En told them they should hold their breath while crossing
Angel’s Bridge in Tartu and so they do. The boy fervently
believes that doing this will make his dearest wish come true
because En said it would, yet as soon as he swells his lungs
and steps onto the cheerful yellow bridge built 181 years ago,
he imagines he is a whale streaking silently through the ocean
as playful dolphins tickle his sides, trying to get him to jump
up into the sweet blue air above and breathe, so he changes
imaginings. /---/
The old man has scoured his high school Latin to puzzle out
the phrase carved on the side of the bridge. He thinks it means
„Rest restores strength.“ He wonders if the slow weakening of
his joints with each passing year is tied to his aging brain’s
tantruming refusal to sleep through the night. /---/
