WHICH MAN STAYS?
Each person held a small, unlit candle.
"We're here," Maya said, her voice carrying in the cold air, "because we believe in the return of the light. The longest night is a promise. It says that the dark will end. That the dawn will come. That the turning will continue."
She lit her candle from the lantern on the porch, then passed the flame to the person beside her. It traveled, a small, steady light, from hand to hand, until the porch was dotted with a constellation of flickering flames.