Wings

Fall pt 2

It was Christmas day and I had dislodged myself from my position on the sofa to celebrate with the family. I was still only wearing scruffs though. I sat beside the fire and looked up at the tree, it was almost 4:30, that made me sad looking at the clock, knowing that had I not made that fatal error, I would be out, watching the falling stars with Franny-Ruth. The falling stars are a village tradition but we tend not to go because it's always mobbed. What you do it make a lantern or buy one and decorate it, and you do it in memory of someone special, it looks beautiful and they do it at 5:00 every year on Christmas day, I was going to take Franny as she'd never have seen them before. It's an amazing first time experience. But she was never going to meet me there after that. But I thought, and I wondered, and I pondered. And eventually I came to a conclusion. It was worth seeing if she'd shown up, and if she hadn't... Well hey-ho I'd have to find a different occasion, but there was nothing more magical than the falling stars, especially seeing that there was light listings of snow spread across town. And so, I set off in search of my sort of long lost friend. I told my mum Franny had agreed and that I wouldn't be alone. Not entirely true but it kept her happy. I arrived at the village square where everyone was gathered. You could barely tell one person from another, some people had chairs and had set up camp, others looked like they'd just come from the Antarctic in all their Eskimo gear. But me, I was here for one thing and one thing only. Francesca-Ruth Celestine Kurnell. My best friend. I was bustling through crowds of families when I saw her. Waiting on exactly the spot we had agreed I grinned and caught her eye and I ran up to her and squeezed her tight. "Don't ever leave me again." She shook her head. "I won't... I promise. And I'm good at keeping promises." I let her go and looked her in the eyes, it either came out meaningful or slightly creepy, I was bargaining for the first option. "I know" I said. She turned around and picked up something wrapped very neatly in Christmas paper. "Merry Christmas Willy." She handed me the present, I opened it, it was very, very heavy. "Oh! A brick! Oh... A brick?" I held the brick in my hands, she laughed and took it from me, she placed it on the ground. "Stand on it. If you spread your wings you can fly away with me but you can't fly unless you let yourself fall." Best gift ever, I thought. X