Rice Ears

The rice paddies stretched out on both sides of the road, spreading into vast fields of gold. Heavy ears of rice swayed gently in the hot summer breeze.

But he couldn't see any of it. He had never cared to notice such trivial details. Lips pressed tight, he fought to steady his trembling hands as he gripped the steering wheel and drove straight ahead, as if he could catch up with the person who had taken off in that beat-up car without permission and bring him back to the life they once shared.

But he knew that person, like these endless ears of rice, had long since gone somewhere without him, somewhere filled with nothing but brilliant, boundless sunshine.