we're sitting in the locker room after chasing a basketball for an hour and a half. ju has her coat on and a little feather escapes from it as she sighs. of course, i get overly excited about catching the feather and i got into a 'hey, look here everyone, a feather!' it is of the industrial kind, the massively manufactured kind, the kind that is blown into your average coat or pillow.

y. walks over, 'let me see.' she takes it and carefully places it on the inside of her collar, neatly tucked in. she smiles and walks back to her locker. i stay there, suspended in thought, wondering how long it will take before the winter wind blows it away. i realize afterwards that i could not care less. i am charmed by the fact that she will wear on her collar anything i give her, as if it was precious jade.