Wing

Source: Ooopic.com

“I want a wing,” she said.

“What an extraordinary wish,” he replied.

They lay atop a fresh field of glossy green grass and breathed the mid-April warm air. A stream glided gracefully by, gently leading last of the newly-melted snow into a nearby river. She let herself bathe comfortably in the mild sunlight, her eyes closed in blissful enjoyment. He was looking at her, a curious smile on the face.

“Can you fly with one wing?” he asked after a small pause. The grass was tickling his neck a little, so he turned away and faced the sky instead.

“Maybe, if it’s big enough,” She murmured wistfully, “I’m not sure if I want to fly anyway.”

He has always been amused by her oddity. “A wing can offset your perfectly proportional body, while taking away nutrients that belong to your other cells and harming your growth and well-being. If you want to fly, you should wish for a pair of wings that can appear whenever you want them to.”

“Ah, you’re scientific as always,” she laughed, her voice tinkering like a chime in the spring breeze, “Sometimes you can’t get the perfect wish. You’d have to make do with a flawed one. I’d rather lie here with a wing on my back, staring at the marvels of the sky, thinking that I’ve come close, than to be actually flying in the distance.”

“You’re inexplicable, fellow scientist.”

“I know. I daydream when I dissect rats; I think their intestines might come alive and strangle me.”

“I’m not sure if I’d call that a daydream, my friend. It’s more of nightmarish ridiculousness unique to you.”

“Touché.”

“Listen,” he sat up with a slight frown, and looked down at her lovely oval face, whose windows to the soul were still closed in reverie, “In our path, we soar, or we fall into an abyss.”

“That’s not true. ‘We are all in the gutter.’”

“Yes, ‘but some of us are looking at the stars.’ There’s a difference, my friend.”

“With one wing, I can look at the stars just as much.” She opened her eyes, revealing a pair of clear orbs that stared straight into his.

He grasped onto his curls in seeming annoyance. “But with two wings, you’re closer.”

“Is that any better?” She too sat up and hugged her knee, a quizzical smile lingering at her lips’ corners as she pointed a finger to a cluster of clouds that were passing by, “Look at that cloud. What do you see in it?”

He squinted for a while at the white blob, hoping he could see what she did, “Erm… a giant carnivorous marshmallow?”

She giggled, and he knew it wasn’t what she had seen. “Well what do you think it is?”

“Oh, I don’t know, I see a flock of sheep. But now imagine you’re up in the sky among those pieces of clouds. What will you see then?”

He pictured his latest plane ride. “… A pack of water molecules forming white streams, perhaps?”

She smiled.

“What are you trying to say anyway?”

She laughed. “Is it not better to sit on this comfortable grass and see marshmallows and sheep at our leisure, than to be imprisoned up in the cold sky and see the clouds for what they really are? Does not imagination make us soar in the sky already? Is there a need for two wings?”

“Cozying in the illusions, are you?” He was really frowning now, and he was feeling like he had taken enough bizarreness of mind for one day, “Does it not tempt you, the idea of absolute truth? Is it not a goal in the distance that you would like to get close to? Do you not want to see truth for what it is? Besides, if you’re satisfied with looking at the stars from the gutter, why wish for one wing? You might as well pick a cozy little spot in the gutter and stay there for life.”

She shrugged, and did not mind his irritation at all. “But that’s what I’m saying. I don’t know if truth will be beautiful when I see it up close; I don’t even know if truth is really there. I want to go check it out, but I don’t want to go either. I’m torn, you know. Calm down and show some sympathy for your torn companion, dear friend.”

He was silent for a while, and seemed to sulk a little, “Well I want to go check it out, however far I need to fly. I want two wings, but I do hate flying alone.”

“I’m sure I can still fly with one wing,” She jumped in front of his musing figure suddenly and childishly grinned at his face, “I just need somebody with two wings to lead me.”