Today, an old man named James Cahill sat on his deck and slipped a nitroglycerin pill under his tongue. As the discomfort in his chest eased, he resumed his lunch of a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich and iced tea. A cool breeze jiggled the leaves in his old oak tree. With eyes drawn to the motion, Cahill watched in wonder as a bird feather helicoptered down towards the autumn colored lawn. He stood and strolled under the oak, not as surprised as he should have been to see his Sissy standing high in the tree next to a bird’s nest.
His Sissy, with a smile as wide as a quarter pound Baby Ruth, dressed in bibber jeans and an orange tee shirt that contrasted badly with her flaming red hair, took a step down and he almost called for her to be careful but soon realized that a phantasm could not fall.
On that day, so long ago, Jimmy and Sissy had life all figured out. Their plan for the future. How their lives would unfold together. They would go to the same schools including college, get married after graduation, have a couple of kids, stay married for fifty years so she could get a piece of gold jewelry, and then go to heaven together. In the eyes of two ten-year olds, the plan was foolproof, simple, and inevitable.
On that day, so long ago, Sissy climbed the old oak tree, higher than she should but the intrepidness of youth pushed her higher and higher. Finally she spotted a bird’s nest and called to him.
‘Hey, Jimmy! Guess what I found.’
She pulled a feather from the nest and shouted down, ‘Here comes a present from me.’
Sissy dropped the feather and stepped down onto a branch that did not exist. As soon as he saw here laying on the ground with her head at an odd angle to her body, Jimmy knew a door closed, their dreams shattered, their life together ended, not in sixty or seventy years but rather in a tragic microsecond, a lifetime squashed into nothingness, compressing his life into endless loss and loneliness.
Now, today, an impossible child grasped Jimmy by the hand and led him back to his chair.
‘Jimmy, I’ve waited for you for a long time,’ she faux pouted. ‘Are you ready now? Remember, we have big plans.’
Jimmy tried to say he wasn’t really ready but a stabbing pain in his chest took his breath away. He gasped, fumbled for his phone, and tried to call 911. When his left arm went numb, he dropped the phone. His brain gave him a few seconds of clarity and he watched his Sissy open a door that just hung in the air out by their big tree.
Today, the feather, the gift Sissy dropped all those years ago, finally settled into Jimmy’s hand. Once again ten-years old, Jimmy asked her where they were going.
‘Into forever, silly. We have lots of things to do,’ she said as the portal closed behind them.
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