In Desiree Nippard’s “An Early Thaw,” the reader witnesses a group of schoolchildren sending lanterns into the sky while playing a send-off tune on recorders. In this ceremony for the deceased, “[y]ou could hear every pause for breath, every off note from the shifting of small fingers as we all allowed the melody to seep into our souls.” (54) This coastal town is grieving, and the narrator reveals the cause with deep sensory descriptions that guide the reader with the right amount of grace and gentleness.
At the same time; however, our narrator does not hold back. Nippard presents us with subtle yet blood-chilling details such as, “[a] small purple rain boot sloshing up against the shore when he went out to look for her.” (54) And when the search party returns from the water, “…the screech that her mother made when the zodiac returned just a little heavier than when it left.” (54) The reader, along with each person in the town, experiences these poignant details with the result of, “…the scene burned into our brains, the horrors of that evening in the cove, despite us never being there?” (54) The narrative is successful in outlining the accident and discovery of the drowned girl’s body.
But of course that’s not all. Nippard weaves this backstory through the lantern ceremony to highlight the grief and necessary healing process to follow. “Most of us felt the tiniest parts of us heal, though we knew we could never forget we were allowing ourselves to move past it.” (54) Not everyone attended the ceremony, though. Read the story to the end to find the most touching conclusion of all.
Source: Nippard, Desiree. “An Early Thaw.” Blank Spaces: Filling the Gap with Story & Colour vol. 8, is. 2, December 2023, pp. 53-54.
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Pauline Shen 