A love story
A Wisp of Air
A Wisp of Air
By
Roy Marshall
In the swirling
mist of fog, the approaching sunrise revealed the trees about the young couple
as glowing visages that loomed skyward.
Foreboding masses in the strengthening daylight. Heavy with child, she sank to the forest
floor. Sayli, sighed, and breathed in
the mist. Becoming one with the vapor,
she gained strength. Her mate, Boolay,
floated above her, helpless, anticipating the birth that was so near.
Breathing in the life giving moisture, Sayli
set herself for the ordeal. The birthing
cramps came, and she breathed deeply, ignoring the pain. Within seconds, they came again. Moments later, the child appeared. A boy.
Wispy, he was newly birthed from the cloud of gases that formed his
mother. Breathing in the moisture rich
air of the fog, he strengthened and rose above the forest floor to meet the
dawn of the day of his birth. This small
thinking gaseous life form began a new generation. Boolay dropped to the forest floor next to
his mate. There, the two caressed,
intertwining boughs of semi cohesive gases in a gesture universally recognized
as love.
Soft and soothing
sounds emanated from the pair, and soon, the new born child took notice of the
parents below him. Sinking to the forest
floor beside them, he embraced his parents.
He allowed the love to slip into his very being. Slowly, the child began to murmur, and then
as recognition dawned about him, he started to speak. He was after all, born with fully developed
consciousness, and the memory of conversations that took place during the
lengthy pregnancy.
A wisp of air, a cohesive
mesh of gases that form a complex gossamer web of living vapor; the family of beings
inaugurated a new generation of their kind into existence. The newborn was named Soolay by his
mother. Immediately he wanted to float
away, to feel his freedom, to explore.
Freed from the prison womb of his mother, he floated with the mist and
breathed in life giving moisture. His
hunger came about suddenly and he fed for the first time, enveloping airborne
mold spores, bacteria, and organic dust particles. Sated, he floated above the forest floor and
disappeared into the fading mist.
His mother called
after him as she saw him leaving, “Soolay, don’t go too far, and always remember,
stay away from the humans.”
Pacing back and
forth from the living room to the back door of the house, Candace walked as if
in a trance. She thought she had coped
with the death of her husband, the funeral with all the cloying condolences
from friends and his colleagues; but she truly hadn’t. Max had been her life; he had been and done
everything for her. Now, today, she had
to begin a life without him. Here in
this huge old house on the outskirts of Sausalito
she had met with Max’s attorney and his five sisters with all of their
children. The attorney read the will and
gave news that did not make the sisters very happy. She was now very well off. Thirty-two years of marriage and she had no
idea of the wealth that Max had accumulated.
Candace had paced
the same route in the house for several hours now thinking about what to do. She had the means to do things, things that
most people only could dream about. She
and Max had gone on cruises before, and she had fun. They had taken their nieces and nephews on
trips, and enjoyed their excitement. But
everything she had done, had been with Max.
She missed him already, and couldn’t even imagine life without him. For the first time in her life, she
understood why people took their own lives.
Stopping her
pacing, Candace had made the decision.
She went into the room that served as an office and hand wrote her last
will and testament, evenly dividing her inheritance between Max’s sisters. She
then took out a stamp pad and put her thumb print next to her signature. Placing it into an envelope, she addressed it
to Max’s attorney and placed it into the mailbox. She then went up the stairs of the house,
looking around at all of her treasured possessions. For the first time realizing just how huge
the old Victorian was. And now just
empty and lonely.
The bathroom
cabinet contained all of Max’s medications.
She took all the bottles and got a glass of water, then took it all into
the bedroom where she lay down on the bed.
As she lie there thinking of all the good times with Max, she dosed off.
Feeling the
freedom that only a creature of the mist can feel, Soolay drifted with the wind
amongst the trees and soon the forest ended.
Confused for a moment, his limited experience did not prepare him for the
sight before him. A giant structure,
dark, and curiously compelling to him.
The admonition from his mother was of little concern to him, he after
all had no idea what humans were.
