The Wild Swans, an Andersen fairy tale, figures prominently in Adjustments. The idea of being a man who has a swan’s wing where an arm should be follows the main character around, and the people in his life would like to know what it means. Maybe a reader would, too.

I have to wonder if Will ever gets to feeling like the youngest brother in a retelling of Andersen’s tale by Jackie Morris. In her account, when the youngest brother is “rescued” by his sister, who stayed silent for years and worked night after night to break the curse, stomping on stinging nettles to make the thread to weave magical shirts but runs out of time before she finishes his, so it’s missing a sleeve and he is left with that one swan wing, to her surprise, he grieves the loss of his swan-self.

“I did love to fly.”

Will thought of his secrets and pulled at his sleeve, wondering how feathers could give birds flight and yet weight enough to keep a body pinned to the ground.

Feathers image by Mrs. Airwolfhound, CC license via Flickr.