Free Swan Sister by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling Page A

it’s time to rise up. Then you can go out and do your work for a little while. When you have enough, you can all gather together and share what you’ve made or found or gathered. You can take naps in the afternoons, and at night you can build bonfires and dance.”
    The people there hadn’t taken naps in the afternoons for a very long time. The beautiful lady—and she was beautiful, just very tired—took off her gold watch and gave it to Sally. “I could use a nap,” she said.
    A pale man dropped his great pile of papers to the floor and took a pager from his pocket. He put it in a pile with his portable phone and his car alarm deactivator. “I haven’t been dancing since I got this job,” he said.
    And all the rest of the people there put their watches in a pile at Sally’s feet. They took the rooster and sat himon top of the watercooler, and then they knew how to divide their time.
    Toby looked at all the gold watches that Sally brought out of the sad building, and they made him feel a little more hopeful. He’d been afraid he’d never find anyone who hadn’t seen a scythe, but if Sally had found people who’d never seen a rooster, then he could find people who needed the scythe his father had left him.
    He lifted his chin because now it was his turn to do the looking. He led his sisters out across the wide world.
    And lost his hope. For no matter where they went, no matter how many people he asked, Toby could find no one who marveled at his scythe.
    Finally, they came to a misty island full of mountains and gardens. The houses were made out of paper there, and the people wore long silk jackets. The paths around the houses were kept clear of high grass by people swinging scythes much like Toby’s. No one in that country would give him gold for his father’s gift.
    A lady there saw the children, and Toby looked so sad that she took pity on him. “Toby, Toby,” she said. “Do you know what a scythe is for?”
    Toby didn’t understand the question, but the lady was very kind and explained.
    “No one on my island needs your scythe because scythes are for clearing a space in the green earth. And we’ve all found a peaceful place among the trees and grasses. We plant our gardens where good things were already growing. We place our houses among the trees in clearings that thetrees have left for us. Look at the brook there, and watch the old carp rise up to chase the dragonfly. We live in the land like he lives in the water, letting it flow where it will, and following the current of the blooms and birds. So do you know who to look for now, Toby?”
    Toby took his sisters to find people who didn’t have a peaceful place in the earth.
    They heard the subdivision before they saw it. The great roar and clash of motors and spinning blades could be heard for miles around. And when they did finally come to the great brick wall around the brand-new neighborhood, they saw towering clouds of smelly blue smoke rising into the sky.
    The development had a black iron gate across the street leading into it, but the children were small and slipped between the bars. All around them they saw huge houses on small yards. The houses all looked alike, and all of the yards were swarming with people.
    There were men roaring around on giant lawn tractors and women blowing grass and leaves with grass and leaf blowers. They were using hedge trimmers with engines to square all the hedges and buzzing weed whackers to whack all the weeds.
    Toby unwrapped the scythe from its oilcloth and walked into the middle of the street. The sunlight caught its keen edge, and the sounds of the engines died away until all was quiet. Not even a bird called because there were no trees in the subdivision for birds to rest on.
    A sunburnt man set down his electric shears and said,“Little boy, why have you brought that old hand tool into our gated community?”
    Toby said, “To trade it for gold.”
    The people all laughed, and some of them started to