The Onsen and the Sleepy Macaque

High in the Japanese mountains, where the pines were heavy with snow and the air was cold as an ice cube against the cheek, there lay a hidden little valley. No roads led to it. Only paths that monkeys and foxes knew. In the middle of the valley a pool of warm water steamed. It was an onsen, a spring from the heart of the mountain itself. The water rose up between black stones and smelled a little of minerals and a little of rain. The snow fell softly over everything. Quiet, quiet flakes drifting down through the dusk. They landed on the branches. On the stones. On the backs of small animals. And at the edge of the warm pool, very still, sat a small monkey. Her name was Yumi. Her fur was cream-coloured and her cheeks were pink as cherry blossoms.

Yumi had a little snow on her shoulders. A tiny white cloak of flakes. She did not shake it off. She just sat there and looked out over the water. The steam rose in soft swirls. It looked like white veils dancing in the blue air. When a flake fell through the steam, it melted long before it reached the water. It became a little droplet, and the droplet became more steam, and the steam kept rising upward. Everything in the valley moved slowly. And inside the steam, in the warm water, sat her family. Mama. Papa. Little brother. Grandmother. They were all already in the pool. All of them with pink cheeks and half-closed eyes. Nobody was speaking. They were just there, soft and heavy, as if the warmth had taken all the words away.

Yumi took a deep breath. The air was so cold it tickled in her nose. When she breathed out, a tiny white cloud appeared in front of her mouth. It dissolved quickly. Then another. And another. She liked watching her own breath that way. But the water, the water looked so warm. She dipped in a toe. Aaah. Then a foot. Aaah. Then she lowered herself slowly, slowly into the pool. The warm water rose up around her. First around her tummy. Then around her chest. Then up to her chin. The warmth crept into her fur like a soft blanket settling everywhere all at once. Her whole body sighed all at once. Aaaaah. She felt her shoulders sink down from where they had been, way up by her ears, and rest into the water.