Read First Flight for Free Online Page B

wasn’t sure he could explain. “Thank you,” Chris said solemnly, and crawled in. He caught Jesse’s hand as he pulled the blankets up to his chin. “I would tell you.”
    “I know you would,” Jesse said and ruffled his hair. “Get some rest. If you want to come in for the afternoon shift, Betsy wouldn’t mind, but you don’t have to. I’m gonna be a little late, maybe as late as after dinner, so don’t worry if I’m not home before then, okay?”
    “Okay.” Chris turned onto his side and wriggled around until he was curled up in the corner, watching Jesse dress through mostly closed eyes. “Have a good day.”
    “I’ll try,” Jesse said, buttoning his shirt. “You too.”
    Chris closed his eyes and everything faded away.
     
     
    T HE world was spread out below him, a lumpy carpet of greens and browns and grays, shot through with silvery flashes of water and human-made things. The sun shone on him, warm and comforting. The cool fresh air held him up and brought him little bits of information. This way , it said, there is food this way .
    He ignored it in favor of looking at the familiar shape that hung just off to his right. A bird, black, with the sun bringing out blue and green and even violet glints in its feathers. “What is your name?”
    “Sings-like-water. What is yours?”
    “My name is— I am— I don’t know.”
    “How do you not know your own name?”
    “I don’t know anything except your name. I have lost everything. Even flying, even my wings.”
    “That cannot be.”
    “It is! I have lost everything! ”
    “Then this is impossible.” Sings-like-water’s claws locked with his and they wheeled in the sky, falling for one long heart-stopping instant before parting and soaring joyously upward again. There was a cloud before them, just a small puff of gray-white vapor. The two of them scythed into it, but when he emerged on the other side, he was alone.
    “Hello, little one.”
    Not alone, after all. He looked up and up and up . He was standing at the feet of the largest raven he’d ever seen. It was larger than an eagle, than a tree, than the buildings in the city. “Hello,” he said, softly.
    “You watched that man for a very long time.” The big bird tipped its head and he could see the man, smiling, his mouth open and moving—Jesse.
    “Yes. He’s interesting! He makes unusual sounds that I like.”
    “You gave up food to watch and listen.”
    “Yes.” How did he know that? He had, and he’d do it again.
    The big raven was suddenly much, much smaller, just a little larger than himself. It carefully straightened some of its feathers, then said, “You wanted something you could not find in the sky.”
    “Yes,” he said, only mildly surprised by the statement. “Yes, I wanted to know more. About the man. About the sounds.”
    “Ah,” the raven said, straightening a few more feathers, “and have you learned about them?”
    “Yes.”
    “Has the price been worth it?”
    “Price?”
    “The cost. You are as a hatchling: hungry and knowing not what you hunger for, flightless and wanting flight. Aren’t you?”
    “Yes. I am. Who am I? Why am I like this?”
    “You wanted what could not be had in the sky, and you gave up all you knew to have it.”
    “Who are you? ”
    “I held you close until your mother joined with your father; I whispered to you as you pipped. I know the names of your hatchlings, and I know the names of your hatchling’s hatchlings.” The bird stepped toward him and put a wing around him, tucking him close to its body like a mother. “I gave you what you wanted. Is it worth it?”
    “I don’t know. I am missing parts. He wants to know, and I can’t tell him.”
    “You gave up all you knew for something you could not find in the sky.”
    Chris woke up enough to turn over, wondering vaguely if the dream meant anything. He certainly didn’t feel like he’d found anything except unhappiness, and if he couldn’t find that in the sky….