The Wall

A happier ending to a poem that I posted, but in short story form!

I always wondered if he knew what he was. I doubted it, as I watched him dancing as graceful as any woman, on that narrow brick wall. He was spinning round and round, as if strings kept him from ever falling. His bare feet never missed a beat even as the chilled winter air blew without fail against us. He was absolutely ethereal, as he danced, blue eyes shut and protected by thick dark lashes, hair the same auburn color as mine falling in loose curls against his cheeks and ears. If he had opened those eyes, any person would have seen how pure he really was. Even as he was older than me, my eyes had become clouded where his had stayed as innocent as an infants. I longed for him to open those sweet blue eyes.

He finally stopped after what seemed like decades and looked to me, as if always knowing just where to look, and noticed me watching him, as he did every morning. He smiled at me, and I took a step towards him. His smile was as kind as his innocent eyes.

“Good Mornin‘, Miss Elise.” He said as he stopped and balanced on the  balls of his feet, giving me his complete attention.

“To you as well, Mr. Waters.” I said looking at first to his bare feet, and then to his bare chest that was bared beneath an unbuttoned white dress shirt. My eye brow felt as if it were about to recede into my hairline.

“Your gonna catch yer death Clyde…” I sighed, while stepping up to the wall and pulling a thermos from my leather school bag.

I handed it to him, and Clyde accepted eagerly, before unscrewing the top and breathing in the scent of hot chocolate.

“Mmm, I never get sick of this stuff. Its good fer the soul, yah know.” He poured a generous cup full for me in the top, which I accepted and watched as he downed the rest of the scalding liquid without so much as testing it first.

“You’ll burn your lungs doin’ that!” I scolded as I blew on my share first, before taking a tentative sip.

He only laughed at me before handing me the empty thermos.

“Nah, I’m a tough guy, none of that sissy stuff can hurt me!” He once more became much more graceful than I could ever dream of being.

“We’ll be late if yah don’t stop horsin’ around.” I scolded him once again, but I think he knew better than to give it any notice.

“Why are yah up on that wall again anyway? The historical society is gonna have yer neck if yer not careful” He continued to ignore me.

“Why don’t yah dance with me today?” He asked as I began to look for his discarded shoes.

“You know I wont.”

“But why?” he seemed genuinely interested in my reason as he stopped spinning and looked at me. I couldn’t look at him squarely , so I sufficed for picking up his abused discarded shoes and putting them in my school bag.

“Because.”

“Because, why?” He was pushing his luck, but he didn’t care.

“Because, I’ll fall, and when I do I will have to explain to my momma what happened.”  I huffed at him.

“Yah wont fall.”

“Yah know I will.”

“What if I promised I would never let yah fall, unless I fell too? And yah know I don’t fall, at least, not unless its on purpose.” He grinned at me.

I rolled my eyes at him before meeting his clear gaze.

“Will yah take responsibility if I do fall then?” I couldn’t believe I was bending to his request.

“Yes!” He nearly shouted, his face lighting up as bright as the Christmas lights that hung from every tree around us.

I looked left and right. No one was on the street, and I knew we were already late for school. Then I leaned against the wall, facing away from him and slowly removed my own dress shoes, and white stockings. When my toes were revealed I felt a chill run down my spine, not only from the cold air but from the knowledge that Clyde could see my pink polished toe nails. I balled my stockings and shoved them in my shoes before doing the same to my shoes as I squeezed them into my school bag.

I put my bag against the wall before turning to face Clyde’s excited face.

“Yah have pretty toes, Miss Elise.” He said with a grin. All I could do was look down.

“So…how do I get up?” I spared a glance up at him.

Clyde extended both of his hands to me. I took them and looked up to him. His hands were warm, despite the chilly December weather.

“Now brace yer right foot on the wall, as high as yah can, and push up while I pull yah.” He said as he began to lift with a surprising amount of strength, until I was standing with him shakily on the old brick wall. It was only about five inches wide, so I was forced to brace one foot behind the other for support, and balance.

