written for a friend i should have been there more for. in the future i hope to do better and have to write fewer apologies to her so she knows i love her instead of just having to interpret things in what i say. enjoy.
-n
THE RELEASE OF THE CHILDREN.
for stef, because doll's should feel too.
He stood up inside the overturned shell of the van. His hair, like ribbons, fell in front of his eyes and blocked out the sun that reflect up from the rearview mirror now on the roof, because the windshield had caved in. She stepped in next to him through the opened door and stood up straight, unlike his slight curved that he said didn't exist. A rock came screaming through the rear glass quarter windows in the half doors thrown by one of the other children who didn't like them. When the noise came she jumped, her hand finding its way into his and tangling around like the knots in the tree the van hit before rolling and her second arm wrapping the inside of his. Four years difference and he was her protector. He calmly pushed her hair from her eyes and kissed her forehead, whispering.
"C'mon, let's go outside and look at the birds in the tree."
She nodded and let him guide her out into the heat of the sun, burning the plains like deserted children waiting for their parents at the Mexico border. The sea would not have them before the graves would.
They walked and sat in the chipped hole the van left in the tree, staring up into the leaves and watching the birds move back across the branches like tightrope walkers. No one accepts them for the beauty they hold and lets them be, they have to torment the creature, put it in a cage or cut away the home for lumber or land. He leaned into her ear and once again, whispered afraid his voice might deafen her.
I wish I could turn you into a bird.
Not looking at him, she said.
A pretty one?
The most beautiful ever made.
Would you put me in a cage?
I would let you fly free, so you would never feel trapped with me.
She looked up into his eyes, pleading. He nodded in response and they stood up and walked towards the house, a few mail boxes down a road where mail boxes don't sit side by side, but just out of eyesight. She still held his hand, but not as tightly as before. The color could rush into the skin along with the sweat of youthful understanding.
While they walked they spoke of grasshoppers and school, it being weeks before the Release. Her favorite classes were ones that didn't exist, because she loved them all. Learning new facts and interesting things filled her eyes with excitement and she dreaded the approaching Release. She called it that after he told her of animals raised in captivity and then released back into the wild since he saw a special about a whale from San Antonio released back into the Atlantic. She liked it. Called herself Shamu for months afterwards, because she felt like she was being raised in an enclosed environment only to be released back into the wild of summer. The Release.
He opened the sliding door at the back of the house and let her in. First they checked to see if his mother was asleep in front of the television. A bottle of Jack laid in the carpet uncapped and the dog lapped at it like a hummingbird sampling the flower buffet.
He unlocked the cage and pulled Hum, out of her cage. Only the beak poked out of his hands and he handed the foliage of feathers to her and held a finger to his lips. They had two weeks, but the Release was happening today. He slid open the back door and she opened her hands. A stir from the couch jolts him and he pushes her through the door and helps her over the fence to safety. Screaming burns down the house and the glass door shatters when she opens it, the bread board in her hand, wondering where Hum is.
I set him free.
The tears collected in his mouth and he swallowed them with gritted teeth.
For two weeks he could not sit comfortably, but each day he would sit with her staring up into the tree with the same pain at each corner, none of it physical.
Why'd you do it?
Because I'd let you fly free...
-n
THE RELEASE OF THE CHILDREN.
for stef, because doll's should feel too.
He stood up inside the overturned shell of the van. His hair, like ribbons, fell in front of his eyes and blocked out the sun that reflect up from the rearview mirror now on the roof, because the windshield had caved in. She stepped in next to him through the opened door and stood up straight, unlike his slight curved that he said didn't exist. A rock came screaming through the rear glass quarter windows in the half doors thrown by one of the other children who didn't like them. When the noise came she jumped, her hand finding its way into his and tangling around like the knots in the tree the van hit before rolling and her second arm wrapping the inside of his. Four years difference and he was her protector. He calmly pushed her hair from her eyes and kissed her forehead, whispering.
"C'mon, let's go outside and look at the birds in the tree."
She nodded and let him guide her out into the heat of the sun, burning the plains like deserted children waiting for their parents at the Mexico border. The sea would not have them before the graves would.
They walked and sat in the chipped hole the van left in the tree, staring up into the leaves and watching the birds move back across the branches like tightrope walkers. No one accepts them for the beauty they hold and lets them be, they have to torment the creature, put it in a cage or cut away the home for lumber or land. He leaned into her ear and once again, whispered afraid his voice might deafen her.
I wish I could turn you into a bird.
Not looking at him, she said.
A pretty one?
The most beautiful ever made.
Would you put me in a cage?
I would let you fly free, so you would never feel trapped with me.
She looked up into his eyes, pleading. He nodded in response and they stood up and walked towards the house, a few mail boxes down a road where mail boxes don't sit side by side, but just out of eyesight. She still held his hand, but not as tightly as before. The color could rush into the skin along with the sweat of youthful understanding.
While they walked they spoke of grasshoppers and school, it being weeks before the Release. Her favorite classes were ones that didn't exist, because she loved them all. Learning new facts and interesting things filled her eyes with excitement and she dreaded the approaching Release. She called it that after he told her of animals raised in captivity and then released back into the wild since he saw a special about a whale from San Antonio released back into the Atlantic. She liked it. Called herself Shamu for months afterwards, because she felt like she was being raised in an enclosed environment only to be released back into the wild of summer. The Release.
He opened the sliding door at the back of the house and let her in. First they checked to see if his mother was asleep in front of the television. A bottle of Jack laid in the carpet uncapped and the dog lapped at it like a hummingbird sampling the flower buffet.
He unlocked the cage and pulled Hum, out of her cage. Only the beak poked out of his hands and he handed the foliage of feathers to her and held a finger to his lips. They had two weeks, but the Release was happening today. He slid open the back door and she opened her hands. A stir from the couch jolts him and he pushes her through the door and helps her over the fence to safety. Screaming burns down the house and the glass door shatters when she opens it, the bread board in her hand, wondering where Hum is.
I set him free.
The tears collected in his mouth and he swallowed them with gritted teeth.
For two weeks he could not sit comfortably, but each day he would sit with her staring up into the tree with the same pain at each corner, none of it physical.
Why'd you do it?
Because I'd let you fly free...