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Through a wisp of clouds,
I seek to touch the sky in peace.
Misty kisses on my face
reflect the light of the moon.
The wind sings songs of comfort
through the boughs of trees.
I embrace the night,
hearing the wings of a single loon.
(Verbal Poems of the Avitorians)
(Thirteen years later.)
Francie stood at the kitchen sink, giving the appearance of washing a tea kettle. The view out the window was a spectacular glimpse of Mt Rainier. Rarely did the mountain come out for a viewing - usually it was draped by clouds or fog. Today it was crystal clear with a small stack of lenticular clouds above the peak. She was grateful to Uncle Georgeo for finding them this place so they could start over. It seemed like such a long time ago. She liked her new name, her new life, her new environment, and she loved her twelve-year-old son sitting at the table behind her. However, it wasn’t enough to clear out all the memories. Her eyes started to tear up slightly as the memory of her sister clouded the view out the window. She shook her head, dabbed away the tear with her sleeve, and finished rinsing the kettle.
“Mom?” Leif asked while wolfing down a bowl of cereal.
“Yes, dear.” Francie turned around while drying her hands.
“I had an awesome dream last night. It was so real I could feel it. I think I’ll write about it for a school report.” He took a swig of orange juice and continued. “I was flying through the hallway upstairs and when I flew into my room there was a bald eagle sitting on my dresser. He kept looking at me and out the window. So, I opened the window and we both flew out over the back yard and up to one of the trees.”
Francie felt a pang of panic rise up in her chest. She wrung the dish towel in her hands as she listened. She tried not to sound worried as she responded. “You could fly? That’s funny. Were you in some type of suit, like superman?”
“No mom,” he laughed. “I’m not nine anymore. It was just me in my jeans and shirt. We sat in the tree together and then the eagle flew off.”
“What did you do?”
“That’s the bummer,” he paused and slurped down the rest of his cereal and milk. “That’s when I woke up. I got real cold and realized dad pulled the blanket down. I wanted to go back to sleep and finish the dream, but dad wouldn’t leave until I got up.”
Francie gave a nervous laugh. “Well, if you want to write about it, can I look at it before you take it to school?
“Sure mom. I gotta go.” Leif grabbed his backpack and headed out the door.
“What? No hug?” she stated as she watched him leave. She knew this moment would eventually come. She started worrying about it when Leif was approaching ten. She was ten when she first flew. Though the girls always seem to start earlier than the boys. But, it starts with the dreams - vivid and real enough to have no doubts it could be possible. They haven’t told him yet. Torre, um rather, Ben wanted to talk with Leif years ago, but she wouldn’t permit it. Said it was too soon and actually hoped it would never happen. Maybe it would skip a generation or two with Leif. She turned to look back out the window at Mt. Rainier.
***
The middle school hallway was like a freeway on a Monday morning. Everyone scrambling for books, girls refreshing their makeup, or socializing, and the jocks scanned the lemmings, looking for new victims.
“Hey, Leif,” came the call from the end of the hallway.
Leif peeked out from behind his locker door to see three of the varsity players strolling down the hallway, looking his direction.
“You get that Myspace page up yet?” One of the jocks jibed as the others laughed along with him. The din of the hallway quieted as the students all looked in Leif’s direction - wondering if they were going to see some entertainment before the ringing of the first bell.
Leif closed his locker door and gave the combination lock a spin. He responded back with his best ‘in your face’ attitude. “No, Dave! You manage to get something higher than a C in math this year?” He turned to face the three as they came within arm’s length and stopped.
“Dude, that really hurts man.” Dave responded and pretended to be hurt. He reached up to give Leif a high five then yelled, “Yeah, buddy! Dave’s got a B plus!”
Leif connected with the high five as the other two jocks gave him a playful shove. The crowd turned back to their normal, loud, activities - disappointed there wasn’t going to be a fight this morning.
“Thanks to you man,” Dave continued. “That trick you showed me in Algebra made sense. Once I had it I could solve all those other formulas. Coach is glad I get to stay on the team with my improved grade.”
The bell for first period rang and everyone started to scatter into their assigned rooms. “Gotta run guys.” Leif added. “Halo round tonight?” he asked as he opened the door for his morning home room class.
“Not tonight man. Got practice.” Dave answered as the door closed behind Leif.
He scanned the room briefly to see if she was in her assigned seat. Don’t stare, he told himself as he sat down in his chair. Does she even know I exist? He placed his backpack under his seat and fumbled with his notepad, taking a few extra seconds to catch a glimpse of Carina while she was busy writing something. Most likely something for extra credits he figured. She looked up for a split second and he quickly pulled his notebook up and looked back to the front of the class, but not without catching just a split second of eye contact. Enough to connect, but not enough to acknowledge his existence. I’m such a moron.
