Skeletons on a Swing:
05 - 03 - 25 / Day 26
Her honey-suckled voice chattered into the soft air.
“We really need to go back . . .”
His voice was raw and cracking from the longing of life.
“Nonsense. Still worried about time?”
“Time? No – I am worried about eternity.”
“Exactly we have forever –”
She cut him off.
“Well wait a minute now, we just –”
He held up a bony digit.
“No, no. Just listen, please. We have time.”
“Okay. I’ll listen.”
They swung back and forth slightly as she shifted her weight, or maybe it was the wind.
“Look back at the stars for me please. Yes, okay. See – they are still there even when we turn away. They are still there even when the sky will bleed into blue again. They’ll still be there. I mean how many others have been able to look at those same stars before us?”
“I mean – if they’re still the same –”
“Shush – look at me. Look at yourself. Are we really bringing science and logic into question? Especially you of all –”
“Uh yes!” She used the momentum of the swing to prove her point.”Still moving right?”
“Yeah, I guess, but that’s not the point. We are going to wander the cosmos forever.”
He felt her warmth. He imagined her crinkled eyes. He continued.
“We get to linger here for a moment. Let us linger.”
“Linger. Okay. I – I like that.”
“Yes. We’re still here. Together we will still be . . . I imagine it will be a while before we can hear the distant sound of an airplane overhead. The seasoned bark of the neighborhood yapper. The rolling tires on that road just over there – the wind chimes lined along houses, the dim bowl of a lamppost’s light.”
“The way the moon peeks out from inside of the dark sky.”
“There we go –”
“The tunes of a lone cricket.”
“I hear it.”
She radiated. He felt himself smile, but there were no lips to tug at. She extended her hand. He swiped it up. Their fingers clicked as they mingled together. He looked into the stars. Clearer than ever before.
“You see – the stars are there. We will go out and step along them, searching for the best one – like finding the best stones that line a blue stream. Let us pick our favorites and gift them to each other. How does that sound?”
She leaned into him.
“Let’s go then . . . after we find this cricket.”
(Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy the custom collage (First of its kind). This was 400 words.)
Incredibly sweet.
Like Waiting for Godot blended with Our Town, but the imagery of Tim Burton -- or at last that's how I saw it. I am most definitely on this skeletal swing with my love [2D], thinking the same.