“Just breath, yer okay, I promise.” He was laughing at my terrified expression as he braced my waist and pulled me close. He buried his head against my scarf clad neck.

“Yer so warm.” He whispered, as he just stayed like that. It was surprisingly calming even as my stomach did back flips.

Like a man who had had his fix, Clyde lifted his head from my fuzzy cream colored scarf. His face was gentle and calm as he kept one hand securely on my back and used the other to trace along my jaw line. His index finger, though slow moving, traced every line of my face. First my jaw line, then my high cheek bones, my nose, my brow line, and finally the soft bloom of my bottom lip. It lingered as light as air against it, before tracing up and cupping my cheek.

Enraptured by the moment, I let him encircle my lips with his. His were as warm and as sweet as the hot chocolate from earlier. Clyde’s lips were not like his eyes. No ,those lips were far from innocent as they awakened my chilled ones.

We parted after only a few seconds. I was glad the streets were pretty much empty.

“Shall we dance now?” I asked, while taking a calming breath.

“I thought we were already dancing.” He grinned a mischievous smile. A smile only a little boy could make.

“I mean a different kind of dancing, the kind where we move our feet, though sadly I guess the music will have to be imagined…” I trailed off as Clyde spun me around like a jewelry box ballerina. He never let me miss a step.

“What do yah mean, we have to imagine it? Cant yah hear the melody playin‘?”

“No I can’t…what melody are yah talking about?” He had a way of confusing me.

“Just listen for a moment.” He settled his hand on my lower back, again to steady me.

All I heard was the wind, and the distant ocean noises down the lane. I went to tell him all I heard was the natural noises around us, but he placed his index finger on my lips. A seagull screeched, and a neighbors cat meowed, the wind was rustling the fallen leaves of the oak trees, and the old houses creaked around us. It was a symphony. I smiled at him with understanding, and with that he swept me into his graceful rhythm. We were spinning and leaping without any cares in the world. We laughed as children and embraced as adults. Kissing each other fondly when the moment struck us.

Eventually my foot did slip, and I saw the familiar shapes of the leaves entrapping me, and Clyde as well, as we fell into the awaiting banquets of gold and red. Even as we laid among the muss, of our disheveled cloths and sprawled tangled limbs, we could only laugh. Not a care in the world as we fell into one another's warmth, and relished in the soft caresses of our hands and lips. Eventually though, we quieted, and listened to our natural melody that had elated our youthful spirits. The neighbors cat often had solos, that had an amazing array of passion.

“Can we dance like this everyday?” I asked, after a short while.

“I would like nothin’ more” He replied before kissing my forehead from where I lay next to him.

I couldn’t wait for our next dance. So like an innocent child renewed after a long boring day, I stretched and laid myself atop Clyde, who rested his hands securely on my hips. He smiled up at me, seemingly sleepy, those blue unclouded eyes half lidded and reflecting the sky, and all I could do was smile.

As I watched my future in those eyes, I knew that I wanted to dance in the depths of those clear pools, in hopes that one day they would help me to fly high into the sky and love life for everything it had to offer. My only hope was that that boy, with eyes so innocent, would want to fly away with me too, and experience life with me, with all of its beautiful dances. After all, what fun is dancing without a good partner?

Author's Note

This story is particularly close to my heart.

Reviews

[S. C. McDaniel]

Thank you so much! And sorry for not replying for a while. I have been out of the country and haven't had a chance to check my email until now! I am so happy you liked it!

[Arsenic Nemesis]

This is... I don't know, breath-taking? Stunning? Unimaginably beautiful? I just can't seem to describe it and I feel bad for being incapable of such a thing towards such a wonderful story! This is just... just.. fffttt... WOW! Oh my GOODNESS it gave my chills, it made my heart flutter and warmed every inch of my being; I seriuosly mean it! This is such beautiful work, I feel instantly in love with both characters and the intense emotion, the language, description, layout, EVERYTHING is just. Gosh, I just can't say how much I love this. You've got talen, my friend, and good talent at that! I honestly cannot wait to read more of your work, this is just brilliant!