“Class... the sixth period will be fifteen minutes shorter due to a special rally in the auditorium this afternoon,” Said their teacher, Mr. Lee. “So, how was everyone’s weekend? Max, you can start.”
As each student rattled off their boring weekends, Leif thought back to his dream last night. It was so real. There has to be a way to do it. Why else would I have such an incredible dream? He gazed out the windows on the left of the classroom. The sky was incredibly clear today and he could see the snow topped peaks of the Cascades in the distance. I’m sure Carina would notice me if I could fly.
Leif felt himself drift into a daydream. It started with him slowly rising from his chair. He crossed his legs and hovered a foot above the desk top. The whole class gaped in amazement as he turned to face Carina. He floated over to her desk and held out his hand. She reached out and held it and sheepishly giggled. She rose up from her chair too, as Leif stretched out and headed for the side windows with Carina in tow. He opened a window and turned to look at Mr. Lee. “Permission to be excused, Sir?” Thap! His day dream collapsed around him as the sound of Mr. Lee’s palm slapping the desk brought him back to reality, surrounded by the amused faces of his classmates.
“Excused for what, Leif?” The class erupted in laughter as Mr. Lee’s question.
“Um, nothing sir.” Said Leif as he quickly came to his senses. “I wrote code all weekend, sir,” he added.
“You wrote code?”
“Yes, sir.” Leif paused. “I’m writing a firewall for protocol to prevent jocks or anyone else from hacking into the grades database.”
The class laughed again while Mr. Lee shook his head and moved on to the next student.
Leif laughed and turned to see if Carina was looking. She was. He smiled at her and turned back in hopes she wouldn’t notice how nervous he was. Score! Now if I could just get up the nerve to speak with her.
The bell rang and the class quickly bolted for the doors. Leif grabbed his pack, stuffed in his notebook and headed for the rear exit - hoping to get within talking distance of Carina. He looked up just in time to see the back of her head as she headed out the door. He paused for a few seconds then slowly headed for the other door, sadly reasoning if she was really interested in him she would’ve at least given him some sort of sign.
***
The eagle was back, sitting on top of the dresser. Leif hovered above his bed. He rolled horizontally to his stomach and drifted close enough to the eagle to pet it. Subconsciously, he knew he was dreaming, but the recognition he was in a dream state was not enough to make him want to wake up. This felt too good, floating and drifting through the house. He reached out to gently stroke the head of the bald eagle on his dresser. The eagle looked at him and took a couple steps away from his approaching hand. Leif pulled back his hand and paused, admiring the stark beauty of this amazing creature. Strange that it would want to hang out on the top of his dresser.
Leif touched the corner of the dresser and slowly pushed off from it while turning toward his bedroom door. He drifted out the door and into the hallway. The banister for the stairs leading down to the dining room was directly below as he hovered there, silently soaking in the awesomeness of being able to fly. He turned back toward his bedroom and gently kicked his legs, as if he was propelling himself through water. The eagle was no longer on the dresser and the window was open. The curtains were dancing with the air currents flowing in and out of the window. Leif drifted over to the window and could see the white cap of the bald eagle in the top of the tallest evergreen tree in the back yard. Moonlight reflected off the eagle’s head and tail feathers as it groomed itself - stopping every few seconds to scan the surrounding trees and the ground for potential meals.
Leif could hear floor boards creaking lightly and footsteps. He heard a gasp from someone at his door. He suddenly realized he wasn’t dreaming. He was really floating on his back several feet above his bed. He flailed around as he fell to the bed, bouncing headlong onto the mattress. “What...!” was all he could utter as he quickly looked toward the door, his mom standing there mouth agape. He quickly jumped off the bed and stood up, looking to see if there was some type of contraption below or above his bed that caused him to be suspended above it.
“Leif!” Francie gasped as she ran over to him and threw her arms around him. “It’s okay, honey.”
“Mom? What are...” he stopped, looked at her and then back at the bed. “What was that? What happened?”
Francie placed her hands on Leif’s face and turned him to look at her. “It’s okay, Leif. Just calm down and I can explain.”
“Explain?” he took a deep breath. “Did that really happen? Was I floating?”
“What’s all the commotion?” Ben showed up at the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and cinching the belt on his robe.
Francie looked Leif directly in the eyes with the best calm voice she could muster, and answered, “Leif honey. Dear. Yes. You were floating.” She looked over to Ben. “And we can explain.”
Ben closed the window and closed the drapes, intent on keeping the revelation secret from the neighbors, even if the closest neighbor was two hundred yards away.
“I’m sorry son.” Ben stated as he sat down in a chair by the window. “We should have prepared you for this. Please sit down. This is going to take awhile to explain.”
Leif slowly sat down on the edge of the bed, testing it out with his hands first to make sure he wasn’t going to float above it again.
