Triptych

Melissa Dickinson
[Second Prize]

I

Twilight, on the city's lower east side.

As the first stars appear in the eastern sky, a man and a woman in love cross a street. The two figures merge against the light of a streetlamp; a third watches them go, thinking of tragedy to come.

It is an old story -- perhaps the oldest story. Love binding, love wounding, the Fates watching: Clotho with her hand upon the wheel, Lachesis measuring, measuring the threads of lives inextricably woven, patient Atropos with her shining scissors poised to snip...

At the far curb, Edith Keeler turned toward the man she loved and spoke...