As the light
breeze allowed him to float closer to the old Victorian home, Soolay felt a
kind of excitement growing in him. When
next to the house, he moved around the sides, inspecting the solidity of the
walls. Wood, he knew, but this was different;
a thick substance covered the cut trees.
Periodically there were transparent openings that he was unable to move
through. Glass, a new experience for
him. Finally, on the upper level, an
open area, an open window. Moving
inside, he was mesmerized with all that he saw around him. The bathroom was a place full of new things,
and food as well. As he enjoyed a meal
of mold spores, and bacteria, his faint luminescence spread and he developed
into a wispy white veil of moving, glowing radiance. Once again sated with his fill, he again
turned to exploration. Moving in front
of a mirror, it was disconcerting to him.
The creature before him moved when he did, in exactly the same way, at
the same time. Unable to reach it, or to
communicate, he soon left and floated out the door into the next room.
There he
discovered many wooden objects, and a sadness overcame him at the state that
the once beautiful trees had become. As
he approached the large flat object in the room, he came upon Candace as she
lay sleeping. Drawing close to her,
there was a sense of life about her. And
a sadness as well. A sadness that
permeated her sleep, her entire being, a feeling that Soolay could sense and
was drawn to her because of it. As he
came close to her face, her breathes tickled him and he felt a mixture of
emotions. Excitement at discovering this
huge living creature, perception of emotions from her, and wonderment were all
mixing together to confuse and delight this newborn being.
Tickling about her
nose brought Candace awake and with a start when she opened her eyes and seeing
the wispy glowing creature right in front of her face she sat up and
screamed. Soolay scooted to the end of
the bed and floated there, watching with fascination as Candace jumped from the
bed and cowered in the corner of the room, staring at him. She began to bob her head around, looking at
him, confusion and fear now evident. But
soon, her demeanor softened, she became at ease with his presence and she spoke
to him, the first words he ever heard, “You’re a ghost. I mean, a real ghost. Are you, are you Max?”
Her words were
harsh and cut through the air with a texture that he could feel as well as
hear. When he was in the forest, the
sounds there were palpable, he felt them.
Those sounds were soft and melodious.
These sounds were jarring and bounced off the walls of this structure
and reverberated within his being. He
shook his whole being, the glowing rippled in response.
Candace looked at
him and saw the movement, interpreting it as acknowledgement. As she began to cry, her entire demeanor
changed from the fear, to one of love.
Soolay understood love and was attracted to the emotion. Floating toward her, she sucked in her
breathe, the held out her hand toward Soolay.
Unsure of the gesture, curiosity overtook him again and he floated
toward her hand and gently caressed it.
Silky, luminous, almost a mist, Candace felt him against her hand as an
unworldly caress of what she now believed was the soul of her dead husband
Max.
“Oh my god, oh my
god, this is unbelievable, Max, you came back to be with me. I knew our love would be forever. You’re being here must be to stop me from
doing something so stupid. Really, now
that I think about it I see how it was the wrong thing. So stupid.
I’m so sorry Max, I’m so glad you are here.” And with that last outburst, Soolay shuddered
and floated out of the room toward the open window. Candace stood and walked after him. “Max, come back, please, I need you!”
Soolay stopped,
turned and shimmered. He could feel that
universal love that she emoted and was pleased.
He thought about the easy feeding here in this giant wood structure, the
emotions and just the unique curiosity factor.
Soolay knew he would return, the noises this creature made were not that
bad. He turned, shimmered and then
floated out the window. Candace watched
as he disappeared into the darkness toward the forest back from the house.
“Max, Max!” She called out after him. Staring out the window at the forest, she stood
there watching the gloomy darkness. After
an hour, she walked back into the bedroom, then threw all the pill bottles into
the trash. Walking the wastebasket out
to the garbage bin, she hummed a little tune, for the first time in over a
week, happy.
Over
the following years, Candace would live her life full of joy as she enjoyed the
family that Max had left behind. His
sisters, their children and even his friends from work. She became the dutiful widow, generous with
her time and fortune. And most every
evening, she waited for the spirit of Max to return and spend time with her. On occasion he did, Soolay came to the unique
structure to feed, and to shimmer when the inhabitant spoke to him.
The end.
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