Ben continued, “What I’m going to tell you, about us, your heritage, and our ability cannot be shared with anyone, under any circumstances what-so-ever. It’s a matter of life and death. Do you understand?”
“Ben, dear. Do we really have...” Francie started to ask.
“Yes.” Ben interrupted firmly. “He has to know. Not knowing will only make things worse.”
Her eyes began to water. “He’s all I have left. My parents. My sister.” She sat down next to Leif while trying to hold back the tears.
“Mom.” Leif put an arm around her shoulder. “Whatever it is. I can keep it secret.” He looked back at his dad. “Dad, why is mom so worried?”
“It’s because of what we are, son. Her parents and her sister have disappeared, long ago, because of what we are. It’s why you have to keep this quiet.”
“Okay dad, mom. I promise.”
Ben ran one hand through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck as he began. “We are called Avitorians. We have the ability to fly.”
Leif interrupted, “I knew it! Just like in my dreams.”
“Please son, let me explain. We are exactly like everyone else. Our bodies are the same, we still bleed red blood, we catch colds, and we die of old age - just like everyone else. The only difference is that we have the ability to fly. And, we are very, very, rare.”
“Rare? Are we the only ones?” Leif asked.
“No. Our best guess is around several hundred around the world. There might be more than that, but because of our secrecy we just don’t know. We know our heritage goes as far back as the ancient Egyptians. We don’t know if we came from somewhere else or if we’re just a different species of the human race. Uncle Georgeo can fill you in on that if you want.”
“Uncle Georgeo can fly too?”
“Yes, Leif. He’s not really your uncle. We all call him that. He’s really our Overseer of the Avitorians. He keeps us safe, educates us, and is our only communication link with other Avitorians around the world. He’ll come by soon for a visit and will answer more questions than I can.”
“You can fly?” Leif asked. “And mom too?”
Francie wiped her eyes and announced, “I’ll go fix us some coffee.”
Leif could feel the weight of the silence as his mom walked out of the room and down the stairs. “Is mom okay?” he asked.
“She doesn’t want to fly anymore. It’s the danger we all face. What do you think your friends would think if they saw you flying?” Ben asked.
Instantly he excitedly stated, “Man, I’d be the coolest kid at school.”
“Do you really think so?”
Leif paused and gave it more thought. He’d never seen anyone fly before, except in the movies. He had managed to fit in with the jocks at school by helping them with their math homework. He also remembered how he was picked on when he was the new geeky kid in school. “I’d be the freak.”
“Two things generally happen. One - most people are afraid of what they don’t understand. And two - some would want to have what you have, and they would do whatever it takes to get it.”
That thought sent a chill through Leif.
“Let me ask you this. Does everyone in the world get along with one another?”
“Not really.” Leif answered, remembering recent discussions in world history class.
“As long as that continues to be a problem with humankind, Avitorians will never be safe.” Ben paused to let that sink in. “Your mom lost her parents and her sister to people who either hated knowing they could fly or they wanted to experiment with them, to learn how it’s done. Your aunt Angela disappeared a little over thirteen years ago. Which is why it hurts her when she realizes you might have the ability to fly.”
The thought of being able to fly was no longer as fun as Leif initially thought. The weight of the ability grew heavier with the realization it could put their lives in danger.
Ben could see the burden of the knowledge on Leif’s face. He lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned in closer to Leif. “But, when done discreetly, it can be incredibly exhilarating.” He added a smile and a wink.
Leif’s face full of worry turned into a big smile. Ben rose up off the chair and hovered above Leif’s bed. He spread out his arms and legs and slowly spun in a circle. He turned upside down and pretended to walk across the ceiling, his robe dangling down over his face. He quickly flipped back upright, slightly embarrassed his twelve-year-old son just got a good look at his Fruit of the Loom briefs.
Leif laughed and applauded. “My turn Dad. How do I do it?”
Ben lowered himself back to the seat by the window and placed a leg up on one knee. “Well, son, that’s the mystery of it all. It could be tomorrow, it could be next month, or it could be five years. Unfortunately, a slight hover while dreaming might be all you get for awhile.”
“Ah, man!” Leif’s smile quickly shifted back to a frown.
“That’s right. Haven’t you heard? Good things come to those who wait.”
Francie entered the room with a couple cups of steaming coffee and a cup of hot cocoa. As if on queue she added, “You need to wait Leif. You have to give it time. When your mind and your body is ready you will know it, and you have to give me time too, I need time to accept it. You’re my little boy. Don’t be in such a hurry to grow up.”
“Mom, I’m not a little boy anymore. I’m almost thirteen.”
“Ah, don’t remind me,” Ben replied. “We’re counting the days.” He paused and took a sip from the coffee. “Now that you know the secret, I have a story to tell.”
“A story, pray tell. And what would this story be?” Francie asked while sitting down next to Leif.
Ben winked at Francie and began, “The story of how your mother literally flew into my arms.”