The Shine Journal

Embers in the Sky

by

Bosley Gravel

It was midnight and they had gone to the park after the dance.  The sprinklers had come on at eleven, and they had stayed dry by sitting in the gazebo.  The temperature had dropped a couple of degrees after that, and then, to their wonder, toads had come out into the grass, and honked their damp forlorn calls.  He thought he might love her,  but he was afraid to say it.  Her straight black hair hung down to her waistline; her eyes were two pools of amber.

"Cindy, I love you," he said, breaking from a kiss, his hand rolled down her back, behind her hair.

She smiled, "It's just a kiss," she said with no ill intent.

He pulled away; his mind racing in different directions, thinking that perhaps she was joking,and then knowing she was not.

"It's okay," he said,"I didn't mean--"

She kissed him this time, he couldn't think for a moment, but finally he pulled away.

"No," he said sadly,"I can't anymore."

He got up, and went to the edge of the gazebo, and listen to the toads, and watched the sky.  She came up behind him, smelling his warm scent that contrasted the cool damp air.  In the heavens, two falling stars, side by side streaked across the heavens.

"That's us," she said. "two embers between heaven and earth."

His stomach felt as though something soft and warm had nested in it.

"When we are old, we won't remember any of this, he said. "We won't remember." he shook his head sadly.

"I will," she said.  "I'll never forget.  I made it my wish.  You get one too."

Sean licked his lips, "Well, I think I'll take that wish."

He closed his eyes, his head still facing the heavens.

She was crying when he opened his eyes, and he wasn't sure why, but he pulled her close, and put his lips against her warm neck, and savored the smell of vanilla on her.  He felt her tears drip down from her chin onto his cheek.

"I think I love you, too," she said. "I'm sorry, I couldn't say it before.  I want so many different things."

He didn't reply.  The wind blew the tree tops, and the toads became quiet.

"It's okay," he said.

She pulled him close tears still flowing from her eyes.  Sean found he was crying too.

"We are just scared," he said.

The toads started up again.  They kissed again, each embracing the warmness of the other.

It was dawn before they left the park  going their separate ways.  They faded from each others lives slowly and steadily, by the time summer was over they would be gone.  But that night lingered through drunken college parties, marriage, children and divorces.  From time to time in grief or loneliness, they would gaze up into the stars and remember that rare evening, their wishes granted--the memory had always remained.

Bio: BOSLEY GRAVEL, eclectic hack writer, was born in the Midwest, and came of age in Texas and southern New Mexico. He writes in a variety of genres. His fiction focuses on the absurdly tragic, and the tragically absurd. He likes good black coffee, nightmares, Billie Holiday, and that hour just before the sun comes up. Coming soon: his debut literary novel "The Movie" from BeWrite Books (for pre-Christmas Release).

Motivation: Young love, bitter-sweet, sometimes has long lasting value despite the duration.