Only As Strong As You Let Me Be

(Melanie and Faye Just Before a Storm, October 27th, 2008)

Nimble toes, narrow fingers, brittle like grains of wheat in the harvest; I'll fall to the ground, you'll hear a crash, thunder for your ears only, and you'll know, and I'll know, it was all meant to be.

A mistake here and there will remind us that this is all real. I talk to my plants when I water them, I whisper words of growth and warmth as they look over to see there is winter just as far as the thickness of my windows. They long for summer, and I look sad in their eyes, that I too wait for summer to bloom as I walk off to my reading corner. I can hear construction outside, and I return to the book I'm reading. It must be freezing out there, I wonder if they get paid extra in winter? I learn of a boy's first memory and then realize that those construction workers must have warm homes waiting them, that they all have wives that stay home just for them, and have a hot meal waiting for them. They come home and coats on the living room couch, then kick their boots before the kitchen, and kiss their wives just before sitting down at the table. You can see their tired eyes open up to the steam rising from a feast before belly, and their mouths half-open, waiting for their dearest. The memory of the boy was of a balloon he once had, how he tied a ring to the end of the string holding the balloon, and how he tried to send it to an angel as he let it go, high and higher into the sky. And at the time he wasn't sure what would happen as it went up higher until he could no longer see it as his winking eyes battles the brightness of the sun. The clouds would mark the farewell of this balloon to his master as the balloon disappeared from his eyes and appeared in his dreams. Construction workers always do the dishes once they are close-to-food, stuffed, and always refused help as they are always offered help; this is the way it has to be thinks these hard day workers with tiny dishes in their large hands. It has been a good day as they throw their work clothes to the ground and get in bed with their wives, they still hold each other after all these years. The balloon passes through a sea of clouds and just before it leaves the surface a hand reaches out and stopped its ascend. They tell each other they love each other and the night seems to float between dreams. The hand pulls the balloon closer to see what is at the end. The ring is found and is pulled with one touch. How did this ring stay on for such a long distance? And angels fill the dreams of a boy who grows up to be a construction worker as he continues to dream of an angel that wears his ring, holding her closer and closer and dreams on.