Swan Lake – Warlock Psychologist
Billy learned that he could fly in 4th grade. Not like in an airplane or a helicopter or anything like that, but the way kids want to fly and can’t: by flapping his arms.
At first it was a sheepish attempt. He was in the back yard. When playing with Roger Ruff, the black lab, he remembered the cartoon Peter Pan and how the dog in that movie flew. In his excitement, he flapped his arms.
His feet lifted a few inches off the ground.
Billy looked at Ruff Roger in astonishment. Did you see that Roger? Roger barked. Roger didn’t know anything.
The next day, Billy waited until his mother went to the hair salon before going out back again. This time he used the trampoline, launching high in the air and flapping. Again, it worked. At first he just sort of hovered in the air and fell back down more slowly than usual, his feet squirming the entire time. Soon he figured out how to push the air back down with his cupped hands and could rise and fall in the air as he pleased.
He hovered above Roger like a hummingbird, touching Roger’s black nose with his toes as the dog jumped up and barked at him. All the while he flapped his skinny arms, hands cupped. After landing on the fence on the other side of his yard, wobbling for lack of balance, he soared over to the roof. Dad hadn’t put the shingles on straight, he saw.
As his mother tucked him into bed that night, he snuggled into the comforter with a sneaky grin on his face. His arms were exhausted, like the cherry jello he had after dinner, but it was a wholly pleasing exhaustion. It wasn’t long before he drifted off to sleep to dream about soaring over the continents. In his dream, he looked down and saw his mother and Roger playing in the house thousands of miles beneath him. He envied their free delight as he exerted himself to stay afloat.
Soon Billy flew farther and farther from his house. He would visit the town next to his, Burrien. By the weekend he had glimpsed Indiana.
When he landed from that trip, Roger was waiting for him, barking. He knelt down and scratched Roger’s ears. “I’d take you with me if I could. I really would. But right now, I’ve got to explore by myself. I’ll teach you as soon as I know how, I promise.”
With that, he pushed off again and began flapping. He wondered if Ohio looked any different from the air.
[Buy Enemy Mine.]
I haven’t given Swan Lake a listen yet, but they are on my list of music to acquire due to their members, mainly.
Nice start, keep it up guys.