Jacob Bern

1. Coming Home

Pacific Northwest
May 1978

Raymond and Sarah turned their struggling Volkswagen
south onto Cherry then west onto Fairlane, 
asphalt progressing to gravel. 
The houses had already been thinning for several miles, 
pockets of neighborhoods nestled…

Sam

Sarah and Raymond

In the spring the apple trees slowly broke out in white blossoms. 
The far end of the orchard started first, and in nature’s pace of domino succession, 
more and more trees sprouted blooms, moving further and further west. 
A warm frost slowly draping lace across extended hands.

Education

The Wolf

Jacob and Sam were walking through the fields of the sunny valley. 
The dandelions perked up their heads beneath the sun, and the red-legged grasshoppers skipped and bounded ahead of the pair as they moved through the grass. 
Jacob rested one hand on Sam’s back, who then turned to look at Jacob with large kind…

The King

One summer a rainy afternoon had carried on into a rainy evening.
Traveling home the little wipers smeared their way back and forth across the windshield
Trying to keep up with the downpour.
Driving slowly along Fairlane Ave, just past the pond and a curve in the road
Jacob and Raymond both squinted and leaned…

Sheds and Bottles

Raymond stood motionless, his pupils dilating as he took in the rows of bottles and cans poised in the open cooler. Although he…

The Sand

The grit carved at his eyes and tore open his lips. All the while the sun beat down on him…

Colleagues

Raymond stepped down from his truck, 
closing the door with the predictable creak followed by a metallic pop.

“What do you do at work?” 
Jacob had his head cocked to one side, 
pondering the answer to the something he had never really considered before now…

“Now will I break this yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds apart” (Nahum 1:13)

One Year

Young Jacob measured time by three things: 
Christmas, his birthday, and the height and color of the pasture grass. 
In the spring the grass was short and vibrant, then long and deep. 
Green faded to dried yellow and after that he had his summer birthday.
Long after the grass became dried and pokey, the trees…

Raymond Bern

His own voice inside his head was an urgent chorus:  I need help. 
I need help. 
I need…