Terra Firma

The girl on the piano was playing Franz Shubert's Unfinished Symphony. The piece, set in Allegro Moderato was mesmerizing.

I could only watch her perform from a distance in a hall filled with privileged members of the city.

The drawstring of my cloth bag loosened even without me being aware of it. The audience engrossed with the recital of a genius must have felt like running towards the idiot who had spilled out the sheaf of paper that sounded like the splatter of a heavy rain.

I knew that I had her attention, rather her distraction. Her stare pierced at me like an arrow that struck my heart. Had I had lost my mind that ran in the reverse - like a tape spool running in fast rewind mode?

"Do you believe?" I asked.
She laughed her funny laugh and spoke up in a clear and confident voice.
"Yes, my dear. You lead the way and I will follow".
This time I was the one to laugh. The lady was trusting me. She did not know what I was going to do, but she trusted me.

In one quick movement, I dump half the bag of the golden confetti onto her head. In the next instant, I dumped the rest of the flakes in my own bald pate. At first, I saw a fire in those eyes that I had not seen in a long time. After a moment, the fire was doused and replaced with a deep hysterical laughter. Finally, she turned to me.

"Okay Mr. Peter Pan, what now?"
"We fly, " I said.

I watched her eyes. At first, those beautiful dark eyes took on a deep pondering look as she digested my words. In a moment, a conclusion came to her mind, and her eyes danced.
"Oh you Romeo you. You didn't do what I think that you did, did you?"

She listened intently for the sounds of the helicopter that would no doubt fly them all over the city. She looked at my smiling face and turning to the other side and listened. Finally she returned her galance to me and a look of confusion filled her eyes. In a soft voice, she asked.

"Where are we going today, my trusted knight?"
"Oh no, you don't understand, we are going to really fly."

I laughed again as she looked at me like I had lost my mind. I put my hand out toward her.

"Take my hand my lady."

She put her hand into my hand and I could feel the exchange of emotions between us. Those dark eyes glowing in the warm moonlight made me feel so special. As I gently pulled on the lady's hand, her feet started to drift off the deck. At first, she didn't notice. Yet when she looked down to see her feet floating, her eyes changed to a mixture of fear, and surprise. It was as if she could not decide whether she wanted to cry, scream, or laugh.

"I ... I don't understand," she said.
I smiled. I looked around to make sure that no one was watching.
"Lets go my lady"

Taking a deep breath, we leaped into the air. Stretching our body into a horizontal position, we felt the air support our bodies. With a push, we climbed into the clouds. Her hand squeezed mine when she saw that the land below us began disappearing. I sensed her fear for it was a long way to the earth below. When we reached a small white cloud, I pulled her closer to me.

"Don't worry my lady." I said.
"We are flying, arent we?" she asked.
"Yes, my lady. We were flying and still are."

I laughed. She eased her grip on my arms. Looking around, she tested the air under her feet. It was firm and secure. A grin came on her face. I could tell that she was relaxing.

"Oh my God, I do not understand. What can we do in this magic place?"
"My precious and most adorable lady, with the star-dust in your hair, you can do anything that your heart desires. Watch this."

I slowly separated myself from her. She reluctantly released me from her grip. I ran across the sky and jumped up and did half dozen somersaults into the air before flying back to another small cloud. Yelling across the vast sky between us.

"Come to me, my Angel. Come, fly."
"I do not know how this world works," she yelled back.
"Just push up to go upward and push down to go down"

She looked at me and took a small step. It was a small push upward. However, it was such a little push that she scarcely moved. She tried again and flew up into the air.

"OHHHHHHHHH help," she cried out.
I almost fell off the cloud as I burst into a huge laughter. I catch more breath and find myself sitting with my butt stuck in the cloud and my feet thrashing in the air. My angel realized that she was not hurt or harmed. She stood up and put her hands on her hips. With a look of vengeance, she pushed off again and head right for me. With a little spring, I pushed upward. She continued past me, and disappeared inside my cloud. Again, I broke into another laughter and watch her head poked out of the cloud. The disembodied head was anger and talking.

"You think you are so smart. You just wait."

I could do nothing but continue to laugh. I could not seem to resist. She looked so funny. Climbing out of the cloud, my angel pushed herself into the open air. She made a fast bank, then a straight away run and slipped into an inverted loop. I could hear her yells fill the sky. However, now they were the yells as from a Roller Coaster. I watched her turn, spin, dive, and flip. She was a magnificent sculpture with curves of a goddess and the smile of a beauty queen. It was clear that she was having fun. She had no stress from work or worries about her m-i-l. She was free to do anything that she wanted. She had switched to the magic side.

I suddenly realized that I could no longer see my angel of wonder. I stood on my cloud and leaped into the air. I called out to her in a concerned cry.

"My Angel, Where are you?"

I waited. There was no answer. Again, I yelled across the sky. I felt a pang of concern.
"What if she has hurt herself," I thought to myself.

Just as I was about to fly up, I felt these two slender arms reach from behind to grab me around the eyes. She leaned her head against my ear. I could feel her pulling me against her body.

"Did you miss me?" she whispered in my ear.

When I turned around to respond, she was gone.

"My angel wants to play hide-n-seek, huh?"