Buffering: Unshared Tales of a Life Fully Loaded

by Hannah Hart

THE GENERAL AND THE MONK Once, long ago, there were two children born to a woman in a cave. The Woman loved them, and cared for the children as best she could, but the Woman had magic in her, not good magic, not bad magic. Just strong magic. Before the Woman could learn to control the magic, it overtook her and turned her into a Witch. She tried to hide the magic from the children, but they could see it for themselves. The Townsfolk in the Village below began to gossip about the Woman because her magic was strong, but you never knew which way it would turn. Sometimes she would bring chaos and burn the fields of others, but sometimes she would bring laughter and light and paint pictures of the village for the children. They began to call her the Good-Bad Witch. The Townsfolk had names for the children too: the Crying Child and the Quiet Child. The Crying Child would ask the Townsfolk for help when the bad winds would turn. But they could not help. They would not help. The Quiet Child was quiet but listened. The Crying Child would plead with the Townsfolk for bread, and they offered whatever they could. The Quiet Child was quiet but grateful. The Crying Child would fight the Witch, crying out against her magic, demanding that the winds cease as they stormed, but it would only add strength to the spells. The Crying Child was helpless. The Quiet Child was quiet but helpless, too. Years passed, and the Good-Bad Witch grew wretched with madness. The Townsfolk wouldn’t speak to h...