“Nobody really looks at the stars anymore,” she said.
Her head was on his shoulder, his arm around her with his eyes shut. He made a mumbling sound from deep within. “Most reasonable people close their eyes when the day is done,” he groaned.
“No really, look,” she nudged him. “Do you know the names of any constellations?”
“I know the names of the bigger stars,” he says without opening his eyes. “You know, Merle Streep and Liam Neeson…Big stars.” His insight was met by her groan.
A shooting star shot across the sky. Then another. And another. Soon the sky was nothing but movement. Her delight danced. His breath was heavy. Wonder filled her. There was nothing else but the heavens and the stars.
***
The old man looked up to the sky. It was dark. Beside him a young man. They were perched on the side of the great canyon. Tourists and park rangers were long gone. The two were here to repeat a rite of passage practiced for centuries.
The older man looked at they younger. “This is the place,” he said. “This is the place where you stop being just a human and find your spirit.” He himself had never been able to do the ritual. When he stood on the overhanging ledge with the riverbed a thousand feet below, he paused then retreated. His guide kept took his secret to the grave. They raised their arms and flew. If they returned the tribe would celebrate their passage from dirt to sky, body to spirit.
In his heart he knew that a boy could not become a bird and fly. The phoenix was a legend. Most likely the boy would die if he tried. He hoped that cold feet and better judgement would take them to the cafe in town.
They sat on the rock overlooking the canyon. The older quietly sang what he remembered of the incantation. The young man, full of fear, stared in the distance. He walked to the edge.
He looked up at the stars. A single shooting star shot across the sky. Then another. And another. The old man sat with his eyes closed, now humming. The sky became nothing but movement. To the boy, the heavens opened. He felt himself lifted from his body. His spirit drawn upward. No longer body, no longer human, he was alive.
The old man, tired and ready to leave opened his eyes. The boy next to him was motionless, standing, his arms raised. The old man’s heart jumped. In his spirit, he knew the boy was gone. He would have to wait. It was then he noticed the sky.
