagery—representing Passover or the mark of Cain.

In the present, she wakes in expectation. Tinker Creek curves so that it runs on both the south and north sides of her house. She sees a wood duck flying away from the creek. Late in the day, she walks north to visit a small island in the middle of the creek. The January sun plays tricks with the landscape, casting certain areas in light at different times. On her way, the narrator watches steers from a nearby pasture drinking water from the creek. She sits on a fallen tree and observes them, noting that they seem more like a human invention than a part of nature. The narrator drives away the steers and proceeds to her tear-shaped island, which she visits every month.

She recalls visiting this spot in the summer and walking along the water. Her eyes learned to find the frogs before they jumped into the creek.